Financial woes force Harrogate café to close

A café set up to reduce food waste, loneliness and food poverty in Harrogate has been forced to close due to financial pressures. 

Resurrected Bites’ Give As You Can café has been held at St Paul’s United Reformed Church in Harrogate on Wednesdays, but low footfall and high costs have made it unviable. 

Michelle Hayes, director and founder of Resurrected Bites, told the Stray Ferret: 

“We’re making such a loss that we’re getting to the point where we can’t cover staff wages. We can’t sustain it.” 

Resurrected Bites also runs a community groceries scheme with bases in Harrogate and Knaresborough for people in food poverty, as well as two other cafés, at Gracious Street Methodist Church in Knaresborough on Fridays and at Killinghall Methodist Church on Thursdays, which she said are still doing well. 

Resurrected Bites’ expenditure for the first three months of this financial year varied between £15,000 and £17,000 per month, resulting in a shortfall of £8,000 to £10,000 to be made up from grants or fundraising. 

To help stabilise the organisation, Ms Hayes has split it, with the Resurrected Bites charity as the main fundraising body covering the community groceries and environmental aspects of preventing food waste. As a charity, any donations are eligible for Gift Aid, boosting them by 25%. 

But the cafés are not eligible for charitable status because there are no restrictions on who may provide custom. 

Ms Hayes said: 

“Charitable status would restrict us to only serving people who are lonely or in food poverty. We feel that our existing model of focusing on the environmental aspects of food waste enables us to support people who are in food poverty or are lonely without stigmatising them.

“Legally, the charity cannot support the shortfall in finances for the community interest company, and so we have to ensure the cafés raise enough revenue to cover their costs.

“That’s why we had to make the very difficult decision to close the Harrogate café whilst we consider how we can generate more income to cover its costs.

“We’re hoping that it’s temporary. We may be able to find a new venue with a bigger space so that we can get more people through, and attract a wider range of customers who can pay more.

“Once we get through this rough patch, I think we’ll be alright.”

Photo: The Killinghall Methodist Church cafe run by Resurrected Bites remains open.

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Trading Hell: A Stray Ferret investigation reveals how Harrogate shop workers routinely face threats, shoplifting and anti-social behaviour

Shocking levels of anti-social behaviour, drug-dealing, shoplifting and even threats to staff are all routine occurrences faced by many shop workers in Harrogate town centre, a Stray Ferret investigation has revealed. 

Even though Harrogate is widely viewed as one of the finest shopping towns in the North, our investigation pieced together a picture of “scary” back alleys where shop workers fear to go, and high streets that shoppers have started to avoid. 

We surveyed 50 businesses in the town centre and spoke to many retailers at length. We found a deep sense of frustration among traders, most of whom feel not nearly enough is being done to make our shopping streets the safe and pleasant places they should be. 

What’s more, while some traders had shocking stories to tell, only a handful were willing to be quoted by name. Most preferred to remain anonymous for fear of becoming a target. 

In a series of articles running through this week, we’ll be examining the problems that make life difficult for town-centre businesses, finding out what’s being done to tackle them, looking at whether it’s working, and asking if there may be a better approach.

Our Trading Hell survey covered almost all the businesses on Oxford Street, Cambridge Street, Cambridge Road, Market Place and the Victoria Shopping Centre, as well as parts of Beulah Street and James Street. 

The vast majority of businesses polled (96%) said that anti-social behaviour is a problem – only two said it isn’t – and 52% said it’s a major problem. 

Graphic showing responses to the question 'How much of a problem for your business is anti-social behaviour?'. 'It's a major problem' - 52% 'It's a problem, but not major' - 26% 'It's a minor problem' - 18% 'It's not a problem' - 4%

Other behaviours considered to be a problem included shoplifting (78%), street-drinking (74%), threats to staff (70%), rough sleeping (70%), begging (68%) and drug misuse (66%). 

Shockingly, 20% of town-centre businesses face threats to staff at least once a week. 

One trader told the Stray Ferret: 

“I’ve been working here for 18 months and it’s been a shocker. This place has become lawless in the town centre.”

 Graphic showing that 20% of Harrogate town centre businesses see threats to staff as a major problem.

Hotspot 

Our survey showed that nowhere is immune to the problems, but there are hotspots, and the “hottest” spot is centred on the intersection of Oxford Street and Cambridge Road – the area between McDonalds, Wesley Chapel and the Halifax bank. 

