How York's Post Office became Miller and Carter restaurant

MANY people in York lamented the closure of the Post Office in Lendal.

Indeed many actively protested against its demise.

In 2018, York Central MP Rachael Maskell led a campaign to keep it open and urged the public to sign a petition she would present to Parliament.

But it was unsuccessful and the Post office closed in 2019, moving its operation to inside WH Smith on Coney Street.

Today - after a complete interior refurbishment - it has opened as a new steakhouse, Miller & Carter.

Our photos today take us through the history of the building - which was built in 1884 - marking its transition from post office and telephone exchange to one of the city's smartest new eateries.

Lendal in 1910s and how it looks today. Images from York Explore archive and Google Maps

The Post Office building has been a familiar part of life in Lendal for 140 years.

It was built in 1884 to the designs of architect Sir Henry Tanner. The building contractors were Wm. Ives and Co., of Shipley.

A 1853 map of York shows an earlier post office had been located behind other buildings fronting Lendal and reached by an alleyway off the street.

In 1892, the Post Office opened a telephone exchange at Lendal - a rival for the city's first exchange which was housed over a chemist's shop in Parliament Street. The latter was opened in 1886 by the National Telephone Company - just ten years after Alexander Graham Bell had patented his telephone which allowed people to hold conversations with each other over long distances.

Inside the former Post Office in Lendal when it was a telephone exchange in the early 1900s. Photo from York Explore archive

These two main exchanges in York continued to operate separately until 1920s.

National telephone exchanges were taken over by the Post Office in 1912.

There was a telephone exchange in York from 1886 until 2003 when BT streamlined its customer service operation and the York service, based in Stonebow, moved to Leeds and Doncaster.

Miller and Carter York opens in Lendal - in the former Post Office building. Image supplied

The Post Office's long history with Lendal came to an end in April 2019 when this branch closed.

After lying empty for five years, the building has opened again as a Miller & Carter steakhouse restaurant.

Share your memories

Join our Facebook group, Why We Love York - Memories at: facebook.com/groups/yorknostalgia