The welcome is the same, but the city is very different... CHRIS TITLEY considers what changes the Queen might notice on her return to York today.

THE Queen has been a regular visitor to York. Whatever the weather, and sadly it has often been grim, the people have turned out in force to greet her with a warm Yorkshire reception.

Three of her most remembered visits to the city took place in 1971, 1977 and 1988. Today the Queen returned for her first tour of York of the new Millennium. Over these three decades, the city has changed considerably.

In 1971 Her Majesty came to York as the special guest at the city's birthday party. It was 1,900 years since Roman governor Petilius Cerialis founded the place, and everyone was celebrating. A whole year's worth of events had been organised: pageants, galas, fairs and fireworks among them. But the highlight was the Queen's visit on June 28.

Alas, the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh arrived in the pouring rain - particularly unfortunate as they were seated in an open top, horse drawn carriage. Just as today, they came into the city through Micklegate Bar, the traditional royal entrance, and were met by a huge crowd of well-wishers.

The ancient entrance remains much as it was, although the coat of arms probably gleams more brightly today thanks to the York Civic Trust's renovation. But Blossom Street and Micklegate have changed considerably in the last 30 years.

No one had heard of the Micklegate Run back in 1971. What is now Brubakers Bar was still the Forsselius garage. Next door, The Windmill was a Berni Inn steakhouse.

The Blossom Street Punch Bowl was well established, although what today is Scruffy Murphy's was then the more suitably-named Bar Hotel. Another Micklegate pub name to have been banished to history is the Coach and Horses; another Micklegate business to disappear completely was Kennings, the Morris car dealership.

Today, York's pedestrianised city centre scheme is being temporarily suspended for the royal motorcade. Back in 1971, it was only in its embryonic stage - that year Stonegate became the first footstreet.

Ironically, all those years ago when Parliament Street was still dominated by cars, the royal party was travelling by horse and carriage. Today motor vehicles are banished - aside from the occasional royal limousine.

The Queen returned to York in 1972, to distribute the Maundy Money at York Minster. Two years later she became the first monarch since King Charles I in 1633 to attend York Races, the first of her three visits to Knavesmire in that decade.

Meanwhile, the Duke of Edinburgh had opened the city's proudest new attraction, the National Railway Museum, in 1975.

The reception both the Queen and Prince Philip received in 1977 was particularly special. The Queen came to York as part of her 56,000-mile, 13-country tour to mark her Silver Jubilee.

Although only in the city for a short time - some businesses refused to get out the bunting because of the brevity of the visit - giant, cheering crowds lined Micklegate to see her. The Silver Jubilee celebrations had united the whole nation behind its monarch, and York was no exception.

Had the Queen enjoyed the opportunity for a leisurely walk around the city that year she may have noticed some startling changes.

By this time the car parks in Parliament Street and St Sampson's Square had been replaced by pedestrian precincts.

The famous cupolas of York Cattle Market had been removed. On the same site the new Barbican Centre was taking shape.

It is also unlikely that the city could have hidden the ravages of industrial strife from the Queen. Among those striking in 1977 were bakers, causing long queues for bread throughout the city; health service staff, who picketed York District Hospital in a protest about cuts; and firefighters. Soldiers, hastily-trained in firefighting techniques, took to the streets in their Green Goddess engines.

The Queen's eldest son may well have briefed her about one of the most exciting developments in York at that time. Prince Charles had visited the location off Coppergate where archaeologists were painstakingly uncovering a complete Viking settlement in 1977.

By the time of the Queen's 1988 visit to York, the site of that mucky dig had been transformed into the £2.4 million Jorvik museum, a state-of-the-art recreation of the Viking village. It formed part of the Coppergate Centre, which, from 1984, also boasted Fenwicks and C&A.

That same year work began on the city's outer ring road. This provided access to a former airfield being transformed into a controversial out-of-town shopping centre, the Clifton Moor Retail Park. Meanwhile, a fully-fledged footstreets scheme opened in 1987.

It was not change but renewal that drew the Queen to York in 1988, however. Four years after a blaze nearly destroyed the Minster forever, she was here to see for herself the remarkable restoration that had just been completed. Inside the gothic cathedral, 1,500 people had gathered for a thanksgiving led by the Dean, the Very Rev John Southgate. "We give thanks for those who, by their skill and bravery, rescued this Minster from fire and disaster," he said.

Twelve years later and the Queen has returned to the Minster, for another thanksgiving service. She will be visiting a different York again: a York of bottled beer bars and chrome-plated cafs; of smart modern buildings, such as the GA Life and MAFF HQs; of the Science Park and the City Screen.

It is a York without a York Story, but with an Early Music Centre; without ABB but with CPP.

Change has not only affected York. The Royal Family has altered more than we could have imagined in 1988, of course. It has been a difficult decade for our most symbolic institution.

But the welcome afforded the Queen today suggests that the city's attitude towards its sovereign has not changed. It is as heartfelt as ever.