One shop owner said: 

“There are often groups drinking around the doorway, which discourages customers, and hanging around under shelter, shouting and swearing in the street. It makes for an unpleasant environment.” 

Nearby, Ian Hall, store manager of Games Crusade on Oxford Street, recounted a disturbing incident when he had to physically keep two men apart. He said: 

“Two gentlemen came chasing through the street and the first one bolted through our door and ran to the back of the shop. He looked really scared. The second one was shouting and swearing at him, calling him all sorts of names, and wanted to knock seven bells out of him.

“I stood in the doorway and told him he couldn’t come in and eventually he calmed down and left. If he had come in, I think they’d probably have started fighting in the shop, knocking things over and destroying stock. Anything could have happened.”

But the problems are by no means confined to adults. One trader told us he had to be particularly vigilant against theft in the late afternoon, when school pupils “flooded” into the town centre.

Two years ago, two Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) were seriously injured in an attack by three schoolgirls in McDonalds. One of the officers suffered a suspected broken nose and the other later left the service, partly as a result of the incident. One of the girls narrowly avoided a custodial sentence.

Graphic showing that 74% of Harrogate town centre businesses see street drinking as a problem.

Alcohol wasn’t a factor in that case, but it does appears to be a common feature of much of the town centre’s anti-social behaviour and is believed to have played a part in an incident on Oxford Street last May, when a man admitted to pulling the wing off a pigeon. 

A common view among traders is that the problems are showing no signs of getting any better. On the contrary, one said: 

“It’s got much worse in the last two to three years. You can smell weed on the street, there’s drug-dealing in front of our door, and I’ve even had to call an ambulance for somebody.” 

Lost business 

While these problems are not pleasant for shoppers and passers-by, for businesses they translate into lost trade and, for some smaller traders, damage to livelihoods.  

One Oxford Street retailer said: 

“My shop windows were smashed more than once, and it cost me a lot of money to replace them.” 

Graphic showing that 74% of Harrogate town centre businesses have lost revenue due to the problems they face trading.

Others complained of casual shoplifting. Games Crusade’s Ian Hall said: 

“We get drunk people coming into the shop and trying to walk out with stock. It’s not underhand – it’s in full view. I just take it off them and that tends to be the end of it. But you have to have your wits about you all the time.” 

Across the town centre, nearly three in every four businesses (74%) said they had lost trade as a result of some or all of these behaviours. Among Oxford Street retailers, the figure was 100%, and many are convinced that footfall is down as a result.

The manager of one shop said: 

“Anti-social behaviour and street-drinking discourage the general public from visiting this part of town.” 

Paul Rawlinson, who has two businesses on Oxford Street, Baltzersen’s and Bakeri Baltzersen, said: 

“Oxford Steet has become a much less desirable place to walk down as a result of these behaviours. It’s more pronounced during the summer, when rough sleeping is a more comfortable option than it is in winter.” 

Back streets 

Although the main streets of the town centre are where activities such as street drinking and anti-social behaviour are most visible, the back alleys are where other things happen for the most part unseen. 

Last year, a woman was seriously sexually assaulted in an alley to the rear of Clarks shoe shop in Market Place. That alley was finally closed off by a new gate after three years of lobbying, but other backstreets are still used for illegal activities. 

One shop worker on Cambridge Street told us: 

“Staff feel unsafe going out the back of the store because of large groups of kids smoking weed and shouting abuse to intimidate us. It’s quite scary. Also, drunks use our property and we find needles and glass bottles lying around.”

During our investigation, we discovered down one back alley abandoned prescription drugs, discarded clothing, clusters of clothes hangers – presumably dumped by shoplifters – and even a notebook containing obscene sexual content.

What’s being done…

One body that has tried to do something about the town centre’s problems is Harrogate BID (business improvement district). It would like to see a Public Space Protection Order (PSPO) put in place banning certain behaviours, such as persistent begging and street drinking, from the town centre. But according to the national guidelines, these can only be applied if crime levels are above a certain benchmark, which Harrogate doesn’t reach.

BID manager Matthew Chapman said: 

“The statistics showed that the number of crimes is very low in the town centre. 

“While on the face of it this seems like good news, the stats just didn’t match up with what we were hearing from BID members.

