Fast food chain Leon is recruiting staff to work at a drive thru restaurant in Harrogate.
The company, which has about 70 outlets in the UK, is to open on the Wetherby Road site that received planning permission to be a Starbucks..
The Stray Ferret revealed last month that speculation was growing that the site could host a Leon.
Now Alex Parkinson, general manager of the first Leon drive thru in Leeds, is advertising for staff.
In a post on a Facebook recruitment site, she said:
“I’m currently the general manager of the first Leon drive thru in Gildersome, Leeds — and I’m super-excited about opening our second drive thru in Harrogate.
“We are looking for team members and supervisors to join us.”
Read more:
Leon describes itself as a place that sells healthy fast food that is environmentally friendly.
Options include vegan sausage muffins, Harissa chicken salad and blackberry, apple and ginger porridge
Leon was recently bought by Euro Garages group, which was awarded planning permission last year to open a drive-thru Starbucks on Wetherby Road.
Firefighters battle large wildfire near Brimham Rocks
Firefighters from Harrogate and Knaresborough tackled a wildfire on moorland near Brimham Rocks this afternoon.
The cause of the blaze, which affected a 50 metre x 50 metre stretch of land at the popular visitor spot near Pateley Bridge, is unknown.
The fire, which was reported at 2pm, was extinguished quickly.
But it prompted Harrogate Fire Station to issue a warning to people to be aware that the land is dry and to be careful putting out cigarettes and avoid open fires and barbecues, except in safe areas.
North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service‘s incident log says:
“Crews used one hose reel jet and grass beaters to extinguish the heather fire which measured 50m x 50m. The cause is unknown at this time.
Harrogate Fire Station issued a tweet warning the land is dry and for people to be extra careful in the countryside.
This afternoon, fire engines from Harrogate and Knaresborough attended a wildfire measuring 50m x 50m at Brimham Rocks near Pateley Bridge.
Fortunately they managed to get this under control and prevented the fire from spreading. Cause is unknown 1/5 pic.twitter.com/m9n890ufnL
— Harrogate Fire station (@Harrogate_NYFRS) March 22, 2022
Oven fire and trapped child
Firefighters responded to two other local fires today.
At 12.49pm, crews from Ripon and Bedale were summoned to reports of an oven on fire at a home in Melmerby.
The fire was out by the time the firefighters arrived.
At 2.41pm, Ripon firefighters responded to reports of a small child accidentally locked in a car at Stonebridgegate in Ripon.
The incident log says:
Vaccine sites in Harrogate district gearing up for spring boosters“Crews from Ripon released the child, who was distressed, by gaining entry through the rear window.”
Vaccination sites in the Harrogate district are preparing to get busy again following the announcement of spring booster jabs.
Covid clinics in Harrogate, Ripon, Knaresborough and Pateley Bridge have wound down or paused since December.
But that is about to change after the government said people aged 75 and over, care home residents and people with weakened immune systems can now book fourth jabs.
Yorkshire Health Network, which is a federation of 17 GP practices in the Harrogate district, operates sites at the Great Yorkshire Showground in Harrogate and Ripon Races.
The showground will have its next clinic from 8.30am to 5pm on April 1.
The Ripon Races site.
Dates at Ripon Races are being finalised so they don’t clash with horse race meetings.
Tim Yarrow, operations manager at Yorkshire Health Network, said:
“We anticipate uptake to be high in the 75 and overs as Harrogate has a large population in that cohort.”
Read more:
- Pateley Bridge vaccine heroes treated to thank-you meal
- Harrogate district covid rate more than doubles in 12 days
Knaresborough and Pateley Bridge
Homecare Pharmacy Services’ site in Knaresborough.
Homecare Pharmacy’ Service‘s vaccination site at Chain Lane in Knaresborough is to add Monday covid clinics to its existing Friday and Saturday clinics. Bookings are encouraged to avoid having to wait.
Pateley Bridge Pharmacy, which paused its vaccination programme in December, plans to start again soon.
Samina Khan, who owns the pharmacy, said:
“I think we will restart in April, with bookings from March 25, but we are still finalising details.”
Infections rocketing
It comes as infection rates continue to soar in the Harrogate district.
The seven-day infection rate is now 885 per 100,000 people. It was 343 at the start of the month.
It is the highest rate in North Yorkshire and above the England rate of 833.
Harrogate West and Pannal Ash is the worst affected area in the county. It has recorded 135 positive cases in the last seven days.
Vandals daub swastika and ‘IRA’ on Ripon graveVandals have drawn a swastika, ‘Z’ and ‘IRA’ on the front and back of a gravestone in Ripon Cemetery.
North Yorkshire Police said today the attack was particularly shocking for Ripon’s military personnel.
