Our ancient city is overrun by Harry Potter fans who pee in street & litter everywhere… now we’re getting our revenge
RESIDENTS of an historic city say it is overrun by Harry Potter fans who wee in the street and litter everywhere.
As a result, locals in York have welcomed a proposed tourist tax on visitors as a form of sweet revenge.
The city attracted nine million tourists last year to its famous Roman Walls, Medieval Minster, Yorvik Museum and the bustling Shambles shopping street - which inspired Diagon Alley in the Potterverse.
But tourists coming to get selfies in the famous spots make weekends "Hell on Earth", it is claimed.
Now the council thinks these visitors should pay a European-style levy - possibly adding £1 to each hotel bill - to help in the upkeep of the city. And the residents of York agree.
Hospital nurse Julie Smith, 34, told The Sun: "York is teeming with tourists at times, coming here for the Harry Potter type of experience down the Shambles and the Roman walls etc.
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“You can’t move at times for people taking selfies down the Shambles.
“I think asking visitors to York to pay a small fee is not unreasonable.”
Cleaner Shane Sayner, 47, told : "It’s absolutely dreadful now with all the hen parties and racegoers.
"There aren't enough toilets so people urinate in doorways and you can smell it in the mornings.
"It gets chaotic from around 1pm on a Saturday. Parents will take their kids into town and there will be people screaming drunk, waving inflatable genitalia."
She added that there's a "foghorn of noise, vomiting, urinating - it's horrible".
Retired accounts assistant Alan Brown, 64, moved to the city from Essex six years ago, and now calls the Yorkshire city home.
Alan said: "I generally avoid going into town on a Friday and Saturday because it is so busy.
“If the council will be putting the tourist tax into council services then I’m all for it.
“I don’t think a pound will make a difference to numbers visiting, but it will add up for the city.
“If you got to Spain or Greece you are paying a small percentage, a couple or euros, per night.
“As long as the money is put into the infrastructure of improving the city then I would not be against it.”
Alan was unaware how busy York is until he moved north.
“I had no idea before moving here how many stag and hen dos York attracts,” he said.
Boarding school employee Sallyann Driscoll, 50, has lived in York for 16 years and thinks the city could do with the extra cash.
“This year the council haven’t put the Christmas lights on the bar walls because they haven’t got the money,” said Sallyann.
“York is all about the tourists, which is great, but you know as a local to avoid the city at the weekends.
“You get the hen dos from Newcastle in the summer and the Chinese and Americans and other foreign tourists hitting the Shambles, which they see as a Harry Potter movie set.
“And at Christmas it is horrific. The centre is horrific at weekends. I go in the week and it is lovely, but you won’t get many locals going there on a weekend - it’s Hell on Earth.
“I would hope the tourist tax would be spent sensibly to improve the city. I hope it wouldn’t be wasted.”
Retired coal miner Michael McVeigh, 68, said: "I don’t see a problem with the tourist tax.
“Abroad, we have paid it for years. You know you are being charged as a tourist, but you don’t mind.
“When I went to Portugal it was only about two euros on our hotel bill.
“I think it is a good idea for York to do the same thing.”
York tourist tax proposal
In a bid to raise funds for the upkeep of its historic sites and infrastructure, York's council is looking to introduce a tourist levy.
Councillor Pete Kilbane, the council's economy executive member, described the levy as "a no brainer" during a meeting of the economy, place, access, and transport committee.
He said: "A lot of the posh hotels say their customers wouldn't think twice about it, and some are surprised there isn't already one.
"The question if how we do it.
If the hospitality industry is interested in doing it voluntarily, we're open to that, but they seem to have pulled away from it."
Katie Lomas, a Labour councillor and finance executive member, added: "People are already very used to paying an extra small charge per night on their hotel bill in Europe.
"What we want to do is look at how we charge a levy for tourists."
However, not everyone is on board.
Conservative councillor Chris Steward argued that tax could be seen as an unnecessary revenue grab, accusing the Labour-led council of looking for more money to fix financial "black holes".
He said: "Because these taxes are becoming more common on the the continent, a lot of councillors see it as a good way to get a bit of free money.
"I think it would just be seen as a revenue raiser."
While local councils currently lack the legal power to impose a tourist tax directly, York could follow Manchester's example by introducing a voluntary levy through businesses such as hotels or set up a business improvement district to collect the charge from hospitality firms.
Graphic designer Sarah Whittaker, 38, said: "There are benefits and downsides to having so many tourists.
"There are a lot of great stuff in York because it gets so many people visiting.
"I’m not sure how the council could regulate the tourist tax. How would Airbnbs work, for example?
“But a tourist tax is a good idea in theory."
Special needs teaching assistant Bev Wilson, 58, said: "We pay a tourist tax when we go to France, and we pay it at the hotel. I think if it was only something like five euros - maybe a euro a night. So, you could do that here.
“The tourist tax here could be spent on improving York.
“Tourism is a part of York, it wouldn’t be what it is without tourists.
“This time of year the centre is heaving, and I know some people have problems with the amount of hen dos and stag parties who come to the city.
“Town on a Saturday afternoon can be quite rowdy.
“But if the tax on tourists can help the city, then I’m all for it.”
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Retired transport manager Howard Whittaker, 70, said:”I think introducing a tourist tax is a great idea, there are far too many tourists here anyway.
“I hope the money would be spent on helping the people of York, maybe on better bin collections and the on street parking problems.”