“Shop owners and staff were telling us they were regularly seeing relatively minor crime, but the police figures just didn’t reflect this.” 

So two years ago, the BID launched a campaign to encourage town-centre businesses to report crime. For three months it promoted its Report a Crime initiative, telling traders to report every crime, no matter how minor. But bizarrely, crime figures over that period went down, so the PSPO is still a goal rather than a reality – and the BID is still lobbying for it. We’ll be speaking to Matthew Chapman about the PSPO and the BID’s efforts to tackle these issues in Friday’s feature.

…and what’s not 

Several traders told the Stray Ferret that they had stopped reporting low-value thefts because they did not believe the police would do anything about them. Worse still, we uncovered a widespread belief that the problems plaguing the town centre are simply not being adequately addressed. When asked how well the issues are being tackled by the authorities, 38% said ‘badly’ and 32% – almost one in three – thought the problems weren’t being tackled at all.

Graphic showing that town-centre businesses blame the police more than any other organisation for the problems they face.

Two in every five traders (40%) blamed the police for failing to tackle the issues, many of them complaining that the police response to reports of theft is slow and ineffective. A report released last week by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services following its inspection of North Yorkshire Police only rated the force “adequate” at investigating crime and responding to the public, although this assessment was better than last year, when it received the notice “requires improvement” in both areas.

One town-centre jeweller said his shop had been burgled last summer when thieves stole £60,000 worth of stock, but claimed the police response was inept and late. He said:

“It took the police 12 hours to respond to my initial 999 call, and when they did, they said they’d pass my details on to the appropriate officer ‘a week on Friday’ because he was on a course.

“Very soon after the theft, someone told me they knew who had committed the crime and even where my stock was being held. I believed them because the details they gave were bang on. I told the police, but it took them eight months to arrest anybody, and by that time the evidence had all disappeared.

“They lost emails with my details in them and didn’t even have my telephone number. As far as I know, nobody’s yet been charged.”

The Stray Ferret has spoken to Chief Inspector Simon Williamson of North Yorkshire Police about the force’s response to reports of crime, and you can read the interview here on Thursday.

In the meantime, traders are becoming increasingly frustrated with the lack of progress in improving conditions in the centre of “one of the finest shopping towns in the North”. One shopkeeper said: 

“I see it all here. Every week there’s something going on. I speak to other business owners and there’s a general feeling on the street that there’s no-one in power who’s doing anything about it – and it just gets worse.”

Tomorrow – what exactly do the official stats show? We report on a huge rise in shop-lifting and examine the extent of drug taking and wider anti-social behaviour cases reported to police in Harrogate town centre.  

Have you got a story to tell about any of the issues covered in this article? Let us know by emailing us at letters@thestrayferret.co.uk.

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Pottery workshop moves to larger Knaresborough premises

A popular pottery workshop in Knaresborough is moving to a larger studio in what is fast becoming the town’s thriving art hub.

Northernline Arts is relocating from its current home on platform 2 at Knaresborough railway station to new premises on Kirkgate.

Run by former pottery teacher Maria Dawbarn, Northernline Arts is a workshop space that gives people the opportunity to take part in a diverse range of creative clay and potters wheel sessions.

Since opening its doors almost exactly three years ago, the business has grown steadily, attracting increasing numbers of people either trying pottery as a one-off experience, or taking it up as a regular hobby.

Owner Maria set up the workshop after first training in ceramic at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design at Dundee University and then spending 23 years teaching at Henshaw Arts and Crafts Centre before moving into a management role.

She said:

“I first tried pottery at school and have been hooked ever since, I still get real joy working with clay every day.

“My career saw me moving from teaching into a management role, after more than a decade doing that, I was missing being hands on so I decided the time was right to embark on a new adventure and set up my own studio.

“I’m sure the popularity of the Pottery Throwdown on TV has had a positive impact, but it’s been great to see so many people coming along to try the potter’s wheel sessions. We also have a thriving community of regulars.

“I’m delighted I can work with people every day to share my passion for ceramics and continue to make my own wheel-thrown work.”

Maria hopes the new studio, which is due to open on Tuesday, April 2, will become an exciting art hub for Knaresborough.

As well as giving her and other potters a chance to display and sell their work, she also plans to expand the range of classes available and hold demonstrations of other crafts.

