POLICE cordoned off a library and pub in a busy York street today following reports that a woman had been sexually assaulted.

Scenes of crime officers were making a detailed forensic search of the area in front of The Poacher pub, and Acomb Library, in Front Street, Acomb, York.

A police spokesman said the assault allegedly took place at about 11.22pm, yesterday.

Residents on their way to work looked shocked because of the large area cordoned off by the police tape, which was in place from early morning.

Officers in marked police cars guarded the sealed area during the morning, as they waited for forensic experts to make an examination of the scene.

Ian Smith, 36, manager of The Poacher, said he was notified of the attack by officers at about midnight.

He said: "The police cordoned the whole road off at first - we were wondering what was going on. They took a statement from me and told me that there had been a serious sexual assault.

"The woman has been in the pub a couple of times. I can't believe it."

Tony Lidgate, spokesman for North Yorkshire Police, said officers were called to the scene near the pub in Front Street and that a man was arrested at 4.43am this morning and taken to York police station in Fulford Road for questioning.

A 19-year-old woman suffered a sex attack while walking home from a night out in Harrogate.

The woman was grabbed from behind in a pedestrian tunnel near the railway bridge in Bower Road between 2.30am and 3.30am on Sunday.

She fought off her attacker, who fled towards the town centre. The offender was described as white, in his early 20s, between 5ft 6in and 6ft tall and was wearing a dark-coloured hooded top with the hood up.

Anyone with information should phone police on 01423 539334.

Updated: 10:21 Tuesday, July 19, 2005