This is the first in a regular series of Business Q&A features that we’ll be publishing weekly.

This week, we spoke to Sophie Hartley, the owner of Sophie Likes on Beulah Street, Harrogate.

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

Sophie Likes is a lifestyle shop selling quirky, design-led gifts, homeware, accessories and clothing.

What does it require to be successful in business? 

A lot of energy! Every day is different, and you need to be adaptable to keep going through anything that comes your way.

What drives you to do what you do every day? 

The shop for me is my happy place. I’m very passionate about the products I sell, and about running my own business. I never don’t want to go in to work.

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

Every year since we opened there’s been a challenge to overcome. Lately, we’ve been renegotiating our lease, which has been a challenge, a) to get the right rent, and b) because there’s been a possibility the landlord might want to use the unit for something else. I don’t want to move, and happily, I think we’re now on the verge of signing a new five-year lease.

Which other local firms do you most admire and why? 

I admire any independent local business that has ambition and goes for it – that takes the plunge and goes for it.

I opened my shop in 2014, just after the recession. People weren’t really opening shops on the high street then – they were closing them – but I wanted to open my shop anyway. Sometimes, you just have to do what you want to do.

Who are the most inspiring local leaders? 

Sean McPartland is a successful local businessman who built up his Knaresborough-based business, Logic Fire & Security, and merged it with a national firm last year.

I was lucky enough to join Sean on the coast-to-coast cycle ride a few years ago and since then he has taken up many more challenges, including an Arctic to Africa cycle ride and is currently taking part in the Clipper Round the World yacht race.

He’s an all-round inspiring guy who is determined, bold, tenacious, loyal, and great fun too.

What could be done locally to boost business? 

I always think we could do with parking charges being reduced. I live near Knaresborough and I always think parking there is so cheap, and then I come through to work in Harrogate and it’s so expensive!

More affordable parking would really help bring more people back into the town centre. During the week, we need to do more to encourage shoppers. I think people want to get back to the high street, and lower parking charges might help them do that.

Also, I think Harrogate needs a bit more promotion. It’s a fantastic place to visit, with great bars, shops and restaurants – we’re very lucky. We get visitors coming into the shop and they often tell us how lovely it is, and that they hadn’t known about it before.

Best and worst things about running a business from Harrogate? 

Harrogate’s just a great place, isn’t it? I enjoy the flexibility and the variation – every day is different.

The downside is that sometimes things happen that you have no control over, and you have to remind yourself to look at the bigger picture. For example, if you have a quiet day in the shop in January, it’s not the end of the world. You can’t let it get you down – you just have to make the most of it and remember that other days will make up for it in the summer.

Sophie Hartley

What are your business plans for the future? 

We feel we’ve ‘survived’ over the last 10 years: covid, the fire on this street a few years ago – every year there’s been something.

Now, we want to thrive, and take the business to the next level. We’re not going to do anything major, like expand, but we’re just going to do what we do, but better.

We want to be a cool place to get a shopping fix – one of Harrogate’s destinations, like Bettys.

What do you like to do on your time off? 

I’ve got three young children, so sometimes coming to the shop is time off!

I love festivals and camping, and it’s great to get away for the weekend, perhaps in the Dales.

I also have another business, a deckchair hire company called Decked Out, and that keeps me busy, especially through the summer months, when we supply festivals, weddings and events.

Best place to eat and drink locally?

I love Stuzzi. The food is great, and no matter what night of the week it is, there’s always a great atmosphere.

The Disappearing Chin, next door to Sophie Likes on Beulah Street, is a great bar and does amazing cocktails. I don’t like walking into empty bars, but the Disappearing Chin is always buzzing.

• If you know someone in business in the Harrogate district and you’d like to suggest them for this feature, drop us a line at contact@thestrayferret.co.uk.

Read more:

• Three new shops to open on Harrogate’s Beulah Street
• The Body Shop in Harrogate faces uncertain future
• Business Breakfast: Duchy Hospital rated ‘good’ by Care Quality Commission

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.” 

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: 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!”

Read more:

• North Yorkshire trail hunting ban ‘unenforceable, but the right thing to do’
• North Yorkshire Police urged to start recording ‘high priority’ wildlife crime

Arriving in Harrogate by road for the first time, the Stray makes for a pleasant surprise: a vast expanse of green land cradling the town centre, fringed around the edges by mature trees and, in spring, swathes of crocuses and daffodils. 

