THE YORK BRIEF ⏰ Wednesday, 1st April 2026
📍 IN BRIEF York's medieval gates get brilliant new tenants. £16.5m hits the roads. Race Across the World lands in your snickelways. Sir Lenny Henry is coming. And today, thousands of York workers wake up to a pay rise.
THE YORK BRIEF ⏰ Wednesday, 1st April 2026
Your Daily Digest of Everything Happening in York.
SUBSCRIBE TO THE YORK BRIEFHappy Wednesday and welcome to April, York. The city is starting the new month with its historic gates finding fresh purpose, its roads finally getting some serious love, and the BBC's Race Across the World turning your Shambles into a race track. Not bad for a Wednesday. Brew's on - let's get into it.
💼 BUSINESS & ECONOMY
💷 York Workers Wake Up to a Pay Rise - Check Your Payslip - Today is the day the National Living Wage rises across the UK - and it directly affects thousands of York workers. From this morning, the NLW for anyone aged 21 and over increases from £12.21 to £12.71 per hour - a 4.1% uplift worth around £1,000 a year for a full-time worker. Workers aged 18–20 see an even bigger jump, from £10.00 to £10.85 (8.5%), and 16–17 year olds and apprentices rise to £8.00 an hour. The changes affect staff across York's hospitality, retail, care and service sectors particularly. The key advice today: check your payslip — because not every employer gets the increase right first time. Anyone paid less than the new legal minimum can report it to HMRC. | York Press | GOV.UK
🌍 Simpson Associates Secures Export Grant With City of York Council Support - York-based data and AI firm Simpson Associates has secured a £10,000 Get Exporting grant - supported by City of York Council - to accelerate the company's move into international markets. The award-winning firm, which counts St John Ambulance and the British Heart Foundation among its clients, says the funding has "helped accelerate" its export journey. The grant forms part of the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority's wider £635,000 Get Exporting programme, which is forecast to unlock over £45 million in new global trade across the region. | City of York Council
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🏛️ HERITAGE
🏰 York's Ancient Gates Get Brilliant New Tenants - Two of York's most iconic medieval gatehouses are coming back to life, and in rather wonderful ways. Micklegate Bar, the Grade I-listed 12th-century gateway through which monarchs have traditionally entered the city, is set to become an art shop and studio run by professional printmaker Andy Winn, who plans to open Drawne Up there in May. The ground floor will be a shop and working studio where visitors can watch him create, the second floor a gallery, and the third floor an exhibition space for local artists. Meanwhile, The Yorkshire Soap Company is close to completing a deal to move into Monk Bar on Goodramgate — the tallest of York's four main historic gatehouses — after receiving council planning approval in February. Both buildings had been empty since York Archaeology's visitor experiences closed. | Gazette & Herald | YorkMix
🚗 TRANSPORT & INFRASTRUCTURE
🛣️ York's Roads Getting a 50% Funding Boost - £16.5m Plan Published Today - Good news for anyone who's winced at a pothole recently. City of York Council has today published its annual highways maintenance plan, committing £16.5 million to roads, footways, street lighting, drainage and more across the city - a full 50% increase on last year's investment. The plan covers repair schemes from Acomb to Osbaldwick, city centre footway repairs, street lighting improvements in Shipton, and walking and cycling route work around the Knavesmire. York is responsible for 500 miles of roads, 660 miles of footpaths and 23,000 street lights. | City of York Council
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🚂 More Trains Between York and Scarborough - From December 2028 - Commuters on the York–Scarborough route have something to look forward to, just not immediately. Mayor David Skaith has secured Government backing for extra peak-time TransPennine Express services on the route, with new trains at 6:35am and 5:35pm from York to Scarborough, and at 7:30am and 6:30pm in the other direction. The catch is the wait — it won't happen until December 2028, as TPE needs time to recruit and train additional drivers and conductors. TPE managing director Chris Jackson said the new services will give commuters "more choice and flexibility at the times they need it most." The improvements will also connect with the planned new Haxby station and the wider TransPennine Route Upgrade. | Gazette & Herald | York Press | YorkMix
🔧 May Bank Holiday Rail Disruption - Plan Ahead - A reminder: major Network Rail engineering works on the East Coast Main Line between York and Northallerton will affect services on both 2–4 May (May Day) and 23–25 May (Spring Bank Holiday). LNER trains will terminate at York, TransPennine Express will run no York–Northallerton services, and CrossCountry runs replacement buses. Check your journey before you travel. | Gazette & Herald
🎭 WHAT'S ON
🌍 Race Across the World Is Now Live in York's Streets - York has officially become the latest city to host Race Across the World: The Experience - the official live game of the hit BBC show - and it's open right now. Teams of 2–8 race on foot through York's historic snickelways, solving escape room-style puzzles at three checkpoints, including The Shambles, York Minster and Dean's Park, while managing an in-game budget of international currency to buy clues and unlock routes. The 5km adventure takes around 2–3 hours. Teams are scored on speed and budget remaining, with results on a live leaderboard. Tickets from £20 per person at raceacrosstheworldexperience.com. Following huge success in London and Manchester, founder Tom Rymer said: "York, are you ready for your race?" | Yorkshire Post | Gazette & Herald
