'Bring back Borders & Viking boat burning' - changing York

IN many ways, York is almost unrecognisable today compared to when I first started at The Press in November 1997.

Of course, its great landmarks are still here - York Minster, the Bar Walls, its great museums, and the magnificent Ouse that splits the city in two and is crossed by its ornate bridges.

But the life of the city feels quite different today.

Back in 1997, we went shopping in Coney Street, visiting high street favourites such as British Home Stores, Woolworths, Dorothy Perkins, River Island and Wallis.

Today, Stonegate has taken over as York's leading shopping street and Coney Street is on the brink of being recast as a place for hotels and restaurants. In another 25 years, it will look completely different.

Supermarket shopping meant a trip to the big three: Tesco, Asda or Sainsbury's. We have more choice now, especially from cheaper outlets such as Aldi and Lidl.

Aldi at Water Lane in Clifton

Twenty five years ago, York had just a few wine bars (think Harkers and Wilde's) and independent coffee shops were few and far between. Today, you can barely walk a few paces in York without finding an individual business - with more opening seemingly by the week!

Ditto for restaurants, although there are many great places that are missed, including J Bakers in Fossgate, the Go Down in Clifford Street and Plunketts in Petergate.

Our cultural scene is different too. When I first moved to York, we would go to see art movies at City Screen at its base in Museum Gardens. Now it is in a purpose-built site by the riverside. We have the Everyman at the Odeon in Blossom Street and Cineworld at Monks Cross.

City Screen by York riverside

All this is great, but I still miss Borders bookstore in Davygate, and I know from readers responses to our nostalgia articles on the 'lost' shops of York that many of you miss Borders too.

And who would love to bring back a proper Viking festival, complete with boat burning on the Ouse?

We mustn't forget that York has a new football and rugby stadium - which has been a long time coming, not quite 25 years, but not far off!

The political landscape in 1997 was totally different too. New Labour had just come to power; there was a sense of hope and optimism after the Conservative years.

Of course that all changed as the Iraq war damaged Blair's popularity and reputation and the credit crunch of 2008 put the squeeze on wages. Years of austerity have followed and now we are facing a cataclysmic cost of living crisis that seems a world away from the honeymoon feeling of Labour's win 25 years ago.

Despite economic challenges, York has become a very expensive place to live.

In 1997, you could buy a terrace house for under £50,000. Now, Right Move records average house prices in the city at around £320,000.

It makes you wonder what they will cost in another 25 years.