Bettys bids to show that life is no mug's game for York residents

A FREE cup of tea and hints on how to beat the queues to book a table at Bettys are on offer to York’s residents.

Staff at the 90-year-old company’s main tea rooms in St Helen’s Square and the Little Bettys restaurant in Stonegate are giving the advice as part of the York Residents Festival.

Staff will also serve a free pot of tea to anyone with a York Residents Card from Sunday until Friday next week. The caf manager at the St Helen’s Square, Una Heron, said: “This is our opportunity to show our local customers how very important they are to us. We want them to feel that Bettys belongs to them.”

Meanwhile, a carving dedicated to soldiers from the region which was created by a mason at York Minster’s famous stoneyard will be on show to the public as part of the festival.

The Keeper of the Souls grotesque was made by conservator and carver mason Lee Godfrey as an interpretation piece to represent the Yorkshire Regiment’s soldiers.

The carving, which will be put in place on the Minster later this year, will be on show at the regiment’s museum on Tower Street during the residents festival on Saturday and Sunday.

More than 16,000 York residents take advantage of the annual event, which provides free access to some of the city’s most popular tourist attractions.