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Monday 10am - 5:30pm Tuesday 10am - 5:30pm Thursday 10am - 5:30pm Friday 10am - 5:30pm Saturday 10am - 5:30pm Sunday 10am - 5:30pm

http://www.yorkghostmerchants.com/

York Ghost Merchants, York (2026)

20/03/2026

Friday Preview: Online release -The Riverman. Batch of 5,000. £19 + postage. 8x4x5cm. The Bowler hat entry period will be from 10am Monday 23rd to 10am Tuesday 24th March.
Among the colourful characters of Old York were lightermen & watermen of the River Ouse and Foss, whose job it was to transport people & goods on the river. Watermen carry people, Lightermen carried goods and transferred cargo to another vessel, or to shore. Collectively they were often referred to as rivermen. Their work was crucial during the medieval and early modern periods when rivers were key transportation routes and York was a major port, with evidence of rivermen operating in York in the 1500s

Our third scheduled release of 2026, this Ghost is a deep inky teal and white, the two colours blending and separating into watery rivulets running down the body. As with all of our releases, no two Ghosts can ever be the same and the variants of this are shown in the images. Each Ghost is accompanied by a randomly selected card from The Alphabet of People, Professions & Places which is a series of 24 collectible cards.
If you would like to be in with a chance to purchase, please visit The Bowler Hat page on our website between the specified times and click on the image of the Ghost which will take you to a form where you can enter your details. Simply visiting the page will not enter your details for the draw. Not all who enter the draw will be successful, notification either way will be received by the end of Wednesday 25th March, please check your spam and junk folders if you are unable to see your email in the inbox. Those successful will receive a single use payment link and have 48 hours to make the purchase. We are unable to accept expired payment links. More information on the process can be found on The Bowler Hat FAQ page on our website.
THE DETAILS YOU ENTER WITH WILL BE USED FOR SHIPPING. ERRORS WITH ENTRY ADDRESSES AND EMAILS CAN LEAD TO DELIVERY ISSUES- Please double check auto filled details and update these as needed.
These Ghosts will take up to 5 weeks to be made and sent in order of purchase, your order will be ‘Pending’ until we dispatch.

06/02/2026

Friday Preview - The Quilter. Batch of 5,000. £19. 8x4x5cm.The Bowler hat entry period will be from 10am Monday 9th to 10am Tuesday 10th February.
Our second Ghost of the year is a layered and vibrant offering; A sky blue and lemon ‘Dandy’, colours mixing to give touches of green beneath a darker blue peppered coat. Inside the box of every online Ghost purchase in 2026 you will find an alphabet card. The alphabet of People, Professions & Places is a series of 24 collectible cards, they are allocated by letter completely at random.
PLEASE NOTE we are unable to assign patterns to individual customers based on preference and we cannot swap Ghosts because of preference.
These Ghosts are handmade, and dispatch will take approximately 4 weeks, we expect to have all Ghosts shipped by early March.
If you would like to be in with a chance to purchase, please visit The Bowler Hat page on our website between the specified times and click on the image of the ghost which will take you to a form where you can enter your details. Simply visiting the page will not enter your details for the draw. Not all who enter the draw will be successful, notification either way will be received by the end of Wednesday 11th February,please check your spam and junk folders if you are unable to see your email in the inbox. Those successful will receive a single use payment link and have 48 hours to make the purchase. We are unable to accept expired payment links. More information on the process can be found on The Bowler Hat FAQ page on our website. PLEASE ENSURE ALL ENTRY DETAILS ARE CORRECT- THESE ARE USED FOR SHIPPING AND CANNOT BE AMENDED AT PURCHASE.
Thank you to all those who purchased Charity Ghost raffle tickets in January. We are taking a slightly different approach to the forthcoming charity raffles; there will be information to follow soon.

02/02/2026

The Shambles Phantom. Available from this morning onwards. Stone grey & black tears. Original size only for now £22 each.
The Shambles Phantom will only be available from The Shambles shop itself and will not be available online much like the St Anthony’s & Guild Room Phantoms.