It added it will be stepping-up patrols in the Ripon area “to prevent further incidents of this nature”. The cemetery is based on Kirby Road, close to Ripon Grammar School.
‘Z’ has appeared on the side of some Russian military vehicles in Ukraine.
Inspector Alex Langley, from the Ripon neighbourhood policing team said:
“Members of the public are quite rightly shocked by these instances of vandalism. This is particularly upsetting for the large military community that we have in Ripon.
“Incidents of this nature will not be tolerated, and I would urge anyone who has any information to contact us “.
Police urge anyone with information to contact North Yorkshire Police on 101, select option 2 and ask for Katie Bell. Alternatively you can email katie.bell@northyorkshire.police.uk
Quote reference number 12220048095.
If you wish to remain anonymous, you can pass information to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
Pateley Bridge vaccine heroes treated to thank-you mealAbout 60 volunteers who gave up their time to help administer over 10,000 covid jabs in Pateley Bridge have been treated to a thank-you meal.
Samina Khan, owner of Pateley Bridge Pharmacy, and Dr Lewis Caplin, a GP who played a key role in the Nidderdale town’s vaccination programme, organised the event.
The pharmacy wound down its programme in December but is now set to provide more clinics following the announcement that people aged 75 and over, care home residents and those with weakened immune systems can book spring boosters.
Pateley Bridge Pharmacy was awarded an NHS England contract to give jabs at its third time of applying.
Some opposed the move, saying local people could attend the GP-run vaccine centres in Harrogate and Ripon. But not everyone was able to get to those locations easily.
Ms Khan said:
“A lot of our patients were relying on transport to get to the other places and it was costing them £60 for round trips, which is a lot of money.”
The pharmacy began giving jabs in April and administered 350 a day at its peak.
Read more:
- Plea for better drains after Pateley Bridge floods again
- Bride’s disappointment as Harrogate Register Office maintains covid guest limit
Ms Khan said if Dr Caplin, a retired GP in Pateley Bridge, hadn’t agreed to oversee the vaccinations “I don’t think I would have been able to pursue it”.
The volunteers, who included vaccinators, marshals and administrative staff, enjoyed a free Indian meal at Cardamon Black restaurant in Harrogate on Sunday.
Ms Khan, who has also given volunteers gift vouchers, said:
“It was just to say thank you to them because they have given up their time to help protect the local community.”
The pharmacy plans to start providing jabs again in April.
All photos by Natasha Audsley
The organisers of Harrogate Christmas Market on Montpellier Hill have given up their battle to bring the event back.
The market, which was staged from 2012 to 2019, attracted over 80,000 visitors, 187 coaches and nearly 200 traders.
But the event was scuppered late into its planning stages last year when Harrogate Borough Council refused its event management plan.
The council then staged an alternative 10-day Harrogate Christmas Fayre in the town centre in partnership with Market Place, a specialist market company from Greater Manchester.
Brian Dunsby, co-organiser of the Montpellier Hill event, had been campaigning to bring back the event but he has now conceded defeat.
‘Fed-up to the back teeth’
He told the Stray Ferret he was “fed-up to the back teeth” with the situation with the council and negotiations had “reached the end of the line”.
“It’s extremely disappointing after eight years of extremely successful events and then two years waiting in the wings trying to keep it going.”
Mr Dunsby added it was too soon to contemplate what might happen when Harrogate Borough Council is abolished next year and replaced by the new North Yorkshire Council.
Read more:
- Businesses surveyed on Harrogate Christmas market preferences
- No. 5: A new era for Harrogate’s Christmas markets
A statement from Mr Dunsby and his wife, Beryl, co-organisers of Harrogate Christmas Market Ltd, said:
Drink-drive charge after car crashes into Harrogate garden“The Harrogate Christmas Market team leaders have now decided not to organise any future markets in Harrogate. We thank all our super local volunteers, voluntary organisations, local contractors and traders for all their support over the years.
“We wish those taking up the challenge of providing a good quality Christmas Market in Harrogate all the best as we know how hard it is to create something that is truly appreciated by visitors and traders and which supports local businesses.
“Thanks for your support over the past 10 years.”
Harrogate roads policing sergeant Paul Cording has published photos of a car that crashed into a Harrogate home over the weekend.
Sgt Cording, who regularly tweets about police life on the road, said the driver, who has not been named, had been charged with drink-driving and would appear in court next month. He tweeted:
“Thankfully no injuries and no one was in the garden at the time.”
He posted about the incident at about 7am yesterday morning.
RTC in #Harrogate where car has crashed into garden of residential property. Thankfully no injuries & no one was in the garden at the time. The driver has been arrested, interviewed & charged with drink driving. They have a date in court next month #Fatal5 pic.twitter.com/47QUe0oYK9
— Sgt Paul Cording BEM (@OscarRomeo1268) March 20, 2022
During two busy weekend night shifts, Sgt Cording also tweeted about a car driver in Ripon refusing to stop when asked by police and the recovery of class A drugs.
