Hocus Pocus Tiny Hotel: Meet the duo behind York's magic-themed hotel

With its medieval streets and haunted pubs, York is known for its spooky staycations.

However, fewer people know that one of York’s spookiest hotels was founded by two strangers over a jacket potato.

In 2019, Camelia Andrei took over the local sandwich shop, Krusties. Krusties had a reputation for its potato salads and jacket potatoes, but Camelia already had a dream of expanding into a boutique hotel.

“I'm passionate about hotels,” Camelia says. “I've wanted to have a themed hotel since I was 10 years old.”

“Opportunities, you know, just come onto your path and the universe aligns things for us,” she adds.

“We were just business neighbors,” says Camelia, “Valhalla is next door and he used to come for his jacket potatoes.”

The pair bonded over a shared passion for witchcraft and property design, and began renovating the property in June 2020. Hocus Pocus Tiny Hotel opened in June 2022.

Located near the Shambles, the 16th-century building is Grade II listed and strangely narrow. As its name suggests, the property only has five guestrooms.

In the “witch’s room,” Sorceryum, guests find an altar topped with a bottle of moon water. The attic room, Apothecary, is inspired by an old alchemist’s shop, with glass floorboards displaying scattered bottles.

Libraryum is a "psychedelic" room of bookshelves and dozens of mirrors, while Principium Magicae is designed as a medieval castle chamber.

Itinerandum is designed in the style of a Victorian railway station; Camelia and Vincent spent half a day at York’s National Railway Museum as part of their research.

For a spooky stay in York, guests can visit York Dungeons or sorcery-themed stores along The Shambles, like The Potions Cauldron.

Alternatively, take a guided ghost tour, although according to Camelia, Hocus Pocus has some ghosts of its own.

She says there have been a few “friendly” encounters throughout the hotel, including multiple reports of hearing a clinking Victorian drinks trolley in the hallway.

“Nobody was there,” she says, “there is not even enough space for a trolley.”