29/01/2026

The Ironmonger Charity Edition.
Ticket bundle opportunities are offered as early bird incentives, tickets are available now, go to www.raffall.com and search Ironmonger or click the link in our Stories above.
We shall continue to run raffles for charity again this year. We will offer a mix of Charity Editions of online releases, Rare & Unusual exclusives and some very special one-off creations.
This Charity Edition Ghost is a metallic Ironmonger from the latest release, highly polished and peppered with a liquid iron compound giving a textured finish. The base of each Ghosts bears the ‘I’ stamp and the charity stamp of the heart and anchor. Each of these charity Ghosts will be accompanied by the ‘I for Ironmonger’ Alphabet card. There are nine Ghosts to win in this Raffall.
The Raffalls are open to people outside of the UK although if an overseas winner is selected at random then they will be responsible for covering any shipping costs. UK winners receive free postage (or collection) from our offices if appropriate.
Multiple ticket purchases have equal opportunity for success as ticket numbers are selected from the entire range of tickets purchased including individual tickets purchased as part of a bulk buy.
Winners will be notified by Raffall immediately after the draws are made on 5th February. For the funds to be released to the charities all winners must press the ‘accept’ button located on their Get Prize screen that is accessible via the claim button located on their winning tickets.
The charity we have chosen to support this time is The Family Fund- the UK’s largest grant-making charity for families raising a disabled or seriously ill child, on a low income.
86% of money raised will go directly to the charity (after the 9% Raffall commission & 5% Ghost Merchants apportionment). Thank you as always for your support and generosity.
Good fortune
TYGM

20/01/2026

Little St Anthony’s Phantoms will be available from The Dispensary from tomorrow ( Wednesday 21st ) onwards. £12.50 each.
There will also be a new Shambles Phantom available next month, Original sized to begin with, they will be for sale in the Shambles shop only.
We have managed to build up a more healthy stock of Phantoms and Polished Ghosts over the winter and consequently there is no longer a restriction of one per customer of these Ghost types.

We are pleased to announce the dates for Ghost Week VII as Saturday 24th October - Sunday 1st November. Further details will be announced in the Summer.

02/01/2026

A Happy New Year to you all, we begin 2026 with a Friday Preview - The Ironmonger. Batch of 5,000. £19. 8x4x5cm.The Bowler Hat entry period will be from 10am GMT Monday 5th to 10am Tuesday 6th January.
Inside the box of every online Ghost purchased in 2026 you will find an Alphabet Card. The Alphabet of People, Professions & Places is a series of 24 collectible cards (some letters are in shorter supply than others). The Alphabet Cards are allocated completely randomly, and specific letters cannot be assigned by request. Alphabet Cards can only be obtained through online purchases and are not available in the shop.
The Ironmonger is ash-black with a face & apron of white which dulls into running grey tones. Each Ghost bears different markings and the images illustrate some of the variations.
PLEASE NOTE we are unable to assign particular styles to individual customers based on preference. We cannot swap Ghosts because of preference.
All Ghosts are handmade, dispatch will take approximately 4 weeks, we expect to have all Ghosts shipped in early February.
If you would like to be in with a chance to purchase, please visit The Bowler Hat page on our website between the specified times and click on the image of the ghost which will take you to a form where you can enter your details. Simply visiting the page will not enter your details for the draw. Not all who enter the draw will be successful, notification either way will be received by the end of Wednesday 7th. Those successful will receive a single use payment link and have 48 hours to purchase. More information on the process can be found on The Bowler Hat FAQ page on our website. PLEASE ENSURE ALL ENTRY DETAILS ARE CORRECT- THESE ARE USED FOR SHIPPING AND CANNOT BE AMENDED AT PURCHASE.
Due to rising costs on all fronts, we are increasing our prices on standard Ghosts in 2026. Little ghosts will now be £9.50 and Original sized Ghosts £19. Rare and Unusual Ghost prices will not increase. Full details can be found on the FAQ page of our website under “Costs, Sizes & Materials”.
A reminder that the raffle draw for the Little Silver Black Box Ghosts will be made on Monday at 11am, winners will be notified soon after.

24/12/2025

A message of seasonal benevolence.

When snow dusted the rooftops, and the cold froze the dewdrops
It brought a shy delight; all of us smiling and wide-eyed
All happy exchanges, no longer strangers
watching it fall and subside
There was a certain togetherness, a seasonal benevolence
A warmth incongruous outside.

