Naughty old York

MY grandmother used to call London "sin city". Were she alive today, she might have been tempted to shift that sobriquet 200 miles north. Welcome To York, the signs could boast. Sin City.

Okay, so this may be an exaggeration. But ours is undoubtedly turning into a good-time town. The evidence is there for all to see, from police raids on alleged brothels to the staggering (quite literally) increase in stag and hen parties on the Micklegate Run.

Just last week, the national press was full of the salacious details of a court case involving a man who was accused of blackmailing his ex-wife. Samantha Stone claimed former hubby Julian, of Easington, near Hull, had threatened to send video footage of her cavorting with other couples to her strait-laced parents. Stone said he was trying to make her give up her share of the divorce settlement.

The court heard that one particularly naughty escapade involved another woman and some strawberry yoghurt. And it all took place in a York hotel room.

That is not the first recorded example of illicit gallivanting in this city. Married Tory MP Piers Merchant resigned over his affair with 18-year-old Anna Cox in the 1997 General Election campaign after a national tabloid had photographed the pair canoodling in York. They had stayed in a Stonegate flat.

Comedian Lenny Henry's squeaky-clean reputation also took a battering after he stayed in the city. The star, married to comedienne Dawn French, was spotted with 27-year-old Merri Cheyne at the Royal York Hotel after his one-man show at the Barbican Centre last year. She later insisted nothing untoward had happened when she went to his hotel bedroom.

These headlines may only tell a fraction of the story. Former York Lord Mayor Keith Wood has run the Ascot House guest house in East Parade for nine years. Professional discretion ensures that he would never inquire as to the marital status of couples booking a room.

Nevertheless he is sure that some of his guests are engaged in clandestine trysts. "You can usually tell by whether they are speaking to each other over breakfast," he said. "If the man is reading a newspaper and the woman is looking at a guide to what's going on in York, they're probably married.

"If they're talking to each other and gazing at each other across the table, they're probably not," he said, before adding: "They could be on honeymoon, of course."

One episode confirmed these suspicions. "We did receive a phone call from a gentleman who asked if his wife stayed with us on a certain date.

"According to her she had been at a conference in Harrogate. He found a receipt for a double room from us.

"He wanted to know had she been here, and who she had been here with. That information we were not prepared to give over the phone in any case.

"Clearly somebody had been doing something that her husband knew nothing about and was caught out by keeping the receipt."

The attractions of York to couples looking for a dangerous liaison are the same as for the happily married, Mr Wood said. But as well as the beauty of the setting, there is another draw.

"Many of York's hotels and guest houses have both four-poster and canopy beds, as we do.

"Anyone who's looking for a romantic weekend - above board or not - would like them."

Gillian Cruddas, chief executive of York Tourism Bureau, echoes that sentiment. "I think it's a romantic city. You have got all these fantastic buildings, the river, the bridges. That makes for a romantic break.

"There's always quite a surge of interest around Valentine's Day. It's one of the busiest days of the year."

At the bureau one member of staff is dedicated to dealing with group bookings. And this service demonstrates another facet of York's growing good-time reputation. "The interest from stag and hen parties is considerable," Mrs Cruddas said.

Finding accommodation for these large groups of young men and women is not always easy; some hotels, Ascot House among them, will not take them because they disturb other guests.

But Mrs Cruddas feels it is a compliment to York that so many people choose to spend their stag and hen nights here.

"It's very colourful. There's always a festival atmosphere, even on Friday and Saturday nights, with hen parties walking around in their costumes."

These groups may well have been lured to the city by fun bars Merlins and McMillans.

Manager Allan Coleman said they have been sending out hen party packs across the country. They contain information on what to do here and where to stay, plus vouchers for free champagne at the bars.

So what are these hen parties like? "Most have a list of tasks, like 'obtain a guy's underwear', 'find a bald man and kiss him', 'grab the disco microphone and sing the national anthem'," Allan explained.

"They're always in fancy dress. They come as schoolgirls or in their nighties."

And the women are not backward in coming forward, either with the local men or with guys on stag nights, said Allan. "They're very flirtatious."

You have been warned.

One man who has done more than anyone to publicise the saucier side of York is Nick Griffin, owner of The Adult Shop in Gillygate.

Last week the Evening Press reported how trading standards were taking him to court alleging that the erotic videos he sold did not live up to their "hardcore" description. This story was followed up by both The Sun and The Guardian.

"Some people in York do look down their noses at us, definitely," said Nick, 29. "We've broad enough shoulders to handle that.

"When we first moved in some pillars of the community told us that the last nine businesses in that unit had gone bust. We've been there for 18 months and there's no sign that we are going to go bust. The shop's going from strength to strength."

He said his clientele was very different to the "dirty mac brigade" who used his licensed sex shop in Grimsby.

The Adult Shop attracted a mix of students, tourists, older single men and women, couples and groups.

One of his most popular lines was the blow up sheep and pigs, bought as a joke.

"You hear the bell on the door ring and a flurry of feet, then laughing and giggling.

"I think the people of York are quite naughty."

PICTURE: Nick Griffin, owner of the Adult Shop in Gillygate, thinks York people are 'quite naughty'. Right: bridegroom Craig Ewan, left, was handcuffed to traffic island railings stark naked last Friday night as one of many pre-wedding pranks in the city