Subscribe to trusted local news
If you are accessing this story via Facebook but you are a subscriber then you will be unable to access the story. Facebook wants you to stay and read in the app and your login details are not shared with Facebook. If you experience problems with accessing the news but have subscribed, please contact subscriptions@thestrayferret.co.uk. In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever. By subscribing, you can help us get the story right.
- Subscription costs less than £1 a week with an annual plan.
Already a subscriber? Log in here.
04
Jun
Visitor information service returns to Harrogate
A visitor information service is to return to Harrogate for the first time since 2019.
It will be one of a range of services at West Park United Reformed Church funded by a £119,215 grant from mayor David Skaith’s Vibrant and Sustainable High Street Fund.
The grade two listed church on West Park currently hosts The Harrogate Story, an evolving exhibition exploring the history of the town’s spa, alongside a community events programme.
That 18-month project has brought together 30 volunteers whose efforts increased visitor numbers to the venue from zero in 2024 to 1,600 exhibition visitors and 1,000 event attendees last year.
The funding award, one of a series of grants announced by the Labour mayor in April, will build on that work by providing a visitor information centre, community art projects, digital displays, an upgraded event space available to hire, refurbishment of the café area and an immersive viewing room within the church spire.
The Harrogate Story exhibition at West Park Centre.
Harrogate’s council-run tourist information service in the Royal Baths closed in 2019 and never reopened after covid.
Conservative-run North Yorkshire Council moved the service to the nearby Royal Pump Rooms Museums and despite claiming this would enhance the service, it has shrunk to little more than a display of leaflets.
The old unit in the Royal Baths has remained vacant ever since, as the council has been unable to secure a tenant.
Volunteer-run
The new service will be run by volunteers rather than paid staff.
Mr Skaith, Mayor of York and North Yorkshire, said his fund backed “creative ideas from the people who know their area best”.
He added:
By supporting The Harrogate Story, we are helping to create a vibrant town centre hub providing visitor information, celebrating the spa town’s heritage through interactive displays, and offering flexible space for community events and exhibitions.
This is one of 65 projects we’ve supported across York and North Yorkshire helping to transform our high streets into vibrant destinations that residents and visitors will want to return to again and again.
Harrogate Heritage and Community Development Project was created to set up the West Park Centre at the church.
The venue now combines heritage preservation, community engagement and cultural storytelling, whilst retaining a home for regular church members.
A Harrogate Story postcard.
A statement by HHCDP trustees said the successful bid to the mayor’s fund was “a tribute to the hard work of volunteers, who have a vision for something genuinely ambitious and inclusive”.
Project lead Stuart Holland said:
This project will create a community and event venue of choice for local families, and a fantastic first impression for visitors to our town, enhancing the town centre offer and the wider prosperity of Harrogate. We look forward to welcoming people.
The Harrogate Story is currently open Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday from 10.30am to 3pm.
0