On May 9, 1985, the rockers surprised onlookers and delighted fans by busking in King's Square!

They also paraded down Petergate, and as our pictures from our archive show - they were all in black leather, with plenty of swagger!

Former Press employee Kate Neighbour remembers seeing them.

She recalls: "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."

Legend has it that The Clash's impromptu gig in York was part of their 'busking tour' of 1985. They 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 - so the theory goes!

In a letter to The Press, in 2015, Stuart Heron, of Kyme Street, York, recalls the day vividly.

"I was lucky enough to see The Clash busk outside York Minster and busk in King’s Square the following day.

"In the days before social media, I got a call from my friend Andrew Ellis on the evening of May 8 that The Clash were going to be performing outside the Minster in two hours' time. He had found out about this from his fellow students at York Art College.

"When we arrived at the front of the Minster there were a couple of hundred people, most of which were students from the art college. The band arrived 20 minutes later and played a couple of songs before the police arrived and promptly tried to move the band on, whereupon The Clash started singing “I fought the law and the law won” accompanied by the drummer using the Minster door as his drums.

The Clash then moved on and had a few drinks in the nearby pub, The Hole in The Wall, accompanied by me and my friend, among others.

The following day I was working in town and heard The Clash were going to be busking in King's Square. The square was packed and again the band sounded great, this time the police did not try to move them on.

All in all a memorable 24 hours which I can’t believe was 30 years ago."

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