Banner image courtesy of The York Press

The Willow Archive Project

“Why not wallow in the world of the Willow for a while?”, suggested the Eating Out in York and District Guide of 1973, and here we are, in 2025, asking you the same question …

Montage in homage of the Willow Disco owners, Soo and Tommy Fong The “Willow”, on the first floor of 37A Coney Street, started life as a well-to-do café in the 1930s – the sort an aunty might take her favourite nephew to on a Sunday afternoon in York. In 1973, it was transformed into a Cantonese restaurant, initially featuring a live band, a DJ and a dancefloor. Gradually the disco took over, so that by 2008 the Willow was operating exclusively as a nightclub. The Willow would enjoy a long and (mostly) beloved position in York’s night-time economy for over four decades under the ownership of Tommy and Soo Fong … until its sudden closure in 2015.

The memories people have of the Willow are vast, varied, and deserve preservation in the spirit of current action to recognise the cultural and historic value of the UK’s music venues. So …

Welcome to the Willow Community Digital Archive!

Do you have a story to tell about the Willow? Please get in contact through our Google Form ! You can also listen to our Willow Experience Spotify playlist, to bring back some of those glorious Willow memories. And if you are new to this site, then why not spend some time exploring the archive and learning about this truly unique venue from York’s not-so-distant past?

Do you have a story to tell about The Willow?

The Willow Community Digital Archive was co-developed by the University of York with ThomFong Ltd and Greenstone at the University of Waikato. It began as part of the StreetLife project, a collaboration between City of York Council and the University of York, York Civic Trust and York Music Venues Network. StreetLife was funded initially by grants from the UK Government’s Community Renewal Fund and UKRI’s Higher Education Innovation Fund. StreetLife and its legacy projects have explored new ways to revitalise and diversify York’s Coney Street and surrounding areas, by drawing inspiration from the city’s rich history, culture, and vibrant creative communities. The Hub at 29–31 Coney Street was established as StreetLife’s central pop-up venue in 2022, where stories of the Willow first began to surface in discussions with visitors about their memories of the street.