But it wasn’t always like this, and some believe it shouldn’t be any more – that we should turn the clock back to a time when the Stray was a bit more… wild.

The author of Robinson Crusoe, the 18th-century writer Daniel Defoe, wrote that what is now the Stray was a “most desolate out-of-the-world place”, and a century before, a Dr Stanhope – who discovered the chalybeate spring at St John’s Well in 1631 – described it as a “rude barren moor”. 

It was a place of “grassland, gorse, marsh, heather and peat”. There might have been the odd boulder and a sparse scattering of trees – birch, hawthorn and rowan, perhaps, with a few bilberry bushes too. 

It had areas of standing water, as exist to this day after heavy rain, and was boggy in parts, where springs came to the surface. Large flocks of lapwings — tewits, in Yorkshire dialect — would congregate, and even gave their name to one of the area’s most famous wells.

Lapwings, or tewits, used to flock in great numbers on the Stray, giving one of its most famous wells its name. Photo: Steve Garvie/Creative Commons.

If you think all that sounds messy and impractical, you’ll probably want to stick to the lawn-and-crocus look. But if you think it sounds beautifully natural – a healthy hotbed of biodiversity – you might want to take steps to get it back, at least in part. 

So should we return our 200 acres – or some of them – to something approximating their original state? Should we rewild the Stray? 

Support for rewilding

Shan Oakes is a fan of the idea. She’s a long-standing member of Harrogate and District Green Party, which successfully campaigned for wildflowers to be planted around the edges of the Stray in 2020. It’s something the council has repeated in subsequent years – and intends to continue this year – and has met with a largely positive reaction from the public. She says: 

“It sounds brilliant. To have a massive swathe of grass that needs mowing seems so unimaginative when you could have something a lot more natural and biodiverse instead. 

“The Stray was originally part of the Forest of Knaresborough, and hunting forests weren’t just made up of trees – there would be woodland and glades and rides – so it would be quite varied. Perhaps we could have a bit of wetland to bring back the lapwings that used flock here.”

She has an ally in Dr Steve Carver. He is a senior lecturer in geography at the University of Leeds and an expert in the field, co-chairing the rewilding group for the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. He told the Stray Ferret: 

“The Stray isn’t big enough to properly rewild, and I’d hesitate to use the term ‘rewilding’ in this context, anyway – it conjures up visions of wolves and lynx.

“But you could talk about habitat creation, or nature restoration. There are big chunks of it that could be re-naturalised. You could make it a space that more people could enjoy, and which would be a bit more interesting than it is now. Then again, I can imagine a lot of clutching of pearls within a Harrogate context.” 

Buttercups in one of the wilded areas around the edge of the Stray.

‘The uniqueness of the Stray is worth protecting’

Judy d’Arcy Thompson chairs the Stray Defence Association. Its website refers to the “neat, tidy and immaculate acres” of the Stray, and that’s exactly how she wants it to stay. She is not a fan of the wildflower cultivation, calling its late-summer phase a “bloody mess”. 

She has for many years been at the forefront of efforts to preserve the integrity and look of Harrogate’s “green lung”, opposing any novel uses or applications for the land – and she is distinctly sceptical of the suggestion that the Stray could benefit from a more natural approach to land management for the sake of biodiversity. 

She says: 

“The Stray is right at the heart of the town, and one of the joys of it is that people can have that huge expanse of green to walk on, run on, play on, sit on and enjoy. I call it our Natural Health Service. 

“I just think the uniqueness of the Stray is worth protecting.” 

She adds: 

“I’m not anti-biodiversity, but how much biodiversity do you need? Once people start doing this kind of thing, it starts to snowball: ‘Well, if we can have that bit, perhaps we can have that bit too’. If you start to nibble away at it, where does it end? The danger is that we could end up with the Stray being taken over by this.” 

Dr Carver readily acknowledges that renaturalising all 200 acres of the Stray would not necessarily be desirable, but thinks a more nuanced strategy could work. He says: 

“You could take a compartmentalised approach, and create patches of wilder areas. You could retain the football fields and the crocuses around the edge, keeping the things that people like, but also do something different with the bits that people have less interaction with. There’d be something for everyone – it could be a win-win.” 

He cautions that the results wouldn’t be instant, and the process would need to be helped along through “assisted regeneration”, where seedlings of appropriate species are planted in likely spots. He says: 

“You could have a mixed mosaic of heather, grass and early succession trees – in other words, the species that first colonised the land after the last ice age – such as birch, rowan and juniper, which if you let nature take its course, would eventually give way to later succession trees such as oak.

