Bean & Gone Cafe

About Bean & Gone Cafe

Sat underneath the staircase, leading to Bootham Bar and the city walls, is the Bean & Gone Café, formerly a men’s urinals.

York Corporation had a policy from the mid-19^th century of providing public toilets near the city’s Bars and Posterns.

A fragment of stone wall that formed part of the Roman legionary fortress was exposed for the first time in 105 years during works on the café.

The remains, dating back to perhaps the 2^nd century, were discovered and then recorded in 1910 during the construction of the men’s public toilets.

After the work was finished, the ruins were concealed again, hidden away in a shallow basement, remaining almost forgotten for just over 100 years.

A glass floor was placed in the café, providing views of the wall, which is roughly one metre high but may have originally been four metres in height.