22nd August 2025
Putting down new roots locally
Small business enterprise is still alive and kicking in our local area, and we’re pleased to welcome three more new independent shops. We look at the history of their premises, with some interesting echoes. They’re all corner shops, an important feature of our historic trading. (Our books about the history of our local shops are here).
A history of outfitting
The first has opened on the corner of Nunnery Lane and Clement Street, with Alex Branton launching his men’s wear shop, Archetype, in premises previously housing the Flori bakery café.
Alex has built upon his love of fashion, music and culture, bringing together clothing, records, lifestyle goods and batch brew coffee under one roof. There’s a mix of menswear, womenswear and unisex pieces, from a rotating selection of brands.
Left is the new shop, on the corner of Nunnery Lane and Clement St.
He is echoing a very old theme, as from 1885 there were a number of tailors here on this corner, with James Allan and Thos Hebb, then from the very early 1900s Allan & Hodgson tailors.
The next picture is an old view of the eastern end of Nunnery Lane with Hodgson outfitters on the left hand side, in these premises over 100 years ago.
By 1937 Hodgson’s had joined forces with Miss Bland, a ladies' outfitter, the first in a line of ladies’ clothiers until Marie in the 1960s. After nearly 100 years however, by the late 1960s it became Reid’s Carpet Shop. Then in 2000 Abbey Signs moved in from across the road, one of two sign shops close to each other, but this shop finally closed in 2020.
In 2021 we welcomed Flori Bakery here, a small-batch, organic, Scandinavian-style neighbourhood bakery, specialising in pastries. Flori is now on Bishy Road, next to Sainsburys
Hand-thrown tableware
On the corner of Scarcroft Road and Nunmill Street Rock Garden Ceramics has opened an artist-led micro studio, gallery & workshop space for the local community, founded by Zak and Lydia. The new studio space also serves coffee by the York coffee roaster Harmony, using filtered water.
They specialise in hand-thrown tableware for restaurants, including some Michelin-starred, drawing inspiration from the landscapes and natural 
textures of Northern England. Local clients include Meltons, Flori and Robinsons, and they've worked with Roots, the Black Swan at Oldstead, Legacy at the Grand, Fish and Forest, Bosun's and the Black Wheat Club. They also create sculptural vases and fine art pieces, showcased in galleries across the UK.
Ceramicist Lydia, with some of her pieces
A long time ago, in 1893 this corner shop was a draper, George Thomas Newbald, but by 1911 he had moved to the corner shop which is now Sainsburys. In his place here came tailor William Bell, and we have a photograph of his shop here then, with his name on the door.
The shop in 1984 (Rob Stay)
From the 1930s the shop housed fruiterer’s, first Bellamy’s, then Carr’s, then Baker’s. In the 1980s Gordon and Jane David were trading here, later focusing on their stall in the Shambles market until they retired in 2017, when their son James took over. In more recent times the shop here housed the Good Food Shop, owned by Caroline Lewis, who eventually moved her deli round the corner to Bishopthorpe Road in 2005. There followed a few shorter term shops here, including Matthew Quinn, an off-licence selling wines, spirits and beers, and a shop selling cleaning products.
Arts and crafts then look a lead in this shop, as artist Andreas Jaroslavsky moved in around 2010, with his Corner Gallery, offering professional tuition. In 2016 artist Kay Dower took over, until her gallery closed in 2018. She was followed by Walter and May, selling gifts and homeware made by independent designers, then an antique dealer the Verdigris House, until 2023.
In 2024 this shop became Flori bakery, an offshoot from their Nunnery Lane shop, which Lottie Rodgers had opened in 2021. This year they moved round the corner to the shop next to Sainsbury’s.
An award-winning patisserie
Finally at Fairfax Corner, on the corner of Lower Priory Street and Fairfax Street in Bishophill, we now have Shutishuti Patisserie, an award-winning, produce-led micro-bakery.
Owner and chef Eszter Takacs, who is originally from Hungary, is keen to highlight seasonal, local, responsibly farmed and foraged ingredients in all their cakes and bakes. Shuti is the Hungarian word for cake and she also specialises in celebration cakes to order. The shop seats about ten people to eat in, and they serve savoury pastries too to complement the cakes and tarts, along with artisan teas and locally roasted coffee.
This shop has a long history as a grocer and beer retailer. Its premises, built in the 1860s, allowed the shopkeeper to live here with their family. A long range of general shopkeepers were here, in recent times E.Seavers (1939-51), Stanley Wood (1955) and from 1969 T. Dooley, until the 1980s. The Jaggers bought it and ran it briefly as a shop before moving to the corner of Victor Street. This shop became a community café, Refill at Fairfax Corner, in 2021, arising from a sister project, Planet Food, run by Beverley Hadfield, at Southlands Church, off Bishopthorpe Road. Refill was a take and share food bank, making use of surplus food to run a community fridge for those in need. It closed in 2024.
