Recent news of the chain’s potential closure has forced many eyes onto Pizza Express. The restaurant has been a mainstay of the York food scene for a couple of decades now, occupying those grand premises right by the river next to Lendal Bridge. But how did a pizza restaurant come to occupy such a fancy building, and what went on there long before you lot piled in to stuff yourselves with garlic dough balls? Step this way…
Club land
Look up as you enter the building and you’ll see ‘River House’ set in stone above the grand marble column of the entranceway. Appropriately named, what with it being so close to the river, but the intended clientele were a tad swankier than we or thee.
You see, back in the middle of the 19th century, York was a fashionable place. Far more fashionable, we might add, than it is today. With the local gentry growing in wealth and influence, and with visiting rich types coming for the horse racing, York was in need of places for those posh types to hang out, far away from the poor natives.
In 1839 such a sanctuary was established at 5 St Leonard’s Place, opposite the Theatre Royal. The Yorkshire Club was a home from home for aristocrats and wealthy industrialists, who would come to wine, dine, play, and sleep. Membership was highly exclusive, and only those with an enormous bank account, and a penis, could join.
Rees-Moggian arrogance
If that sounds fun, here’s a social bomb drop: these weren’t the nicest of people. In 1859 the Poor-Law Guardians, a society that helped combat the atrocious poverty in York at that time, proposed to build new offices in Museum Street. The Yorkshire Club vehemently protested this, pointing out that the poor lived in ‘other parts of the city’, not near their precious club. Apparently they feared that a proximity to improvised people would cause them to become ill. Nice.
Despite their harsh views, The Yorkshire Club kept growing in popularity. In 1863 it was decided that a purpose-built home should be constructed, and a site was chosen by the river. Completed in 1869, just a few years after the brand spanking new Lendal Bridge beside it, River House became the new des-res of York’s landed gentry.
In the lap
If you’ve ever dined in Pizza Express, you might have gotten a taste of the luxury the gentlemen created for themselves. The club provided them with a dining room, a bar, a billiards room, studies and several bedrooms – all catered to by staff. River House also, appropriately, had its own river landing for water-borne pursuits like boating. Today it is the boat yard of York Boat.
The members would fall upon the club, feast upon the finest cuisine, stupefy themselves with whiskey, then (we assume) bellow with laughter as they made jokes about people less fortunate than themselves. Imagine Tory party HQ. Yeah, you get it.
However, unlike the Tory party the club’s popularity waned during the 20th century. Social clubs such as The Yorkshire Club were closing all across the country, as the number of aristocracy fell, while wealthy businessmen (who would not have been invited to join) formed their own clubs. Plus, following the Second World War, the population of York had become far more integrated, with the rich and poor rubbing up against each other on most streets. And no, that’s not a Grape Lane joke.
Downfall
By 1980 River House had been converted into offices; a trend continued today by Savilles Estate Agents occupying part of the building. Pizza Express arrived some time later, offering the ‘great unwashed’ a chance to enter a once-exclusive club and gaze across the river. For the price of a margarita pizza and side of chips, mind.
If Pizza Express does indeed shut up shop, we hope it’s replaced by a business that also lets the public in to experience the grandeur. Plus it’s nice to know that all those fat, privileged men are probably turning in their graves because common people have been permitted entry. Ha.
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