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Police and council launch project to tackle crime in Harrogate

A new drive to target anti-social behaviour, street crime and shoplifting in Harrogate has been launched by North Yorkshire Police and North Yorkshire Council. 

Project Spotlight was announced yesterday, just days before the Stray Ferret publishes Trading Hell, a week-long series of features investigating these very issues. 

Over the course of our investigation we spoke to a chief inspector from North Yorkshire Police, as well as North Yorkshire Council, Harrogate BID, Harrogate Homeless Project and dozens of town centre traders. You can read the first of our special reports on Monday. 

Project Spotlight sees teams working with residents, shoppers, town-centre workers and businesses to: 

Project Spotlight builds on work between North Yorkshire Police, North Yorkshire Council and other organisations to address street crime, retail theft, begging, rough sleeping, substance abuse and anti-social behaviour. 

Photo of a police officer and someone from Harrogate District Community Safety Partnership talking to a store manager from Primark in Harrogate.

Project Spotlight will work with retailers to tackle shoplifting and other town-centre problems.

In a sample of 140 patrols of the town centre since October 2023, North Yorkshire Police made 10 arrests and moved people on or gave words of advice 54 times. The force also issued one dispersal order, which effectively bans someone from an area for a certain amount of time. 

Harrogate neighbourhood policing inspector Nicola Colbourne said:  

“Project Spotlight sees us stepping up that positive work we’ve already done with partner organisations, the public and town-centre businesses. 

“We’re using a good old-fashioned mix of community engagement, information-gathering, targeted policing and robust law enforcement during this project, which we’re delivering alongside policing Harrogate’s wider residential areas. 

“Harrogate is already an incredibly safe town, in what is officially England’s safest county. With the help of the public, businesses and key organisations, we’re working hard to make it even safer.” 


North Yorkshire Council’s assistant chief executive for local engagement, Rachel Joyce, said:

“Alongside North Yorkshire Police and others, we have been working hard to maintain Harrogate town centre’s reputation as a safe and welcoming place in which to visit and work.
“Operation Spotlight presents an opportunity for all concerned to come together and build on this work. To do this we need the co-operation of the public and the business community and I would encourage everyone to support us in this aim.”

Project Spotlight comes in response to problems highlighted by the Stray Ferret’s Trading Hell survey, which revealed very high levels of dissatisfaction among town-centre traders at North Yorkshire Police’s response to anti-social behaviour and retail theft.

The results of the survey, some of which have been shared with North Yorkshire Police, will be revealed in our first Trading Hell report, published on Monday.

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Business Q&A: Victoria Clark, French Soaps

This is the latest in a regular series of Business Q&A features published weekly.  

This week, we spoke to Victoria Clark, owner of French Soaps in Harrogate.

Tell us in fewer than 30 words what your firm does. 

We’re the largest importer of French soap in the UK. Our products are all natural, traditional soaps made in the Provence and Marseilles region of France.

What does it require to be successful in business? 

For me there are two things. Firstly, people. You’ve got to have the right people around and you have to look after them, and that starts from the top. ‘People’ also includes customers. People should always come first.

Secondly, having a focus: knowing what you’re good at and sticking with it. Own your space. Know it, love it, and be brilliant at it.

What drives you to do what you do every day? 

The customers and the product. I love my products and I love surprising people, delighting people, and having happy customers.

What has been the toughest issue your company has had to deal with over the last 12 months? 

Supplies. We work with some big savonneries in France and also with some small, family savonneries. Last summer, it was particularly hot and a lot of our products are handmade, and there were a lot of problems in terms of being able to make product in sufficient quantity when it was cool enough.

Which other local firms do you most admire and why? 

To have a successful business, you need to have a focus, stick at it and be brilliant at it, so for me, that has to be Bettys. They do what they do really well, and they haven’t tried to go out of area or do anything that they can’t manage and control.

Who are the most inspiring local leaders? 

Any business needs to evolve, and the best often do that through a constant series of small changes and tweaks that keep things fresh and alive.

For me, the people that do that really well are the Mackanesses at Rudding Park. They’re always looking at what they’re doing and moving it on.

What could be done locally to boost business? 

Improve parking to make it easier for people to use the facilities in the town. We need 10-15 minutes of free parking in the centre of town, not big pedestrian zones or hour-long car-parking charges everywhere.