Our final post of the year is one of warmth & gratitude.
Gratitude to everyone who purchased a Ghost from us for the first time, and to the regulars who visit again & again. Warm wishes to customers who have become friends of the business. Those who stand on the sun-baked Shambles in the August heatwaves or choose to endure the early, dark, cold mornings under dripping umbrellas. Thank you to those who have managed to purchase online this year, through the lottery of the Bowler Hat or the fortune of catching a Clandestine release. Our hats are off to everyone who has entered a Charity Ghost raffle, your generosity & support have helped raise over £100,000 for ten charities in 2026. We still don’t believe there’s a business in the land which has such a dedicated, and devoted community of customers & collectors. Every great shop needs great customers and we really do have the greatest. Thank you one & all.
As founders of the business, we always like to take this opportunity to publicly pay respect & give thanks to our team of Merchants who make, sell, pack, meet, greet, entertain, plan & organise ( and so much more besides … ) We are blessed to have such a wonderful bunch of talented, creative, kind and hardworking people who wear the bowler hats each day. Their incredible efforts are what make our business possible, and we are supremely grateful to them all.

The shops close today at 2pm and the Merchants will take a well-deserved seasonal break; we will not reopen until 10am on January 2nd. The offices & workshop will not be fully staffed over the next week and emails will not be responded to until the new year.
2026 will begin with an online release of 5,000 Ghosts which we will preview on January 2nd.

We wish you all a joyful festive holiday and a happy & healthy new year to come.
TYGM

23/12/2025

Black Box Edition #29 The Little Silver Ghost. Edition of 15 hallmarked and numbered.
The most exclusive and valuable Black Box Ghost that we have made to date. In late 2023 we began working with an artisan jeweller on a project to create a little Ghost in pure silver. The result is an exact replica of our little sized Ghost (5cm tall), which is made from UK standard 925 sterling silver, 2.5mm thick. Weight approx 50g. The eyes are black enamel. On the base is the WRA makers mark, hallmark and edition number. The making process took six months, the skill and time invested make each piece a real labour of love. Silver is a metal which will tarnish (a natural chemical reaction) dependent on conditions, some may enjoy the different shades of grey to black others will want to keep the silver shiny. A silver polishing cloth is provided to clean the Ghost, please do not use any abrasive shop bought products as they will damage the surface.
We have held these Little Silver Ghosts under wraps for over a year as we decided the best & fairest ways to sell them. The first ten are to be sold by raffle on the Raffall.com website with individual tickets costing £2 each. The raffle is open to people outside of the UK, although if an overseas winner is selected at random then they will be responsible for covering any signed for shipping costs and any associated taxes or import tariffs. UK winners receive free postage, or the option of collection from our offices.
Multiple ticket purchases have equal opportunity for success as ticket numbers are selected from the entire range of tickets purchased including individual tickets purchased as part of a bulk buy. We have an extended 3 day ticket bundle opportunity, offering early bird free ticket incentives. 10% of ticket revenue will go to Macmillan Cancer Support. Tickets are available now, go to www.raffall.com and search Silver Ghost or click the link in our Stories.
Winners will be notified by Raffall immediately after the draw is made on Monday 5th January.
Five Little Silver Ghosts have been retained to sell by other methods in the New Year. The retail price of these Ghosts will be £950 when sold via standard channels.

19/12/2025

This weekend we are offering the opportunity to watch a rendition of the Charles Dickens classic “A Christmas Carol” performed by James Swanton. This is the version that we streamed last year, and you will be able to view it as a short film on our YouTube channel at any time from 6pm on Friday 19th December until 11pm GMT on Boxing Day . The performance was pre-recorded in The Guild Room at St Saviourgate last December and lasts approximately 1hr 20 mins.
Christmas Carol was written in 1843 at a time when there was a strong tradition of ghost story readings at Christmas; this will be the fifth Christmas that Mr Swanton has performed it with us, it has become part of our own traditions.
Tickets now on sale from the SHOP on our website only using an honesty box donation system. We kindly ask that anyone who watches donates in advance or immediately following the event. The ticket donation price is £2.50 with £1 from every ticket sold being donated to St Leonard’s Hospice; an independent charity providing specialist palliative care and support for local people with life limiting illnesses. The remainder after VAT will go to Mr Swanton himself.
In his previous performances of “A Christmas Carol” critic Charles Hutchinson wrote: “Dropping into character should really read dropping in and out of myriad characters, as the storytelling Swanton plays narrator and every role from Dickens’s story: men, women, children...ghosts et al. His face is as elastic as his voice in this tour-de-force solo show, where physicality, keen intelligence in editing, dark humour and chameleon acting skills all come into play.” If you still haven’t seen him perform it before then we recommend that you find the time, fill your glasses with good cheer and prepare to be entertained in the old-fashioned way.

