A tour guide from York who takes visitors to the site of hangings, beheadings and hauntings has won a top international award.
The Bloody Tour of York has won the 2024 European Arival TourReview Spotlight Award for Best Sightseeing Tour within One City.
Run by Alicia Stabler as the colourful costumed character of Mad Alice, The Bloody Tour of York won against nine other European tours based in Krakow, Munich, Prague and Budapest.
The awards ceremony held in Berlin, Germany, was part of the Arival 360 Tourism Conference. Businesses won awards based on their online customer reviews.
The Bloody Tour of York tour has been operating since 2013.
Alicia said: “It began as a small idea when I first left university 18 years ago. Having worked at various museums within the city I wanted to focus on the stories I was brought up on as a child in York and teach people about the darker side of history.
“We’re so fortunate that York has hundreds and hundreds of years of history – much of it soaked in blood. History can be immensely fun if presented the right way and that’s where the character of Mad Alice comes in handy.
“Mad Alice is one of our local legends, there’s a street called Mad Alice lane and supposedly in the 19th century Alice Smith lived there who unfortunately went mad and began to confess to crimes she didn’t commit.
“The story goes she was hanged for nothing more than being insane. However there is no evidence she actually existed. As my real name is a variation of Alice, it seemed only natural to adopt the persona.”
As well as gaining more than 2,000 five-star reviews across TripAdvisor, Viator, Google and Facebook, The Bloody Tour of York is now a serial award winner.
It has previously won the Visit York Tourism Award for Best Experience three times and was awarded Bronze in the Welcome to Yorkshire White Rose Awards for Best Experience in Yorkshire.
The tour is a current finalist in the 2024 Visit York Tourism Awards for Best Experience and Best of York in a ceremony to be held tomorrow (Thursday).
