Do you remember the day The Clash came to town?

It was May 9, 1985, according to this brilliant sequence of photographs we have dug out of our archive.

They didn't play a proper gig here. But Joe Strummer and co did busk in King's Square, to the delight of onlookers. They also paraded down Petergate, all black leathers and attitude.

Kate Neighbour was studying fashion at college at the time, and managed to get away in time to see them. "They walked up the street, and there were all these people standing around watching them," she says. "Eventually the police came and moved everybody on."

But what on Earth were The Clash doing wandering around York and busking in King's Square?

Press arts editor Charles Hutchinson has a theory.

It was the famous 'busking tour' of 1985, he says. The Clash were chasing a band called The Alarm around the north of England, busking wherever The Alarm were playing. Why? Because they didn't like them, Charles says - they thought the Alarm were trying to rip off The Clash's sound.

The Alarm were appearing in Leeds, apparently - so Charles thinks The Clash probably went over there after stopping off in York.

Does anyone else remember the day? We'd love to hear from you if you do...

Let's face it, no other photos we can dig out of the archives today are going to have as much energy as the pictures of The Clash in their heyday. But we've done out best.

So, to finish off with, we have a photo of York trying to be all cool and continental in 1970, when magistrates briefly allowed drinks to be served at tables outside the Theatre Royal: and a photo from 1983, showing two schoolboys from York Minster Song School desperately trying to knock each-other off a greasy pole at their garden fete in front of the Minster. We wonder if they were Clash fans?

Stephen Lewis