Totally top place to spend
New Year's Eve. Everyone from all the pubs around comes out just before
midnight and joins hands in a huge circle round
York Minster Cathedral, to sing
Auld Lang Syne. There's a countdown to midnight as the cathedral clock rings the hour, and then a massive surge, with people of all ages and types singing, yelling, hugging and
snogging.
Yup, there's not much in the way of nightlife. But it's friendly, pretty and has some damn good second-hand junk shops and bookshops, plus a couple of decent record stores. And some of the pubs do a grand Yorkshire pudding with righteous onion gravy, and ALL of them have games to play (dominoes, cards and so on) which is something you rarely see down South.
York is a medieval historic town with plenty of other things to look at too: take a walk round the old city wall, or check out one of the 'ghost walks' run by local Goths. If you are a foreign tourist and like souvenir shopping, make your way down to the Shambles, a twisty little street near the cathedral where you'll find a mass of little foofy shops full of hand-made expensive tat to rummage through.