“If you gave it a helping hand, it would probably come on in leaps and bounds, and you’d soon see a massive increase in bird species. Over a period of five, 10, 20 years, it would show huge changes.

“Whether people would like it would be down to personal preference, but wildlife would certainly like it.”

A track bends through the rewilded landscape of Grote Netewoud in Belgium (also shown in main image) – could parts of the Stray look like this? Photo: Wim Dirckx/Natuurpunt.

Wildlife might like it, but Harrogate in Bloom’s Pam Grant wouldn’t. As far as she’s concerned, there’s nothing wrong with the Stray as it is. She says: 

“To me as a Harrogatonian, the Stray is an open space and it needs to stay that way. I certainly wouldn’t want to see any trees blocking the view. There are plenty of trees already.

“The beauty of the Stray is the neatness and tidiness of it. When you come into Harrogate, it’s the first thing you see, and it’s beautiful. Personally, I wouldn’t have any wilding at all.”

Neat v messy

And therein lies the yawning gulf between the two sides: a difference both in aesthetic values – one side likes neatness and the other prefers nature’s messiness – and also in the two sides’ approaches to change: one side wants to preserve the status quo, while the other prefers a more progressive approach. 

But at the heart of the matter is the two sides’ respective attitudes to the environment, which for Dr Carver and Ms Oakes is of paramount importance. A glance at the data shows why. 

In its State of Nature 2023 report, the World Land Trust called the UK “one of the most nature-depleted countries on Earth”. Among G7 countries, it’s the worst by a huge margin. 

Since 1970, the distribution in England of pollinators has declined by 22%. Among species found on land and in freshwater, there has been an average 32% decline, and the distribution of flowering plants has dropped by a staggering 64%. 

More than one in eight (13%) species in England is threatened with extinction. Numbers of lapwings – that formerly iconic Stray bird – have plummeted by 50% over the last 40 years. 

Dr Carver says a more naturalised Stray could help the situation is a modest way, by providing more habitat for a variety of species currently absent, and by putting in place a wildlife corridor stretching almost unbroken from Beaver Dyke, west of Harrogate, right through to Knaresborough. 

But Ms d’Arcy Thompson says the Stray already does that job: 

“If Harrogate was a much more industrialised, paved-over town, I might be more interested, but we have 18 parks and lots of large gardens, so we actually do quite well for biodiversity. The Stray has 2,500 trees – we counted them – and there’s a lot of birdlife in those, as well as shrubs, bushes and plants, so it’s quite a good corridor.” 

The traditionalists’ preference: crocuses on West Park Stray.

Another of her objections concerns public safety. She said: 

“The anti-social blighters who love to discard their detritus – litter, needles, little gas canisters, broken bottles, used condoms and the rest – would do it in knee-high grass, where you’d never see it. People can’t even find their own dog’s poo in the wilded areas around the edge. 

“One of the lovely things about the Stray is that parents can let their little children run around safely. Imagine your toddler coming out of the long grass clutching a hypodermic needle!” 

So ponds are out of the question, then? 

“Little children and ponds do not mix well. Why should the Stray need ponds? Why can’t people just leave it alone? They’ve gone biodiversity-mad!” 

‘We always keep this under review’

In the middle of the discussion – between the ‘blue’ corner and ‘green’ corner – stands North Yorkshire Council as arbiter, deciding how the Stray is managed, from what trees are planted to when the grass is mown. 

It has planted two “pocket woods” of native species in recent years, the most recent just this winter, and has said it will continue to keep the wildflowers strips, but otherwise it appears the status quo is winning. The Stray Ferret asked the council if it intended to introduce any more changes to the upkeep of the Stray, especially any that might affect biodiversity. 

Jonathan Clubb, the council’s head of parks and grounds, told us: 

“There are no plans to change current maintenance regimes on the Stray at the present time, but we will always keep this under review to ensure good practice.” 

What “good practice” looks like is clearly debatable, but in the meantime, Shan Oakes just hopes people will keep an open mind and think about the possibilities. She says: 

“It would be nice to have a big public conversation about how we can manage the Stray for everyone’s enjoyment.

“There seems to be a stranglehold on the conversation – ‘the Stray is the Stray’ – but we need it discussed more openly. I think you’d get a lot of good ideas.”

