A venue claiming to be the first women’s sports bar and café in Yorkshire is coming to York.
Works are currently underway to convert a former café in Gillygate into Hera Social.
Venue owners Hattie Dillon and Erin Draper said on Facebook they aimed to make progress over the next few weeks and were excited to share more details about their plans.
It comes after a planning application for works on the building, which previously housed Osbornes@68, was approved by City of York Council planning officers earlier in August.
The conversion includes moving toilets to the Grade II-listed building’s ground floor and installing a wooden pergola in its garden.
Hera Social (York) Ltd, the business behind the venue, lodged an application in May to licence the empty unit for alcohol sales.
Plans proposed creating a high-quality café and restaurant serving a variety of drinks and requested permission to sell alcohol from 11am to 11pm every day and to open from 8am.
They added its rear courtyard would open from 8.30am and close at 9pm.
In their Facebook post on Friday, August 14, Hera Social’s founders said they were grateful for the support they had received so far.
They said: “The refurbishment of 68, Gillygate officially begins on Monday (August 17), and the next few weeks are going to be very exciting.
“It’s taken us a long time to reach this point, and we can’t wait to finally start sharing what we’ve been working on and what we have planned.
“Stay tuned, this is only the beginning.”
The venue’s Facebook page describes itself as: “Yorkshire’s first women’s sports café bar.”
It stated the venue is due to open this summer.
It comes after Osbornes@68 closed in August after nine years in Gillygate.
Owners Viv and Simon Osborne said they decided to close ahead of their retirement.
The owners said on Instagram: “It’s been an utter joy to welcome you all through our door’s each day, never knowing what each day would bring (one day it was a massive rabbit in a pushchair.
“We’ve had the pleasure of serving many fantastically loyal customers and made some great friends during our time on Gillygate.
“We however couldn’t have done this without our fantastic staff, so many thanks to you all.
“We will miss the chats, the laughs and of course the dogs, hopefully our paths will cross again, but in the meantime we’ll say goodbye with heartfelt thanks.”