Half-way along Union Street, on the right, is the distinctive Ebenezer Chapel.
In 1823 the Primitive Methodist Society in Bridlington decided that Filey was a hopeless cause and it would be impossible to establish a Primitive Methodist Society there. John Oxtoby, a local preacher, asked for a final attempt to convert the people of Filey and was very successful. Ebenezer Chapel was opened in 1870.
The Fishermen of Filey became staunch Primitive Methodists and the town became known for the uprightness of its inhabitants rather than being a place of great notoriety. They did not fish on Sundays and one in 10 catches was sold to finance the chapel. They started spreading the Gospel in song and this was the start of the Filey Fishermen’s Choir.
In 1932, when the Wesleyan and Primitive Methodist Connexions were merged, both the Wesleyan and Ebenezer Methodist Churches continued side by side and significant differences between their congregations remained.
The Wesleyan chapel had a more formal style of worship, including a robed choir, while Ebenezer catered for Filey’s fishermen. By 1975 less than a handful of fishing families continued to support Ebenezer and in 1975 the building was closed.
Ebenezer was turned into a builder’s warehouse and shops and later converted into a block of flats called Fisherman's Chapel. The building still carries the wording Primitive Methodist Connexion 1870.
At the crossroads turn left into Murray Street, Filey’s main shopping street, and continue down towards the bay, passing the Memorial Gardens, commemorating the town’s war dead.
On the left, at the top of Cargate Hill, the cobbled street leading down to the seafront, you will see Northcliffe House.