The driver of this vehicle decided they didn’t want to stop for Police in #Ripon and made off. Vehicle located a short time later with significant rear end damage and tyres tracks towards a sizeable tree!! Vehicle seized & enquiries ongoing pic.twitter.com/ZWgGr3uUtx
— Sgt Paul Cording BEM (@OscarRomeo1268) March 20, 2022
A flying start to the shift after this vehicle was stopped on the outskirts of #Harrogate I was then joined my my colleagues from #OpExpedite and a search recovered a substantial amount of believed Class A drugs #OneInCustody #PWITS #Result pic.twitter.com/H391LkXuVj
— Sgt Paul Cording BEM (@OscarRomeo1268) March 21, 2022
Read more:
- Police find 16 wraps of class A drugs in vehicle heading to Harrogate
- Plan to convert disused Harrogate church into seven homes
Tractor run inspires children’s learning in Pateley Bridge
Children were so excited by seeing hundreds of tractors parading through their town a week ago that they have been using the experience to learn.
Many youngsters from Sunflowers Day Nursery in Pateley Bridge watched Knaresborough Young Farmers Club’s tractor run on March 13. Some even rode alongside adults in tractors.
The event, which attracted a record 383 tractors, started at the Great Yorkshire Showground in Harrogate, stopped in Pateley Bridge for lunch and ended in Knaresborough.
Children were overwhelmed by the site of so many tractors.
It made such a big impression on young minds that the nursery adopted tractor-themed learning last week.
Nursery manager Heather Clark Kelly said:
“Many of our little Sunflowers were totally overwhelmed by the amount of tractors they saw and their experiences have totally impacted on our learning this week.
“We have been talking about tractors, counting tractors, classifying tractors be colour, lining up tractors, sharing pictures of our own tractors and finally concentrating on our different skills to colour and cut out tractors to make a huge picture.
“Everything which happens in the children’s lives presents a learning opportunity, and this was no exception.”
Read more:
- Record turnout for return of Knaresborough farmers’ tractor run
- Dogs saved after falling down hole near Pateley Bridge
Hot Seat: Leading the Harrogate district’s leisure revolution
Public leisure centres in the Harrogate district are experiencing their greatest investment ever.
Harrogate Borough Council is spending more than £40m on new pools in Ripon and Knaresborough and on a major refurbishment of The Hydro in Harrogate.
Mark Tweedie, managing director of Brimhams Active, oversees 250 staff responsible for delivering services at these sites as well as several others.
Brimhams is the council-owned company set up last year to promote health and wellbeing in the district.
It operates swimming pools in Harrogate, Ripon, Knaresborough, Pateley Bridge and Starbeck. All of these sites, except the magnificent old Starbeck Baths and the soon-to-be-rebuilt Knaresborough Pool, also have leisure or fitness centres.
Mark Tweedie with Jack Laugher at the opening of Ripon’s new facility.
Brimhams also oversees Fairfax Wellbeing and Community Hub in Harrogate, Jennyfield Styan Community Centre, a children’s nursery and the Harrogate Turkish Baths.
Mr Tweedie, 54, a former PE teacher with considerable experience of the leisure sector, was hired by the council in November 2020 to support the creation of Brimhams before transferring to his current role in July last year.
He says he was attracted by the council’s vision of using leisure to improve the health and wellbeing of people in the district, backed by its willingness to invest serious money to make it happen.
Difficult start
It hasn’t been an easy ride. There have been costly delays at the new Jack Laugher Leisure and Wellness Centre in Ripon due to sinkhole issues that long pre-date Mr Tweedie. A report due imminently will determine how much more work needs to be done before the site can fully open. He says:
“I’m absolutely confident it will be resolved. Yes, it’s been frustrating. I know customers have been desperate to come back since Spa Baths closed.”
There has been some discontent about the consultation and need for a new leisure centre in Knaresborough, where work is due to begin next month on a 65-week building programme due to finish in July next year.
How Knaresborough’s new pool will look.
Mr Tweedie says the transition from old to new site will be “seamless”, with the current facility operating until the new one opens — something that didn’t happen in Ripon, where the Spa Baths closed four months before the new pool opened due to delays.
Now there is the looming nine-month closure of The Hydro, which will leave Harrogate without a council-run pool.
Staffing has also been difficult — Brimhams has been consistently operating with 20 to 30 vacancies. Opening hours have been affected. Mr Tweedie says:
“It’s been a significant challenge, and it’s shared across the sector nationally.”