If you live in an outlying area like I do, you just want to go in, do what you need to do, and leave. I don’t want to be parking and getting a bus – I’m not there for a day-trip, I’m there to use the facilities.

Best and worst things about running a business from Harrogate? 

I love working in Harrogate and running a business here. Our customers love the fact we’re in Harrogate, and there’s a perception that it’s a good brand fit: a nice product in a nice location.

The worst thing is that prime retail locations are so expensive! My company needs a prime retail location because that’s what the brand needs, and I’d need the footfall to make it viable, but the cost of doing that doesn’t work for me with the size of business I have at the moment.

Photo of packets of French soap flakes on a shelf at Harrogate business French Soaps.

What are your business plans for the future? 

We’re going to start doing some shows, so this year you’ll find us at the Harrogate Flower Show in April.

We’re also working with some other brands and there are various new launches coming along, although I can’t say too much about that at the moment. We’ve always got something happening

What do you like to do on your time off? 

I play golf, love pilates and yoga, and enjoy dog agility and scent work – so I’m busy most of the time.

Best place to eat and drink locally?

In Harrogate, Konak Meze, the Turkish restaurant on Mount Parade.

Slightly out of town, our favourite place is Harewood: Muddy Boots Café and The Hovels. But I’m always open to trying new places.

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‘I’ll probably lock the door and cry’, says owner of closing Harrogate shop

When Jo Brain opened a sandwich shop on Skipton Road in Harrogate in 1972, she probably little suspected that it would still be serving up bacon butties more than half a century later. 

The Bread Bin became the go-to place for a quick breakfast, brunch or lunch in the New Park area long before “go-to place” was a commonly used phrase. 

After passing through several owners’ hands in the 1980s, it was bought by Jenny Stanley, who in 1991 took on Lesley Smith as an employee. Lesley bought it in 1997, and it is her daughter, Jude Gray, who runs it today. 

But, as reported by the Stray Ferret last week, the Bread Bin’s regular customers will have to find a new place to grab a sandwich, because the local landmark shop is to close within weeks. 

Jude took the decision to shut a couple of months ago. She told the Stray Ferret: 

“Since covid we’ve watched the stock prices go up, and the utilities have all got more expensive. Brexit hasn’t helped. It’s put a lot of importers off bringing produce in, so for example salad is more expensive, and the new import checks coming in will only make it worse. 

“We’ve downsized from six people to three since covid hit, but at New Year we thought it just wasn’t going to get any better.” 

For many who live and work in New Park, it will be the end of an era, and for some, almost the passing of a daily part of life. Jude said: 

“We’ve had some very long-standing customers. It’s quite unusual for a shop like this – usually they rely on passing trade. 

“One man first came in in 1979 when he was a soldier based at Penny Pot. He’s now a pensioner but he still comes in – 45 years later. 

“We don’t tend to know people by name, but we do know their orders. With some of them, as soon as they come through the door we start cooking for them, because we know exactly what they want.” 

The menu offers the old standards – any of the main components of a cooked breakfast, in bread – as well as more recent innovations, such as Chinese chicken mayonnaise and piri piri chicken. And chips, of course. Jude said: 

“It’s a bit of a time-warp, really. Some of the newer places tend to have healthier menus, and I did give that a try, but the customers weren’t interested. They gave it a poke but preferred to stick with their old favourites.” 

With such a loyal customer base, it must be a going concern, so why didn’t she just put it on the market? After all, cafés and eateries are always springing up around town – there must be someone willing to give it a go? But that, it seems, is exactly the problem – there are at least six sandwich shops currently on the market in Harrogate. Jude said: 

“There are so many other cafés up for sale at the moment, and they’re just not shifting. We would have been waiting a hell of a long time to sell it.” 

Instead, Jude plans to convert it into a house, and swap homes with her mum. She said: 

“Mum lives in a lovely little flat upstairs, and we’ll move into that, and my husband’s very into cycling, so downstairs will become somewhere he can keep his bikes. Mum will move into the house we’ve been living in, which is all on one level.” 

The house-swap is about as far into the future as Jude is looking – she doesn’t yet have any firm plans for the future. She doesn’t think she’ll regret saying goodbye to the Bread Bin, and yet shutting up shop for the last time at the end of February – or possibly in March – won’t be easy. She said: 

“I’ll probably just lock the door for the last time and cry. I’ve made more money in other jobs, but this has definitely been my favourite.  

