It was once a street of butchers and was known as The Great Flesh Shambles (from the Anglo-Saxon Fleshammels - flesh shelves) referring to the shelves that butchers used to display their meat. Some of the shops still have meat hooks hanging outside and shelves.
The Shambles beat the Royal Crescent in Bath and Grey Street in Newcastle, which came second and third in the poll asking people to vote for the most picturesque street.
As much as I like it, I don’t think I have been there more than a handful of times in all my years in York as I find it a bit too narrow and even daunting. Stonegate, also shortlisted, would have had my preference, being a Roman-Viking street lined with fantastic buildings from different ages and leading to the beautiful York Minster.
(A Google Street View of The Shambles)Also, looking at the Google street view (above), they must've shot that at some ludicrously early hour of the day because most of us York residents avoid the Shambles due to it being completely mobbed end to end by tourists.