Read more:
- Ripon leisure centre named after local Olympic hero Jack Laugher
- £28m contracts for new Knaresborough pool and Harrogate Hydro upgrades approved
- Harrogate Hydro set to close for nine months
But there is little doubt that when all the projects are completed, the district’s facilities will be significantly better than they were pre-Brimhams. He says:
“We are through the worst and back on track and people in the Harrogate district and our staff have got a lot to look forward to.”
Aim to nearly double membership
The aim is to increase total membership at the sites in Harrogate, Ripon and Knaresborough to 5,000 within six months of the new facilities opening. Membership totalled about 3,000 at its pre-covid peak so it would be a considerable achievement but Mr Tweedie is “very confident” of achieving it. He says 400 people joined the Ripon centre in the fortnight after it opened.
How the refurbished Hydro will look.
Brimhams’s current monthly rate is £38.95. Customers at The Hydro are being offered a reduced rate of £32 to use the other sites while it is being refurbished. They will also be able to take part in group exercise sessions at the nearby Jennyfield Styan Community Centre.
Large private gym chains such as Pure Gym and Coach Gyms, which offer membership at about £20 a month, have extended their tentacles into the district, which can’t make life easy for council-run alternatives, but Mr Tweedie insists they are serving different markets.
“The private sector is dealing with the 15% that want to join a gym. The question is, what happens to the other 85%? How do we use public facilities to reach out to them?”
He talks about Brimhams taking “a more holistic approach” that leads to a “deeper and more purposeful relationship” with customers. People won’t come just to use the pool or gym, he says, but also to access a wider range of service that are being developed, such as mental health support, nutritional advice and mindfulness. It’s no coincidence that two Brimhams Active sites now include ‘wellbeing’ in their names — it’s clearly the way ahead.
A new software system, due to go live at the end of the month, will enable online booking and a “better digital relationship with customers”, as well as capturing footfall data that Brimhams can use to improve services.
Will it consider 24-hour opening, as many private gyms are? Mr Tweedie says:
“We have no plans for 24/7. We feel we can deal with our customer base between the hours of 6.30am and 10pm.”
Starbeck Baths
The scale of the council’s investment in leisure leads Mr Tweedie to say confidently there are no plans to reduce services or close Starbeck Baths, which is a constant threat to such an ageing facility. He adds:
“What the commercial approach is not about is reducing wages and staff and providing the bare bones of a service.”
All change next year
But his reassurances are tempered by the fact that Harrogate Borough Council will be abolished next year and control of Brimhams will transfer to the new North Yorkshire Council.
Brimhams staff will have a new employer from April 1 and, in time, a new strategy run by different managers.
Mr Tweedie, who lives in Morpeth and divides his time working from home and in the Harrogate district, says it could take at least a couple of years to implement whatever model the new council introduces so his role could exist for some time yet. He says:
“I want to deliver our three-year strategic plan and I am already working with other district leisure service leaders and North Yorkshire colleagues to manage the transition to the unitary authority.”
The important thing, he adds, is that customers don’t notice any sudden changes next year and that frontline staff, such as lifeguards and receptionists, are looked after. He says:
“It’s business as usual for us. We have a vision. We have a strategy. We have a plan we will deliver on that with a high level of tenacity.
Nidderdale Pool and Leisure Centre in Pateley Bridge.
Harrogate council launches free 12-week weight loss programme for men
Harrogate Borough Council‘s leisure company has launched a free weight management programme to help men get active, eat well and lose weight.
Brimhams Active has been running the Fit4Life initiative in the Harrogate district for some time.
But this week it has launched a free programme for men-only funded by North Yorkshire County Council.
The 12-week programme starts on Monday, March 28 and takes places once a week at Jennyfield Styan Community Centre in Harrogate from 7.30pm to 9pm.
The first half of the session will involve an exercise class followed by nutrition advice.
Brimhams Active’s staff will teach residents about food choices to change their current behaviour and how to develop a healthy relationship with food.
Read more:
- Harrogate Hydro set to close for nine months
- Harrogate tourism body makes health and wellbeing top priority
The programme will provide information about goal setting and eating awareness, dieting and myth bunking meal planning, portion sizes and shopping guidance.
To join, you must be a male aged 18 and over and have a body mass index over 30 kg/m2 (25 BMI if you have co-morbidities or are from BAME group), be willing to commit to losing five per cent of body weight and have no uncontrolled co-morbidities.
Changing lifestyles
Matthew O’Sullivan, health and wellbeing development officer at Brimhams, said:
“Fit4Life is a fantastic weight management programme and we’ve had some really successful stories of people losing weight but more importantly completely changing their lifestyles for the better.
“We know men might be reluctant to attend a mixed Fit4Life session so have decided to launch a specific session on a Monday evening in Harrogate that will be really informal and a chance to take part in an exercise class as well as learn about to achieve healthy weight loss.”
To book a place, call 01423 556106 or email active.health@brimhamsactive.co.uk.