Wandering down the street in winter you might not expect to see bright pink tables and chairs out in the road or people lapping up giant ice creams, but head to Back Swinegate and that’s exactly what you’ll find at Licc (the Luxury Ice Cream Company). Open from 10-6 every day in winter and until 8ish in summer if it’s busy, this little place sells the best ice cream in York, and it’s all homemade.

They’ve perfected 150 flavours from the usual faves to ‘walnut and banana brown bread’ and if you avoid getting distracted by bunting, sweets and the sordid pinkness of it all you’ll find twenty or so in the magical freezer of dreams, waiting for selection. A small tub means two flavours and is only £2. One flavour in a cone costs the same, but my scoop of Malteser was absolutely huge and having already sampled four flavours (tasting is actively encouraged) I was glad that I’d been persuaded away from a triple with sprinkles.

It was only once I’d got outside I saw a board advertising ‘warm chocolate brownie with ice cream £2' which was almost enough for me to ‘accidentally’ drop my cone and cry until it was replaced with warm, sticky, cakey goodness topped with a ball of frozen dreams. The only thing that stopped me was that I wanted to be allowed back one day to buy a litre-tub of coconut, so I maintained decorum and sulked in silence, my delicious Malteser treat both the source of my distress and comfort.

I’ll certainly be heading back to Licc soon, and in the summer I plan to visit so often that I get a commemorative plaque on one of the pink chairs.

Photo courtesy of Licc.