Helmsley Group buys three York city centre retail freeholds

Property investment and development specialist Helmsley Group has acquired three freehold buildings in York city centre over the past twelve months, in deals totalling £7,310,000.

The York-headquartered firm has bought 34 Parliament Street and 2–4 Market Place, 13–17 Coney Street, and 70 Low Petergate. Each was acquired on behalf of Helmsley Group's private client investors, and none of the three carries any borrowing.

• 34 Parliament Street / 2–4 Market Place — £1,385,000
• 13–17 Coney Street — £3,600,000
• 70 Low Petergate — £2,325,000

Why York city centre retail

All three sit on York's strongest retail pitches, in a city centre that continues to outperform. York welcomed 8.88 million visitors during 2025, and the city's visitor economy was worth £2.08 billion — a 3.6 per cent rise on the previous year — according to the STEAM report published by Make It York. Close to a third of that visitor spending went into York's shops.

That level of footfall has kept occupier demand for the best pitches resilient at a time when retail elsewhere has found conditions harder. Helmsley Group's own recent city centre lettings include Oliver Bonas at King's Square and The Puzzling Place on Merchantgate.

Quality assets on a fixed supply

The buildings themselves are the other half of the case. Coney Street, Parliament Street and Low Petergate are three of York's best-established retail pitches, and the historic buildings that line them are, quite literally, a fixed supply — no more can be built inside the city walls. All three acquisitions are freehold, in good order, and let to established national occupiers, Waterstones, EE and size? among them.

The purchases follow a deliberate strategy rather than three opportunistic buys: acquiring quality York retail assets at a point in the cycle where the firm believes rental values have already found their level.

Building a position on Coney Street

The Coney Street acquisition carries a further dimension. 13–17 Coney Street sits between Helmsley Group's Coney Street Riverside and St Martins Yard schemes, both of which secured planning during 2025. Concentrated ownership along a single street allows the firm to shape tenant mix and rental tone across the pitch rather than react to it.

Helmsley Group's syndicated portfolio, now standing at around £200 million, is held entirely without debt.

Edward Harrowsmith, investment director at Helmsley Group, said: "York is a genuinely rare retail market. Close to nine million people visit the city every year, roughly a third of what they spend goes into the shops, and the historic core cannot be extended — nobody is going to build another Coney Street. That combination of sustained demand and fixed supply is why we keep coming back to these pitches.

"These are quality buildings on the best streets in the city, bought freehold and without debt, and let to occupiers people recognise. We continue to review further York freeholds on the same basis, and the best of them tend to come to us off market."

Helmsley Group's syndicated property investments are Unregulated Collective Investment Schemes and are suitable only for professional clients, certified high-net-worth individuals and certified sophisticated investors. Helmsley Securities Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority under firm reference number 665743. This article is published for information only. It is not an invitation or inducement to invest, and it is not advice. Property values and rental income can fall as well as rise.