Stanhope
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9 Micklegate, York · since 1974

Forty minutes with an optometrist, and every price on the page.

Stanhope is an independent practice inside the bar walls. Three optometrists, two dispensing opticians, OCT and retinal imaging included in every full examination — and an NHS sight test, free, for everyone entitled to one.
Book an examinationSee the fees
Today
Open until 17:30
NHS sight tests
Yes — free if eligible
GOC business reg.
C-04117
Established
1974
Show how sight changes what you see

Myopia — the eye focuses light in front of the retina, so distance blurs.A minus lens moves the focus back onto the retina. Sharp again.Hypermetropia — the focus would land behind the retina, so near work strains.

Urgent eyecare · CUES

Something has changed in your vision today?

Do not wait for an appointment and do not sit in A&E. We hold urgent slots every weekday under the NHS Community Urgent Eyecare Service. Telephone triage first, then a face-to-face appointment normally within 24 hours. No GP referral needed, and no charge.
  • Flashes
  • New floaters
  • Sudden loss of vision
  • Red, painful eye
  • Something in the eye
  • Sudden double vision
01904 668210Call before 16:00 for same-day triage. Out of hours, ring NHS 111.
What we do

Six clinics, one practice

Eye examinations

Forty minutes. Refraction, slit lamp, intraocular pressure, visual fields where indicated, plus OCT and retinal photography in the full examination. You leave with your prescription in writing.
NHS or £46

Contact lenses

Daily disposables through to toric, multifocal and rigid gas permeable. Keratoconus and post-graft fitting by Tomasz Bielak, who holds the BCLA fitting certificate.
Fitting from £42

Children & myopia management

Free NHS examinations for under-16s, annually. Cycloplegic refraction where needed, axial length monitoring, and myopia control with MiSight or MiYOSMART on a monitored plan.
NHS · plan £28/mo

Dry eye clinic

Tear film break-up time, meibography and lid assessment for blepharitis and MGD. A management plan you can actually keep up, reviewed at six weeks.
First visit £70

Urgent eyecare

Flashes, floaters, red eye, foreign body and sudden change. Commissioned locally as CUES, so it is free at the point of use. Ruth Ellery prescribes independently, which means most cases finish here.
NHS · no charge

Dispensing & glazing

Measured on the frame you have chosen, not off a photograph. We glaze single vision on site, usually inside three working days; varifocals take five to seven.
Frames from £69
Fees · from 1 April 2026

What it costs, before you ring

Every fee we charge is on this page. If you are entitled to an NHS sight test we will tell you before we book you, not after.
  • NHS sight testFor anyone in the list opposite. Forty minutes, same examination as the private one.
    No chargeNHS funded
  • Private eye examinationRefraction, slit lamp, tonometry, fields where indicated. 40 minutes.
    £4640 min
  • Stanhope full examinationThe above plus OCT and retinal photography, with the images kept and compared at every visit.
    £7855 min
  • OCT added to an NHS testThe scan on its own, alongside a funded sight test.
    £38add-on
  • Contact lens fittingNew wearer £62, existing wearer £42. Includes the teach and a trial pair.
    £42–62per fitting
  • Dry eye assessmentFirst appointment £70, six-week review £34.
    £70first visit
  • Myopia managementAssessment £95, then a monitored plan including lenses and six-monthly reviews.
    £28per month
  • Urgent eyecare (CUES)Flashes, floaters, red eye, foreign body. Telephone first.
    No chargeNHS funded
  • Stanhope Eyecare PlanAnnual full examination, OCT, unlimited adjustments and repairs, 15% off a second pair.
    £13.50per month

Your sight test is free if you

  • are under 16
  • are 16, 17 or 18 and in full-time education
  • are 60 or over
  • have been diagnosed with diabetes or glaucoma
  • are 40 or over with a parent, sibling or child who has glaucoma
  • have been told by an ophthalmologist you are at risk of glaucoma
  • are registered sight impaired or severely sight impaired
  • receive Pension Credit Guarantee Credit, Income-based JSA, or Universal Credit and meet the criteria
  • hold a valid HC2 certificate
  • are eligible for an NHS complex lens voucher
Not sure? Ring and read us the first line of your benefit letter — it takes a minute and we would rather check than charge you.
The register

