10/11/2011

Issued by Visit York

Ten thousand of York's Twitter and Facebook fans will be targeted by Visit York in a brand new social media campaign to get the city and the nation sharing top tips on favourite pubs and bars to visit in the city. Visit York plans to get the conversation flowing with as many suggestions as possible, such as: ‘a traditional pub to taste York's real ales', ‘a trendy bar to enjoy a cocktail', or ‘your favourite place to enjoy Sunday lunch with the family', to name just a few examples.

York is packed with pubs, bars and wine bars - many with fascinating histories and more lively spirits than just those in the bottles behind the bar; The Golden Fleece on Pavement claims the reputation for being the most haunted pub in Britain. York is blessed with a raft of unusual venues and some of the UK's oldest pubs; a former Elim Pentecostal church on Swinegate provides a grand setting for cocktails in the form of the Biltmore Bar and ghostly figures have been seen warming themselves by the fire in the Old White Swan on Goodramgate, dating from 1644.

The city is also home to the award-winning York Brewery, offering daily guided tours on the site of its working brewery which produces over 46,000 pints of real ale each week at its location within the city walls. York's very own award-winning ales, including ‘Guzzler' and ‘Centurion's Ghost Ale', can be sampled at four York Brewery pubs across the city. Visitors can even enjoy a pint of York's very own ‘Yorkshire Terrier' ale at The Yorkshire Terrier pub.

A brand new ‘York Pubs and Bars Guide', designed to offer visitors a ‘taster' of what the city's watering holes have to offer has also been launched by Visit York to support the online campaign, free copies of which can be picked up at the Visit York Information Centre at 1 Museum Street.

Gillian Cruddas, Chief Executive of Visit York, said ‘Social media provides a really effective platform for us to interact with our visitors, and for our visitors to interact with each other, sharing tips, on the ground, as they are exploring the city. We know that visitors use Facebook and Twitter to pick up recommendations so we want as many people as possible to get involved and join the conversation about the mix of traditional pubs, modern bars, haunted venues and live music we have to offer in our historic city.'

Visitors can post their top tips on Visit York's Facebook page www.facebook.com/visityork  and can tweet Visit York using #yorkpubsandbars at www.twitter.com/visityork  ENDS