05/12/2025

The Gilded Messenger - Charity Ghost.
For most scheduled large online releases this year a small number of the style have been made as Rare & Unusual limited editions to be sold exclusively by charity raffle. This is the Charity Ghost version of our Messenger Ghost.
This Charity Ghost is a Messenger from the latest release, carefully treated with a gold finish to highlight some of the more intricate aspects of its serendipitous pattern. The parchment which accompanies the Ghost (and rolls to fit within and can be completed with a message of your own choosing), will also feature gold highlights. Each Ghost will be stamped with the charity stamp of the heart and anchor. There are six Ghosts to win in this Raffall.
The Raffalls are open to people outside of the UK although if an overseas winner is selected at random then they will be responsible for covering any shipping costs. UK winners receive free postage (or collection) from our offices if appropriate.
Multiple ticket purchases have equal opportunity for success as ticket numbers are selected from the entire range of tickets purchased including individual tickets purchased as part of a bulk buy. Ticket bundle opportunities are offered as early bird incentives. Tickets are available now, go to www.raffall.com and search Gilded Messenger or click the link in our Stories.
Winners will be notified by Raffall immediately after the draws are made on 12th December. For the funds to be released to the charities all winners must press the ‘accept’ button located on their Get Prize screen that is accessible via the claim button located on their winning tickets.
We are supporting The Tiny Lives Appeal. Every year, around 375 babies begin their lives in the Neonatal Unit at York Hospital. These are babies born prematurely or with health complications. Babies who need specialist care, and families who need comfort, reassurance, and support during one of the most challenging times of their lives.
86% of money raised will go directly to the charity (after the 9% Raffall commission & 5% Ghost Merchants apportionment). Thank you as always for your support, kindness and generosity.
Good fortune
TYGM

24/11/2025

Christmas Tree Hanging Ghosts 2025
These are somewhat of a York Ghost Merchants tradition; we have made Little Hanging Ghosts each year since 2019, sometimes to sell in the shop only and sometimes online too.
This year we are only able to supply enough Ghosts for The Shambles, Dispensary and Guild Room, there will not be any released online.
Next year we hope to be able to sell Hanging Ghosts online too but our making schedules this year have not allowed it. We have approximately 1100 tea-stained Ghosts to choose from while stocks last, each one is different, and we hope that you enjoy choosing if you are visiting over the coming weeks. We are operating a one Ghost per customer per visit policy.
They will be on sale at The Shambles & Dispensary on Friday 28th November and at Guild Room appointments on Wednesdays in December only, £25 each.

Please be aware of our seasonal opening hours: The Shambles & Dispensary will be open seven days a week throughout December, we will close the shops at 2pm on Christmas Eve, we will be closed completely for our festive holidays, re-opening at 10am on 2nd January.

17/11/2025

Upcoming Changes to Guild Room Appointment Releases
We are updating the way Guild Room appointments are released to make it clearer, fairer, and easier for everyone.
From now on appointments will be released quarterly, on the morning of the last Monday of the following months:
November 2025, February, May & August 2026.
Each release will include all available appointment slots for the next three months.
To help ensure fair access, guests may book one appointment per quarter. If you have already visited within that period, you’ll be able to book again in the next quarter.
We hope with these changes, we’ll be able to open the Guild Room up to more people who haven’t been able to visit but also provide fairer opportunities for all guests.
If you have any questions, please first visit of Guild Room FAQ page or contact us via email guildroom@yorkghostmerchants.com

Hanging Christmas Tree Ghosts will be available to purchase in both shops from Friday 28th November. There will be a Guild Room special edition Hanging Ghost on sale in December Guild Room appointments only. There will be a preview of the 2025 Hanging Ghost on our Instagram Stories early next week.

If you are visiting the shops in York over the coming weeks may we politely remind customers to be respectful and polite to the Merchants on duty. The Shambles can be very busy during the festive period and regrettably we have witnessed incidents of rude, unkind & unnecessary behaviour towards our staff over the weekend.

York Ghost Merchants

20/03/2026

06/02/2026

02/02/2026

29/01/2026

20/01/2026

02/01/2026

24/12/2025

23/12/2025

19/12/2025

05/12/2025

24/11/2025

17/11/2025

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Monday	10am - 5:30pm
Tuesday	10am - 5:30pm
Thursday	10am - 5:30pm
Friday	10am - 5:30pm
Saturday	10am - 5:30pm
Sunday	10am - 5:30pm