Read more:

• New woodland created on the Stray in Harrogate
• District to take part in Yorkshire’s first Rewilding Festival
• Greens step up campaign for Stray wildflowers

This story is sponsored by Kempston-Parkes Chartered Surveyors.

Harrogate’s foremost firm of chartered surveyors is bucking the property market trend and actively growing in response to continued healthy demand. 

While many in the sector are battling falling house prices, subdued trade and high interest rates, Kempston-Parkes Chartered Surveyors has seen no downturn in revenues and is investing in its future. 

To better accommodate its growing team, Kempston-Parkes has expanded into the ground and basement offices of its Princes Square premises after the former tenants moved out. 

Managing director Andrew Kempston-Parkes, who founded the firm from his home in 2011, said: 

“We’re growing as a firm, so when the lease became available, Kempston-Parkes saw it as a great opportunity to secure more space for our expanding team.

“It will give our admin team more room, and occupying the whole building provides us with an even better presence in Harrogate’s central business quarter.”

Mr Kempston-Parkes earned his professional qualifications from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) in 1997 and founded Kempston-Parkes Chartered Surveyors 14 years later. The firm now employs 14 people from its offices in the heart of Harrogate. 

Find out more:

Kempston-Parkes Chartered Surveyors provide surveys and valuations for all purposes, including purchase, inheritance tax, capital gains tax, matrimonial assessments, boundary disputes and Land Registry plans

To find out more, visit our brand-new website, www.kempston-parkes.co.uk, or call us on 01423 229333.

Harrogate looks unlikely to host a grand switch-on of its Christmas lights this year, according to the council’s tourism boss. 

The official switch-on of the illuminations was an annual tradition that drew crowds to the town centre and marked the start of the festive season, but it was stopped due to covid and has never been revived. 

Asked by the Stray Ferret if it would be, Gemma Rio, head of tourism for North Yorkshire Council, said: 

“I doubt it. In all the conversations I’ve had with all the partners, I haven’t heard any appetite for a Christmas lights [switch-on]. I’ll be honest – personally, I don’t think we need one. 

“If every one of our partners all of a sudden said they were desperate for one, then obviously we would have to look at it, but at the minute no-one’s suggesting that that’s something they’re chasing.” 

North Yorkshire Council has been conducting an evaluation of Harrogate’s 2023 Christmas festivities, but it appears no concrete conclusions have yet been drawn. 

Asked what would be different this year, Ms Rio said: 

“At this point, it’s too early to say. There are about 12 partners that go into our Christmas offer, and we’re speaking with all of them about what they want to achieve from Christmas 2024, and how to get there. We’ll be able to release some details later in the year.” 

Harrogate’s Christmas attractions drew a mixed response from visitors. Comments on the Stray Ferret’s Facebook page ranged from “better than last year” to “very disappointing”. In particular, the ice-rink in Crescent Gardens attracted much criticism after wind and rain forced its closure several times, and visitors complained about the quality of both the ice and the skates. 

Its operator, York-based Events by Cynosure, said it had no plans to return for Christmas 2024 “due to the losses sustained this year from the weather and lack of footfall in the area”. 

But Ms Rio said that the company and the council were still “in conversations about that”, adding that they hoped to be able to announce more details “in the next couple of months”. 

Overall, she said the council was happy with Harrogate’s performance over the Christmas period. Hotel occupancy in December 2023 was 3% higher than in 2022, and 20% higher than 2021. Of non-residents surveyed by the council, 36% were visiting Harrogate for the first time, which she said suggested that the Christmas offer was attracting new visitors to the area. 

Ms Rio added: 

“We’ve done some consultation with businesses. From both sides – visitors and business – the news is coming back really positively about the Christmas offer. So we’re really pleased.”

Read more:

• Council says ice rink organiser will fund repairs to Harrogate’s Crescent Gardens
• Harrogate Ice Rink organiser says it has ‘no plans’ to return this year
• Harrogate ice rink closes as wind brings more disruption

This story is sponsored by Yorkshire Radiators.

A Harrogate firm that specialises in bespoke radiators has got the new year off to a warm start – by slashing its prices. 

Yorkshire Radiators is offering a huge in-store discount of 25% off all its stock in its Winter Sale, which runs till the end of February. 

The company supplies bespoke radiators direct to the customer, and offers three different styles – with round, flat and oval profiles – in a range of classic and contemporary sizes and a choice of 15 colours, including three new finishes: antique maroon, pearlescent blue and pearlescent copper. 