🎤 Sir Lenny Henry Is Coming to York This Summer - One of Britain's most beloved comedy icons is heading to the Grand Opera House on Tuesday 23rd June — his first UK tour in over a decade. Still At Large is part stand-up, part storytelling, covering Lenny's five decades in entertainment from The Lenny Henry Show and Chef! to his dramatic turn as Sadoc Burrows in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, and the co-creation of Comic Relief. He's described the show as exploring "the many versions of Lenny." Tickets via fane.co.uk/lenny-henry. | YorkMix | Gazette & Herald
🎵 Great Yorkshire Record Fair - This Saturday at York Railway Institute - Vinyl lovers, clear your Saturday. The Great Yorkshire Record Fair takes place at York Railway Institute on Saturday 4th April, from 10am to 4pm. Organised by the team behind the Record Plant shops in Leeds and York, the event features over 200 tables of traders from across the country with thousands of records spanning every era and genre. Record Plant co-owner John-Paul Craven said: "With our Leeds Corn Exchange fair fully booked month in and month out, we thought it would be a great idea to put a sister event on in our second home — York." Entry details via York Press. | York Press
🚨 CRIME & EMERGENCY
🔥 Youths Deliberately Set Fire to Woodland Near Earswick - York fire crews responded to reports of youths setting a fire in woodland near Earswick. Crews attended and extinguished the blaze — the cause believed to be deliberate. Police were informed. | YorkMix | York Press
⛳ Family Speaks After Man's Body Found Near Oakdale Golf Course - A family has spoken publicly following the discovery of a man's body near Oakdale golf course in the area north of York. North Yorkshire Police are investigating the circumstances of the death. Full family statement via York Press.
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🏗️ PLANNING
🎾 Padel Court Plans for Dunnington — Refused - Plans to build padel courts at a site in Dunnington on York's eastern edge have been refused by planners. | BBC News
👥 COMMUNITY
✊ 50 York Activists Join Historic Together Alliance March in London - Fifty York residents joined what organisers described as the largest anti-far-right demonstration in British history — the Together Alliance march in London on Saturday 28th March, which drew an estimated half a million people to the streets of central London. The York contingent was co-organised by Julie Forgan of Together Alliance York and Unison, who called it "making history" and said the march demonstrated "that most people want unity and don't blame refugees and migrants for the problems we face." Many York attendees said it was their first political rally. The march was a direct response to the September 2025 Tommy Robinson-led Unite the Kingdom rally. | York Press
🏡 Haxby Finally Gets Its Post Office Back - In a New Permanent Home - After months of campaigning, petitions backed by over 2,000 residents, and a stint in a temporary home at Oaken Grove Community Centre, Haxby has a permanent post office again. The new branch opened on Monday at the former Dutch Nurseries store on The Village, close to the Haxby Surgery, replacing the service lost when Morrisons Daily closed its branch last May. York Outer MP Luke Charters, who campaigned hard for the reopening, called it "fantastic" and said it had already been "so well used by the community." Councillor Ian Cuthbertson added: "Residents told us loud and clear how important it was to keep a post office in the community — and we worked hard to make that happen." | Gazette & Herald | YorkMix | York Press
🥚 Ebor Court Care Home Delivers Easter Eggs for York Families in Need - Residents and staff at Ebor Court Care Home in Nether Poppleton have been collecting Easter eggs for families experiencing hardship across York, in partnership with the I Am Reusable Food Bank. The campaign was inspired by resident Shirley Jones, whose Christmas Wish project last year motivated the care home community to keep giving through 2026. John McGall is distributing the eggs from I Am Reusable. Donations can still be dropped at Ebor Court Care Home, Great North Way, Nether Poppleton, YO26 6RB. | Gazette & Herald | York Press
🔔 Farlington's Church Bells Ring Again After 14 Years of Silence - The bells of St Leonard's Church in Farlington, a village just north of York, rang out again on 23rd March for the first time since 2012, after a major restoration project spanning years of fundraising, grant applications and specialist work. Around 50 people gathered to witness the bells being lifted back into the newly repaired turret. One of the bells dates from the 14th century and was originally cast in the East Riding; the other is from the 16th century, cast in York near Jubbergate. bells will ring for Easter Sunday at 10:30am. | Gazette & Herald | York Press
📚 Free Activity Books for Young Passengers on TransPennine Express - TransPennine Express has launched a free children's activity book — perfectly timed for the Easter school holidays — available to families on all routes through York. The booklet is designed for children aged 4–11 and can be requested directly from onboard hosts. It features puzzles, colouring, geography games and introduces children to the TPE network, including characters like Nya, the company's own Pets as Therapy dog. New research by TPE found that a quarter of young passengers find train journeys more exciting than travelling by car, bus or boat. TPE's customer experience director Andrew McClements said: "It's a great way to introduce important safety messages and the excitement of train travel." | Yahoo News UK | Transpenine Express
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