My Yorkshire: Michael C Place

Michael C Place was born in Ripon and worked in Sheffield during the 1990s. He founded a creative agency in London before returning north two years ago and recently designed the brand identity for the Great Exhibition of the North.

What’s your first Yorkshire memory?

We’d get taken to Scarborough for summer day trips – my three sisters and I would be crammed in the back of the car, driving our parents mad. We’d head through Thirsk, up Sutton Bank, over the moors and into Scarborough. We’d swim at South Bay, and end with fish and chips and ice cream.

What’s your favourite part of the county – and why?

I love the Yorkshire Dales National Park – it’s breathtaking. Favourite spots are Aysgarth, where we’d swim as kids; the Lister Arms at Malham, which is fantastic after a climb over the cove; Malham Tarn and Malham Moor are great for clearing the mind too.

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What’s your idea of a perfect day, or a perfect weekend, out in Yorkshire?

I’d start at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park for a long stroll past works by KAWS, Ai Weiwei, Richard Long, Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth. A good picnic with pork pies is a must then I’d stop off for a pint or two at my favourite local, North Bar Social, to watch the sun set on the Chevin.

Do you have a favourite walk – or view?

Looking out from Stake Road over Semerwater towards Hawes is really beautiful for the sweeping vista of hills down into the valley. It’s so quiet, a real respite from hectic life.

Which Yorkshire sportsman, past or present, would you like to take for lunch?

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I was always rubbish at sports apart from athletics, so I would take the late Derek Ibbotson, holder of a 1957 world record when he ran a mile in three minutes 57.2 seconds. “Pasta wasn’t on the menu back then, and we didn’t have coaches up North. We just ran for the fun of it,” he said. I’d love to hear his stories first hand.

Which Yorkshire stage or screen star, past or present, would you like to take for dinner?

It would be the actor Brian Glover. As well as featuring in Kes and An American Werewolf in London he was a professional wrestler. In his words, “You play to your strengths in this game, and my strength is as a bald-headed, rough-looking Yorkshireman”. Brilliant.

If you had to name your Yorkshire ‘hidden gem’, what would it be?

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Definitely Farnley Hey, (pictuerd above) in West Yorkshire. Designed by Peter Womersley in 1955, it is one of Britain’s most celebrated examples of mid-century modern architecture. It has a room known as The Dancefloor with an inbuilt audio system intended for exuberant parties. It would be great to spend the night with friends testing it out.

If you could choose somewhere, or some object, from or in Yorkshire to own for a day, what would it be?

A fully functioning 1858 Wharfedale Printing Press (with operator). Little did we know that the house we fell in love with and bought was inextricably linked with Otley’s once thriving printing industry – one of the town’s many factories was right next to our house. We found lots of photographs and documents relating to the factories in dusty corners of the loft, including an order book showing where the presses were sold, with entries noting where they were lost at sea during the two world wars.

What do you think gives Yorkshire its unique identity?

Definitely the way we look at the world, and the way the world has been shaped by the way we look at it.

Do you have a favourite restaurant, or pub?

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Impossible to choose one. Fuji Hiro, a Japanese noodle cafe, is a real Leeds institution. The Maypole in Otley does the best fish and chips in Yorkshire. Also in Otley is a great dog-friendly cafe called Salami & Co. If in Leeds, it’s Whitelocks every time. For a more traditional setting and the best Old Peculier in the land, I head to the White Bear in Masham.

Do you have a favourite food shop?

I love a proper pork pie, so it would have to be Weegmanns in Otley. The Curious Hop real ale shop too, run by super-knowledgable and friendly Marcus – it’s another local gem.

How do you think that Yorkshire has changed, for better or for worse, in the time that you’ve known it?

I’ve grown up, lived and worked in various places across Yorkshire, and in 2001 left to go travelling with my wife before moving to London to set up our business. I couldn’t shake the feeling that I wanted to come home, and in 2015 we moved back north and re-established our studio in Leeds. Modern Yorkshire is really forward-looking, although it can also be super-traditional which (in the right setting) is brilliant too.

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If you had to change one thing in, or about Yorkshire, what would that be?

We drive into Leeds every day – there’s no station in Otley – and the roads just aren’t built for daily commuter traffic. The region could seriously rethink its public transport strategy.

Who is the Yorkshire person that you most admire?

David Hockney. We went to his last show at Tate Britain and I was completely blown away by the breadth of work he has produced. A real Yorkshire, (and national) treasure.

Has Yorkshire influenced your work?

Immensely. I’m a Yorkshireman, so there is a sense of independent, no-nonsense spirit inherent in the fibres of my being, and that definitely filters down through to the work I do. I was brought up in a family of grafters (my dad farmed pigs and my mum was a nurse) and I do believe that hard work pays off in the end.

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Who is your favourite Yorkshire book/author/artist/CD/performer?

It has to be Frequencies, the first album from the electronic music duo Mark Bell and Gez Varley, who recorded under the name LFO. It has been named as one of the “50 albums that changed music” and I consider myself extremely lucky to have had a hand in designing the sleeve when I was fresh out of college.

If a stranger to Yorkshire only had time to visit one place, it would be?

The Yorkshire Dales National Park. Be prepared to be amazed.