Clyde Williams, who set up the business with wife Crystal in 2020, said: 

“In our showroom, customers can see colours and shades of radiators that they’d never imagine they’d be able to find. A lot of people are really surprised by the choice. 

“You no longer have to settle for black, white or grey radiators – you can find one here to match any room. 

“And it won’t break the bank. People often think we’re going to be expensive, but we’re not – our prices are well below anything you’ll find on the internet.” 

More than 50 of the varieties stocked by Yorkshire Radiators – including a large number of discounted ex-display models – can be viewed at its purpose-built, carbon-zero unit at Harrogate West Business Park, on Penny Pot Lane in Harrogate. 

The premises include a warehouse, spray booth and newly expanded showroom all under one roof, making it a one-stop for homeowners, plumbers and interior designers looking for the perfect heating system delivered with a short lead time.

Find out more:  

To view all our radiator options, drop into our showroom at Unit 9, Harrogate West Business Park, Bardner Bank, off Burley Bank Road, nr Penny Pot Lane, Harrogate HG3 2FN. It’s open every weekday from 9.30am to 5.30pm (3pm on Wednesdays) and by appointment on Saturdays.

Alternatively, visit the freshly redesigned Yorkshire Radiators website, which features all the options and colourways on one easily-navigable site.

Yorkshire Radiators has also set up an incentive scheme for local contractors, which is good news for them and their customers. Local plumbers and central heating engineers can find out more about this deal should call 07838 497803 or email by tapping here.

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.

Read more:

• Business Breakfast: Rudding Park to hold Dragons’ Den for local businesses
• Business Breakfast: Harrogate care group takes on nearly 90 university students
• Business Breakfast: Knaresborough company acquires Newcastle financial firm

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!

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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.

Read more:

• Business Breakfast: Harrogate care group takes on nearly 90 university students
• Business Breakfast: Knaresborough company acquires Newcastle financial firm
• Business Breakfast: HMRC unlikely to receive money from Masham brewery administration

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.”

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.

Read more:

• Starbucks recruiting staff for new Harrogate drive-through
• Developers silent over planned Harrogate Starbucks
• Former Harrogate Leon site to become Starbucks

A car that was overcome by deep water in a Ripon ford is still “parked” in the middle of the river three days later, and it remains unclear who will remove it, or when. 

The owner of the vehicle, whose identity is unknown to the Stray Ferret, has not yet “rescued” his car, and neither the police, the council nor the Environment Agency are taking responsibility for its removal.

As we reported on Wednesday, a man had to be helped onto dry land by members of the public on Tuesday night after his car – a Ford Focus hatchback – glugged to a halt while crossing the River Skell, which was swollen by heavy rain brought by Storm Henk. 

The police and a fire crew were called, the driver checked over, and the ford and footbridge closed off for the public’s safety. 

Now that the waters have receded, the car needs to be removed, but when or by whom that will be done is not yet known. 

The Stray Ferret asked North Yorkshire Police, who told us: 

“Abandoned vehicles are the responsibility of local authorities.” 

So we then approached North Yorkshire Council, but a spokesperson told us: 

“North Yorkshire Council wouldn’t recover the vehicle. The owner/driver would be advised to contact a recovery organisation who have the necessary vehicles to help with this type of recovery.” 

They also said: 

“The Environment Agency is responsible for the ford/river so they would be best placed to answer the questions raised.” 

So the Stray Ferret asked the Environment Agency about the fate of the car, and a spokesperson told us: 

“We are not responsible for the Ford at Firs Avenue, nor the water-level boards. 

“We urge the public to avoid driving through floodwater, as it takes only 30cm of water to float your car”. 

In the meantime, the recent spell of drier weather has seen all flood warnings – meaning “Flooding is expected: act now” – removed from rivers across the district. 

However, flood alerts – meaning “Flooding is possible: be prepared” – are still place on the River Ure and its tributaries between Masham and Boroughbridge, including the rivers Burn, Laver and Skell. 

Little or no rain is expected across the district well into next week, according to Met Office forecasts, and the next winter storm, Storm Isha, has not yet formed. 

The ford at Firs Avenue is usually easily crossable, but in heavy rain can quickly become impassable. In September, two people had to be rescued from a Fiat that entered the river from Priest Lane and got stuck in the ford.

Read more:

• Driver rescued from Ripon ford as flood threat continues
• Harrogate trains cancelled as flood threat remains
• Flood warnings tonight for parts of Boroughbridge