Blue Barbakan opens - 1,489 days after Blue Bicycle was shut by flooding

The former Blue Bicycle in Fossgate shut after lower parts of the building were inundated by flood waters from the adjacent River Foss on Boxing Day 2015.

It was one of numerous businesses in Walmgate and Fossgate to be flooded after the Foss Barrier and Pumping Station, at the confluence of the Foss and the Ouse, was overwhelmed by the sheer volume of water flowing down the Foss following prolonged rainfall.

But while all the other businesses reopened within a year or so - and the pumping station has undergone a £38 million upgrade - the Blue Bicycle remained shut because of serious structural problems which were further complicated by its position next to the river.

Pontoons eventually had to be created in the Foss to allow for extensive and complex repairs to take place.

It finally reopened its doors as The Blue Barbakan last Friday, just hours after builders had finished carrying out final works on the premises.

The restaurant has been opened by Anna Witczak, who has run the successful Barbakan in nearby Walmgate for the past decade, and it has seating for 100 diners - almost double the old 54-cover restaurant.

Anna told in December how she had chosen the new name - after thinking long and hard about what to call it - in recognition of the previous, award-winning restaurant business.

She said the Barbakan had had an average of 1,000 customers a week, and had frequently been full on Friday and Saturday nights, and so she had jumped at the opportunity to expand into larger premises.

She also revealed that her old premises in Walmgate would re-open as an ice cream parlour and patisserie called Two Cherries in March.