Wheelwrights York
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Dog policies change, and we’d rather you didn’t turn up to a closed door. We check this guide once a year – last checked September, 2026 – but a quick phone call before you set off is never wasted.
York is one of the easier cities in the country to visit with a dog, and that comes down to two things.
The first is the walking. The historic core sits inside a 2.7-mile circuit of medieval walls, and you can cross the whole of it on foot in about twenty minutes. The second is that a genuinely high proportion of York’s independent pubs and cafés will have your dog inside rather than pointing you at a bench in the rain.
Put those together and you get the thing that makes a dog-friendly city break actually work: you can walk home. No taxi driver looking doubtfully at a wet spaniel, no driving after two pints, no leaving anyone shut in an unfamiliar room while you go out for dinner. That only holds if you’re staying in the middle of it, which is the whole argument for a city centre holiday home over a hotel out by the ring road.
We have properties across Micklegate, Petergate, Goodramgate, the Minster Precinct and St Saviourgate, and 18 of our 19 York holiday homes welcome dogs. So this guide is organised by neighbourhood rather than by pub, café and restaurant – find the area you’re staying in, or pick the food you fancy and work backwards to somewhere to stay.
Micklegate runs down from Micklegate Bar to Ouse Bridge, and it’s where the largest cluster of our properties sits – seven of them, from a two-person apartment up to a house sleeping six. It’s the best base in the city for a dog: two minutes from the river in one direction, inside the walls in the other, and the riverside path towards Rowntree Park is level, easy walking straight from the door.
The Ackhorne, St Martin’s Lane – A proper pub down a cobbled lane, with no rules about where the dog can sit.
Tucked off Micklegate down a lane you’d walk straight past if you didn’t know it was there. Real ale, no gastro pretensions, and the sort of place where nobody looks up when a dog comes in.
Staying nearby: The Ackhorne is a 2-minute walk from 71 Micklegate – Apartment 1, which has a private courtyard off the living room – useful for the last trip outside before bed without getting properly dressed again. Sleeps four. See dates and prices
FortyFive Vinyl Café, Micklegate – Coffee, records and a relaxed welcome, on the doorstep of our Micklegate properties.
Part café, part record shop, with an American country slant and food better than it needs to be. Small, so time it for outside the weekend rush if you’ve got a big dog.
Staying nearby: 87 Micklegate is a 2-minute walk – a three-bedroom apartment in a 15th-century timber-framed building, sleeping six. Close enough that a morning coffee run doesn’t need much planning. See dates and prices.
The Whippet Inn, 15 North Street – Modern British cooking in a small, warm room by the river. The one for a proper dinner out.
North Street sits just over the bridge from Micklegate. This is the closest thing here to a restaurant rather than a pub – book it if you want a real meal.
Staying nearby: Trinity View York is a 4-minute walk, a two-person apartment on the old Roman road into the city. Dinner, then a five-minute walk home – which matters more than it sounds when the dog has done fifteen thousand steps. See dates and prices
The streets immediately around the Minster and the busiest part of the city. Worth knowing that these lanes fill up from about eleven in the morning – an early breakfast or a late afternoon drink is a much calmer experience with a nervous dog.
Eagle and Child, 9 High Petergate – A 17th-century pub a minute from the Minster, and a rare find this close to the tourist trail.
Grade II listed, low ceilings, about as central as it’s possible to be.
Ye Olde Starre Inne, 40 Stonegate – York’s oldest licensed pub, down a passage off Stonegate, with a courtyard out the back.
Signposted by the gantry sign strung across Stonegate. The courtyard is the best of it in summer, and being tucked away makes it quieter than its address suggests.
Staying nearby: Both are a 1-minute walk from 50a Low Petergate, a four-bedroom house sleeping eight with a ground-floor entrance hall and utility space – which is where wet dogs, muddy boots and everything else can go before it reaches the carpet. The largest of our Petergate properties, and the one for a group. See dates and prices
Stonegate Yard, Little Stonegate – A covered, heated courtyard. The answer when it’s raining and you’d rather not sit inside.
Little Stonegate is a small square of bars off the main drag. The courtyard is properly covered and heated, so it works year-round.
Staying nearby: Stonegate Yard sits within a couple of minutes walk of our Minster Precinct properties, which are as central as anywhere in York gets – York Minster View looks directly onto the cathedral from every room. See dates and prices
Our Minster Precinct properties put you inside the quietest corner of the walled city, a few steps from the Minster. Goodramgate is just east, and both are a couple of minutes from Deans Park and the walls – which is about as convenient as a first-thing-in-the-morning walk gets.
Ambiente Tapas, 14 Goodramgate – Tapas, and one of the few places in York doing something other than pub food that takes dogs.
Useful when you want a change from pies and pints. Small plates, lively room.
Staying nearby: 7 Monk Bar Court is a 1-minute walk – a two-person holiday home on a quiet street right against the City Walls, which means you can be up on the walls within a minute of the front door. See dates and prices
The Perky Peacock, Lendal Bridge – A café inside a 14th-century watchtower, right on the river.
One of the more memorable places to have a coffee in York. Tiny, with a spiral staircase involved, so it suits a small dog better than a large one. Cakes and sandwiches rather than proper meals.