“But it’s for the best. I’m pleased we’ve made this decision.” 

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‘Unflappable’ owls wow wedding guests with ring deliveries

Just before Christmas one year, Ryan Stocks received a phone call from an employee to tell him that one of his owls was stuck behind a church organ. 

The owl, who had been on duty at a wedding, had been spooked by something and wouldn’t come down. It had even set off a fire alarm by landing on a sensor. The trouble was, Ryan was in London but the owl was in Hull. 

After dashing up the motorway, he arrived at the church just before it shut, spotted his bird, held out his hand, whistled and waited. Within seconds, the owl glided down and the drama was over. 

Last year, Ryan’s Ripon-based company, Owl Adventures, bought Barn Owl Ring-Bearer, a Durham-based firm that was the first in the UK to hire out owls trained to deliver the rings at weddings, and he’s been busy ever since. 

The ‘Hull incident’ was a rare glitch, he explains: 

“That particular owl, it transpired, would only fly for me. I’d hand-reared it and it had latched on to me probably more than an owl normally would do. So it would fly to anyone, but only if I was present – if he could see me for comfort or confidence. But that’s just an example of how different their personalities are.” 

He adds: 

“The bride didn’t want a refund – she was just so happy that we got the owl down.” 

A former pupil of Ripon City School (now Outwood Academy), Ryan, now an experienced falconer, set up Owl Adventures in 2011 and has 15 birds: three barn owls and 12 others, including a horned owl, steppe eagle, falcon, harris hawks, pygmy owl, Indian scops owl and a white-faced owl. 

He also runs a ‘mobile zoo’, whose stars – snakes, lizards, tarantulas, a tortoise and various creepy-crawlies (his term) – all live in vivariums in his home. 

Ryan and his fiancée Dee, who is, thankfully, as enthusiastic as he is about the whole menagerie, offer several services, all animal-based, including flying shows, visits to schools and care homes. 

They even offer pest control, flying harris hawks to scare off pigeons and seagulls from industrial premises. Clients include Unilever, B&Q and Reckitt. 

But it’s the barn owl ring-bearing service that grabs people’s attention. Not because it’s unique – it may be the first service of its kind, but it’s no longer the only one – but because it’s so magical: owls make people happy.

Ryan says: 

“The best weddings are when people are laughing in the service. When I hear that before I go into the room, I think ‘this is going to be great’. You’re going to get a good reaction. 

“And some of the nicest weddings we do are some of the smaller ones really, in one of the nice wedding venues. Most of the weddings we do are outside or they are in hotels or castles or a specialist wedding venue. Because the people who are going to go for an owl are probably a bit more likely to be people who want a less traditional wedding.” 

Photo of a barn owl flying silently down the aisle as guests look on at a small church wedding.

One of Ryan’s Stocks’ owls earning its keep.

Typically, Ryan will turn up for a wedding an hour early, to ensure that he and the owl can get into position unseen – it’s supposed to be a secret, known only to the groom and best man. 

He’ll then quickly train the owl-receiver to do his bit, and at the right point in the ceremony will slip into the back of the church, and release the owl. The best man, wearing a previously concealed glove, receives the owl, the rings are delivered, and the bride, hopefully, is delighted. 

Some clients ask him to have the owl deliver notes, which isn’t great, he says: 

“They have to be folded up really tiny, because something flat like that will cause a bit of drag on the bird.” 

After the ceremony, Ryan and his owl stick around to entertain guests and be photographed. 

They can do up to three weddings a day in high season, as well as other shows, so he alternates the owls, Juno, Bailey, Sweep and Dusty. They’ve performed all over the UK, and even have a booking in Greece later this year. 

Photo of a happy bridge and groom, who is wearing a falconry gautlet and a white barn owl is perching on his hand.

Photo: Camilla Armstrong.

He says: 

“It feels busy now and it’s winter. Summer frightens me, because we’ll have five things a day sometimes. We might have one pest-control hawk going out to a factory, we might have two static display events, one flying show and two weddings. Logistically, it’s quite a challenge. You just think, ‘please don’t get ill, please don’t have a vehicle breakdown’!” 

Most of the time, the owls behave – Ryan says it’s as if the glove is magnetic – but occasionally things don’t go to plan, as happened in Hull. 

