We are currently working with the Institute for the Public Understanding of the Past (IPUP) at the University of York to discover more about its Georgian period

"York boomed in Georgian times and struggled to keep up with the social and cultural demands of the well-to-do. The ancient Hall of the Company of Merchant Taylors in York, still in use in Aldwark, found a new role – as a catalyst to the growth of Georgian high society:

• Theatre productions were first performed at the Hall by impresario Thomas Keregan prior to transferring to the newly built York Theatre Royal on St Leonard’s Place; 

• The Lord Mayor of York upped his game – hosting dinners and social events at the Merchant Taylors Hall whilst he had the Mansion House built on St Helen’s Square;

• The hall was let during Race Weeks, presumably for use as a social and meeting space;

• Women tailors expanded their business, making the mantua dresses popular at the time and selling them to “the fashionable”, who flocked to use the newly built Assembly Hall on Blake Street and

• During the French Wars in the early 1800s, the Hall was let to the Colonel of the Leeds Volunteers.