York has funded 30 free warm spaces this winter, from Acomb to Osbaldwick, sharing £41,920. The full list by ward, with what each one offers.

Thirty community cafés, churches and centres across York will run free warm spaces this winter with council money. Between them they share £41,920 from the Good Place, Warm Place fund.

The grants were approved by the council’s Director of Communities and Neighbourhoods on 14 October and published the next day. The fund drew 34 applications. Thirty were funded in full or in part and four were turned down (officer decision).

Every funded venue has to offer an indoor warm place with seating for at least two hours a week, and nobody has to buy anything. The money comes from the council’s Crisis and Resilience Scheme.

The council has not yet published its full Warm Places directory, with opening times, on Live Well York. Its Warm Places page says it will share the details “when it’s available”. Until then, the list of grants is the only published record of where they are. Here it is, by ward.

Bar chart of Good Place, Warm Place grants for winter 2026/27 by York ward: Guildhall £13,660, Westfield £5,250, Micklegate £4,890, Hull Road £2,912, Clifton £2,177, Fulford and Heslington £2,138, Heworth £2,100, Dringhouses and Woodthorpe £1,700, Osbaldwick and Derwent £1,593, Haxby and Wigginton £1,500, Huntington and New Earswick £1,500, Heworth Without £1,300, Acomb £1,200. Total £41,920 to 30 groups.
Warm space grants by ward. Source: City of York Council. Chart by The York Times
Share this chartFacebookWhatsAppX

City centre (Guildhall ward)

Eight venues, £13,660 in total, about a third of the fund.

  • St Sampson’s Centre (£2,500): open six days a week, with pay-as-you-feel hot drinks and food.
  • St Michael’s York Trust, Spurriergate Centre (£2,500): a volunteer-run warm space open eight hours a week, with a pay-as-you-feel café.
  • Door 84 Youth and Community Centre (£2,000): a weekly community café.
  • Lived Insights Community Research Café (£1,800): twice a week, on Monday and Thursday, at St Denys Hall, Walmgate.
  • York In Recovery, Wellington Row (£1,500): the Recovery Café and Hub, open six days a week.
  • St Thomas’ in the Groves (£1,500): a weekly community café.
  • The Hut (£1,200): Thursdays, 10.30am to 2pm, near Clarence Gardens, with hot food and drinks.
  • Over the Rainbow York CIC (£660): at least two hours a week in a level-access room, an LGBTQ+ safe space.

Acomb and the west

  • The Gateway Centre, Front Street, Acomb (£2,500, Westfield): the atrium café offers free food and drink and is open 12 hours a week.
  • The Place, Sanderson House (£2,000, Westfield): two drop-ins run by Chapelfields Community Association.
  • Foxwood Community Centre (£750, Westfield): pay-as-you-feel hot meals and hot drinks.
  • Lidgett Grove Methodist Church community café (£1,200, Acomb): hot drinks and hot food, run by volunteers.
  • St James the Deacon (£1,700, Dringhouses and Woodthorpe): a warm space three days a week.

South of the river

  • Planet Food York (£2,590, Micklegate): a weekly warm space with food, at Southlands Methodist Church.
  • St Clement’s Church, Community Connect (£1,800, Micklegate): a community café, four hours a week.
  • Clementhorpe Community Association (£500, Micklegate): a weekly café session.
  • Fulford Social Hall, run by Fulford Parish Council (£1,488, Fulford and Heslington): set up last winter and kept going through the year.
  • St Oswald’s Community Café, Fulford (£650, Fulford and Heslington): a warm space with a food pantry.

North and Clifton

  • York Travellers Trust (£1,927, Clifton): the Public Living Room, open three days a week, nine hours in all.
  • St Philip and St James, Clifton (£250, Clifton): soup lunches at the Monday afternoon warm space.
  • Oaken Grove Community Centre, Haxby, run by Haxby and Wigginton Youth and Community Centre (£1,500): a weekly community café with hot food.
  • St Andrew’s and All Saints Church (£1,500, Huntington and New Earswick): Cake and Company, a weekly drop-in for older people and anyone feeling lonely.

East: Heworth, Tang Hall and Osbaldwick

  • Choose2Youth, Hull Road Park (£1,920, Hull Road): every Thursday, 11am to 2pm, with pay-as-you-feel hot meals and drinks.
  • St Hilda’s Church, Tang Hall (£992, Hull Road): a weekly warm space. The grant buys six new chairs with arms.
  • Living Word Church community café (£1,850, Heworth).
  • St Wulstan’s Church, Fossway (£250, Heworth): a pay-as-you-feel café twice a week.
  • City of York Hockey Club (£800, Heworth Without): a weekly warm space in the Elmpark area.
  • Heworth Christ Church (£500, Heworth Without): Monday mornings.
  • St Nicholas’ Church, Dunnington (£893, Osbaldwick and Derwent): a community café twice a week.
  • St Thomas’, Osbaldwick (£700, Osbaldwick and Derwent): a weekly community coffee morning.

Libraries are warm spaces too

All 15 Explore York libraries are open as warm, welcoming spaces, the council says. They open from early morning into the evening, with free wi-fi and low-cost hot meals at the Explore Reading Cafés.

What it means for you

  • You do not need to buy anything at any of these venues. That is a condition of the grant.
  • Times vary. Only a few venues’ hours appear in the grant list, so check with the venue before you go.
  • Struggling with bills? The council’s household support page covers help with council tax. Our guide to York council tax bands has this year’s charges.

We wrote about the fund when it opened in September: York warm places grants. We will add the council’s full directory, with opening times, when it is published.