He even had one owl that was agoraphobic, and didn’t like flying outside. 

“We didn’t use that one for weddings – we just found it a suitable home. That’s quite rare.

“We hand-rear them, and have dogs around them, and music and noise, so they’re very much used to noise and distraction. 

“Some of the shows we do – game fairs, steam rallies, dog shows, horse shows, stunt shows – are really noisy, and there can even be people firing guns. And you just think ‘they won’t fly in this’, but they don’t care. They’re so used to people, and things that people get up to, that they’re just not bothered by it at all.” 

You could say they’re… unflappable. But that’s not to say they don’t need looking after. They have a varied diet – cockerel chicks, mice, rats, rabbit, quail, all frozen and delivered by truck – and Ryan checks their health and weighs them daily. He says: 

“They live about three times as long in captivity as they do in the wild. One reason is that they’re not eating any poison or disease in the prey they catch. A pigeon can carry up to 21 diseases, and the poison that can be used against rodents can be dangerous too. 

“The thing about birds is that they don’t look ill until the very end. So capturing things really early, be it bumblefoot or frounce, or one of those common things, is vital.” 

Fortunately, he’s pretty good at that. In fact, when he goes to goes to the vets in Ripon, they sometimes ask him his opinion. 

He says: 

“They invite me into their examination rooms to look at the bird. I feel like a fraud – I’m not a vet! – but I know more about birds of prey than they do.” 

Ryan and his feathered employees are proof, if it were needed, that the science and art of falconry may be ancient, but it hasn’t stood still. In fact, each of the owls is even fitted with a GPS gadget. He says: 

“I hope never to have to rely on it, but it’s a wise precaution – just in case one of them ever decided to make off with the rings!”

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Business Breakfast: Ripon firm marks 20 years of top farm machinery show

Excellence deserves to be recognised and celebrated. The 2024 Stray Ferret Business Awards is the event to put your business, people or great initiative in the spotlight!

Make the most of your efforts by reading our top 10 tips for writing your submission for success.

Entries close on January 19, 2024.

Ripon Farm Services will be celebrating the 20th anniversary of its New Year Show this month.

The event, which is one of the UK’s leading agricultural machinery displays, will be held in the Yorkshire Event Centre at the Great Yorkshire Showground in Harrogate on Wednesday, January 24 and Thursday, January 25, from 10 till 5pm. Entry is free.

Product specialists from Ripon Farm Services, Ripon Ground Care and Ripon Technology will be on hand to provide advice on machine choice, set-up, optimisation and job management. Visitors will be able to explore the latest innovations, speak to experts and see the products up close.

The star of the show is expected to be the new John Deere 300M self-propelled sprayer.

Richard Simpson, commercial director of Ripon Farm Services, said:

“We are delighted to be showcasing the new John Deere 300M self-propelled sprayer, it was first introduced at Agritechnica in November last year so it’s great for it to be taking centre stage at our show in January.

“We can’t wait to welcome our customers and guests for what promises to be a very busy 20th anniversary event.”

A vast range of ground care machinery will be on display, from ride-on mowers through to pressure-washers and hedge-trimmers, as well as parts, tools and store items from brands including Milwaukee, Draper and Portek.

Mr Simpson added:

“Apart from the stand-out John Deere machines, we will be showcasing our high-quality machinery, ground care and parts brands that are including Kramer, Bailey Trailers, Kuhn, Sumo, Dalbo, Ifor Williams, Stihl, Husqvarna and Spearhead.

“This really is the very best opportunity to see all that Ripon Farm Services has to offer in agriculture and turf technology, new and used machinery, parts and services in one single location. We’ll also have some special show offers and a wide range of used equipment deals.

“Our specialists across all sectors will be on hand to answer any questions during the two days, so the event is truly a one-stop shop for farmers and ground care professionals across the north of England.”

Ripon employer grows

Wolseley, the national plumbing supplies firm that employs around 250 people in Ripon, continued to grow organically last year, according to figures published in its latest annual report.

Over the 12 months to July 31, 2023, the company increased revenues by £140 million (8%) to £1.87 billion. This caused a jump in operating profit to £75 million, from £65 million in 2022.

However, profits before tax fell to £73 million, from £146 million in 2022, and the directors have not yet declared a final dividend to shareholders.