Who will actually see you

Every clinician here is on the General Optical Council register, and every number below is searchable at optical.org. Check us before you come.
Ruth ElleryMCOptom · DipTp(IP)
Principal optometrist and independent prescriber. Glaucoma co-management and the urgent eyecare clinic. Bought the practice from the Stanhope family in 2016.
01-24518Optometrist
Adaeze NwankwoMCOptom · PhD
Optometrist. Paediatric refraction and myopia management; runs the axial length monitoring programme. Doctorate in retinal image analysis from Manchester.
01-31907Optometrist
Tomasz BielakMCOptom
Optometrist. Specialist contact lenses — keratoconus, post-graft and orthokeratology. Holds the BCLA contact lens fitting certificate.
01-29740Optometrist
Priya RavalFBDO
Dispensing optician and practice manager. Complex and high-index dispensing, prism work, and every children’s frame that leaves the building.
D-16204Dispensing optician
Callum HedleyFBDO
Dispensing optician. Occupational and sports lenses, and the glazing bench — the reason single vision goes out in three days rather than ten.
D-19883Dispensing optician
Stanhope Optometrists Ltd is registered with the General Optical Council as a body corporate, number C-04117. Spectacles for under-16s and for registered sight-impaired patients are supplied by, or under the supervision of, a registered practitioner, as the Opticians Act requires.
Frames & lenses

What you will actually pay for glasses

Frame price and lens price, separately, so you can see which one you are changing. Anti-reflection coating and a scratch warranty are included on every lens we glaze.

Micklegate

Our own range. British-made acetate and stainless steel, ten shapes. The frame most NHS vouchers cover outright.
From £69

Independent designers

Small European and Japanese workshops — hand-cut acetate, beta-titanium, sprung hinges.
£139–279

Lenses

Single vision from £45. Varifocals in three grades. High index for stronger prescriptions.
From £45

If you qualify for an NHS optical voucher

The voucher is a fixed amount set by the Department of Health and it comes off the total, whatever you choose.
Voucher A
£42.40
Voucher B
£64.26
Voucher C
£94.14
Voucher D
£212.40
Voucher E
£73.10
Voucher J
£61.77
What people say afterwards

Reviews from the people we've worked with.

MH
Margaret Hoyle
Bishopthorpe · urgent eyecare

“I rang on a Tuesday morning about a shower of floaters in my left eye. Ruth had me in at 11:20, dilated me, found a posterior vitreous detachment and no tear, and wrote to my GP the same afternoon.”

DW
Dan Whitaker
Acomb · myopia management

“Our daughter’s prescription had moved −0.75 in a year. Adaeze measured her axial length, explained what that meant without frightening either of us, and put her on MiSight.”

IA
Ife Adeyemi
Fulford · specialist contact lenses

“Twenty-two years in rigid lenses and three practices telling me nothing else would work with keratoconus. Tomasz fitted me with sclerals in two visits.”

Your prescription

It is yours, and you can take it anywhere

A worked example. Yours will be handed to you, signed, before you leave the consulting room.
EyeSPHCYLAXISADDPRISM
Right (R)−2.25−0.75175+2.00—
Left (L)−2.00−0.50010+2.00—
  • SPHSphere — how short- or long-sighted you are. Minus is short-sighted.
  • CYLCylinder — the amount of astigmatism, if you have any.
  • AXISThe orientation of that astigmatism, in degrees from 1 to 180.
  • ADDThe extra reading power added for close work.
  • PRISMCorrection for how the two eyes work together. Usually blank.
  • PDPupillary distance — the gap between your pupils, in millimetres.

The law, in one sentence

Under section 26 of the Opticians Act 1989, whoever tests your sight must give you — immediately after the test — either a signed written prescription or a signed written statement that you do not need one. It is your property, and you may take it anywhere.
We will also give you your pupillary distance if you ask for it. Some practices will not. There is no good reason for that.
Opticians Act 1989, s.26

Book an examination

Weekdays 09:00–17:30, Thursdays until 19:30, Saturdays 09:00–16:00. Ring us, or send the form and we will call you back the same working day.
Contact us