House of the Trembling Madness, Lendal – Beer hall upstairs, bottle shop below, and a strong claim to the best range in the city.
Note there are two branches – this is the Lendal one, not Stonegate.
The Judge’s Lodging, Lendal – Georgian townhouse with a beer garden, open all day.
The garden is the draw in summer. Big enough to cope with busy periods better than most on this list.
Staying nearby: All three are a 5-minute walk from our Minster Precinct holiday homes. Church House takes up to two dogs, which is worth knowing if you’re travelling with a pair.
East of the centre, where York gets less polished and more interesting. Fossgate and Walmgate hold most of the city’s better independent food and drink, and it’s all walkable from St Saviourgate.
Brew York, Walmgate – A working brewery with a riverside garden and forty-odd taps. The best of the lot if the weather holds.
Two spaces – the Beer Hall upstairs, the Tap Room below – plus a yard at the front and a garden at the back overlooking the Foss. Big, loud and relaxed, and nobody minds a dog stretched across the floor.
Staying nearby: Brew York is a 8-minute walk from 14 St Saviours Place, a townhouse sleeping eight round the corner from the Shambles and five minutes from the Minster. The largest property in this part of the city, and the one that makes an afternoon in the beer garden a walk home rather than a logistical problem. See dates and prices
The Black Swan Inn, 23 Peasholme Green – A timber-framed 15th-century inn, genuinely old in a city full of claims.
Low beams, open fires, a decent pie.
Spark:York, Piccadilly – Street food from shipping containers, with plenty of outdoor space.
Several independent traders under one roof, open-air seating, no need to book. Good for a group who can’t agree.
Pavement Vaults, 2 Piccadilly – Barbecue and cocktails, with a reputation for making a fuss of dogs.
Staying nearby: All three are within a 5-minute walk of 14 St Saviours Place – which, with eight beds and this many places to eat inside ten minutes, is the one to look at for a group travelling with dogs. See dates and prices
Castlegate runs from Clifford’s Tower straight into the middle of the city, which makes it one of the better-placed streets in York – the castle green and the Foss are at one end, the Shambles and Coppergate at the other, and King’s Staith and the riverside path are a couple of minutes away. It’s busy in the daytime and noticeably quiet in the evening.
Blue Boar, 5 Castlegate – An independent local with more character than most, and a short walk from nowhere.
Less polished than the Stonegate crowd and considerably more interesting for it. Good coffee, good cake, and the sort of place with regulars.
North South Café & Bar, Castlegate – Coffee by day, cocktails by night, with outdoor seating up against the castle wall.
An independent café and bar in a good spot near the castle. The outdoor tables are the draw – you’re sitting against a genuinely medieval wall with a coffee, which is not the worst way to spend twenty minutes with a dog.
Ate O’Clock, 13a High Ousegate – European cooking and one of the better-reviewed restaurants in the city, a few minutes up from Castlegate.
Worth booking, and worth knowing about if you want somewhere for a proper dinner rather than pub food.
The Last Drop Inn, Colliergate – A proper beer pub, independently run, in the block between Castlegate and the Shambles.
Local ales on rotation and no music, which some people consider the point.
Staying nearby: All four are within a 1-minute walk of 16 Castlegate – and this is the one property in the portfolio with an enclosed rear garden, accessed straight from the back sitting room. If you’ve ever spent a holiday clipping a lead on for every last trip outside, that garden is the reason to book this one. It sleeps eight across four floors, has a log burner in the front room and free parking for one car. See dates and prices
If you’re heading out for a longer walk, the path south along the Ouse towards Rowntree Park and the Millennium Bridge is the obvious route, and there’s somewhere to stop at the end of it.
Rowntree Park Reading Café – A café in the middle of the best dog walk in the city, with a terrace and a library.
Inside Rowntree Park itself, so less a destination than a well-placed halfway point. Breakfasts, home-cooked food, and a full library you can borrow from.
Partisan, 112 Micklegate – An independent café, restaurant and arts space, and a York institution.
Local produce, and a room more interesting than most.
Staying nearby: The riverside path to Rowntree Park runs from the bottom of Micklegate, so all seven of our Micklegate properties are within a a few minute walk of the start of it. It’s the reason we point dog owners at this end of the city first. See dates and prices
The Stone Trough Inn, Kirkham – A country pub by the abbey ruins, roughly 30-minute from York, and the right end to a proper day out.
Park at Kirkham Abbey, walk the valley, then sit by the fire with something substantial. The one worth planning a day around rather than dropping into.
Worth knowing: St Martins View and 71 Micklegate – Trinity Cottage both have parking, which makes days out like this considerably simpler.
Eighteen of our nineteen York holiday homes welcome dogs – two-person apartments, Georgian townhouses, a 15th-century timber-framed building on Micklegate, and houses sleeping up to eight. Almost all are inside the city walls or a few minutes’ walk of them.
Which means everything on this page is a walk. That’s the whole point of staying in the middle of York rather than outside it, and with a dog it’s the difference between a holiday and a series of small logistical problems.
Browse our pet-friendly holiday homes in York
Or have a look at our guide to dog-friendly things to do in York for walks, parks and days out. If you’ve got a question about bringing your dog – how many we can take, or which properties have enclosed outdoor space – our FAQs cover it, or call us on 01904 228007.