The company also increased its number of branches by one to 544, and its employee headcount rose by 234 to 4,720.

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Business Breakfast: Rudding Park to hold Dragons’ Den for local businesses

Excellence deserves to be recognised and celebrated. The 2024 Stray Ferret Business Awards is the event to put your business, people or great initiative in the spotlight!

Make the most of your efforts by reading our top 10 tips for writing your submission for success.

Entries close on January 19, 2024.

Rudding Park in Harrogate will be hosting a Dragons’ Den-style event this month to give local businesses the opportunity to pitch their products to key decision-makers at the luxury resort.

The hotel plans to revitalise the range of gifts it gives to VIP guests, and is looking for fresh ideas from the local business community.

Candidates will have three minutes to pitch their products and will then answer questions from the Rudding Park ‘Dragons’ – Matthew Mackaness (managing director), Karen Tyson (resort general manager), Julia Featherstone (head of rooms division), Matthew Wilkinson (head of kitchens) and Nicola Cook (head of marketing).

The Dragons will be looking for high-quality products with links to travel, lifestyle, food and drink, design or well-being. They must also align with sustainability and/or giving back to the community.  

Julia Featherstone, head of rooms division at Rudding Park, said: 

“We always strive to surprise and delight our guests, many of whom return time and time again. Our selection of VIP gifts are given to guests to help recognise and reward loyalty, so we are really excited about this initiative and I am hoping we will discover a range of new, quality products to incorporate into our VIP gifting to really wow our guests”.  

Nicola Cook, head of marketing at Rudding Park, said: 

“I am conscious it can often be quite challenging, particularly for smaller businesses, to get a foot in the door to showcase their products. It occurred to me that a Dragon’s Den-inspired event could be great opportunity for us to discover some amazing products to enhance our guest experience and a chance to showcase some talented local suppliers in a fun and innovative initiative.”  

The initiative also supports the Rudding Park Giving Back initiative, as the Rudding Park Dragons will each have a pot of Rudding Park gift vouchers ready to ‘invest’ in charities nominated by candidates who particularly impress.

Dacres still top in Knaresborough

Dacre, Son & Hartley has once again claimed the top spot as Knaresborough’s best-performing estate agent, an accolade it has now held for more than a decade.

The agent’s Knaresborough office sold more than twice as many homes as its nearest competitor in the HG5 and YO26 postcodes, with a total of 75 sales, according to figures from Rightmove. The other companies in the top five sold 35, 31, 30 and 20 each.

This also means that Dacre, Son & Hartley successfully marketed more than a fifth of the 373 homes that sold during the 12-month period across the two postcodes, which include Knaresborough town centre and surrounding villages including Scotton, Arkendale, Coneythorpe, Flaxby, Goldsborough, Kirk Hammerton, Green Hammerton, Whixley and Little Ouseburn.

Dacre, Son & Hartley has had an office in Knaresborough for 45 years and senior associate, Nick Alcock, who is branch manager at the firm’s Knaresborough office, has worked for the business for 28 years. He said:

“With 52 different companies selling homes in the HG5 and YO26 postcodes in the last 12 months, it’s clearly very competitive, but our dominance in the local area is undisputed.”

Dacre, Son & Hartley was founded more than 200 years ago and is Yorkshire’s largest independent estate agent, with 20 offices across North and West Yorkshire.

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Signs up but Starbucks silent on Harrogate drive-through launch date

Progress at the new Starbucks site in Harrogate grinds on, but its planned opening date is still not known.

The Stray Ferret first reported that the former Leon site on Wetherby Road would become a Starbucks in August, when North Yorkshire Council granted planning consent to change the branding on the unit.

Starbucks advertised for new staff at the drive-through coffee shop in December, and then this week, new signage finally went up, giving coffee aficionados hope that the new outlet might brew its first espresso sometime soon.

But a Starbucks spokesperson told the Stray Ferret:

“We are always looking for new locations and opportunities to bring the Starbucks experience to customers in the UK, but at this time we have no updates to share about plans in Harrogate.”

Photo of the newly installed signage at the new Starbucks drive-through coffee shop on Wetherby Road in Harrogate.

Signs have gone up on Wetherby Road.

The Stray Ferret will continue to monitor developments at the site.

Starbucks currently has only one presence in the district, on Cambridge Street in Harrogate town centre.

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