Harrogate street evacuated after bomb scare

Police evacuated a Harrogate street due to a bomb scare yesterday.

People had to leave their homes on Leadhall View, which is a cul-de-sac off Leadhall Road, for about three hours while bomb disposal experts arrived on the scene.

The drama began when John Shackleton, who lives on Leadhall View and runs aid missions to eastern Europe, tried to help a woman at his church.

Mr Shackleton, who used to work in bomb disposal, said the woman told him she had a couple of old shells in her attic.

He added:

“I said I would take them home and have a look at them. So I put them in the back of my car and the following day started dismantling them.

“There was a phosphorous liquid and I thought ‘this doesn’t look right’.”

Mr Shackleton told a bomb disposal friend about his concerns and within about half an hour police arrived on the scene and began telling people to leave their homes.

He said the two shells appeared to date back to the Second World War, adding:

“The bomb squad took them away and said they were totally unsafe but I don’t know what they did with them.

“The incident put the fear of god up everyone on the cul-de-sac — I won’t be very popular with my neighbours!”

A spokesperson for North Yorkshire Police today told the Stray Ferret:

“Police officers attended and took photographs of the items which were sent to the Army’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) team for assessments.

“The EOD team arrived at 12.45pm and they were able to confirm that the shells were empty and they removed the items.

“Nearby neighbours within a 100m safety cordon were able to return home at around 1.30pm.”

The Stray Ferret has spoken to residents who said they were asked to leave their homes but knew few other details.

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GALLERY: Prime Minister Rishi Sunak visits Harrogate

There was a slightly surreal start to the day in the Starbeck area of Harrogate when Prime Minister Rishi Sunak dropped by.

Mr Sunak, on his first engagement of the week, visited the Harrogate Bus Company ‘s depot to show support for Conservative MP Andrew Jones, who will attempt to win the  Harrogate and Knaresborough seat for a fifth time at the next general election.

The Stray Ferret joined the media melee at the depot this morning for the hour-long visit, which got underway shortly before 9am.

Journalists waited in an upstairs meeting room for a brief round of questions after the PM and former transport minister Mr Jones had finished touring the site and speaking to engineering apprentices and trainee drivers.

The Harrogate Bus Company, a subsidiary of Transdev, is getting 39 new all-electric buses at a cost of £21 million, part funded by £7.8 million from the government.

Transdev’s managing director Henri Rohard and operations director Vitto Pizzuti showed Mr Sunak and Mr Jones around the depot before Mr Sunak and Mr Jones cheerfully breezed in to greet the media, saying:

“Sorry we are in a rush. We will just whizz round — one each.”

After answering questions on whether to dual the A64, local government finance, bus franchising and the economic forecast, the Stray Ferret asked Mr Sunak and Mr Jones when was the last time they had caught a bus.

Mr Sunak replied that “with my job it’s taken out of my hands these days” and went on to talk about HS2 money being reinvested on bus services and £2 fare caps. When we asked if that meant he couldn’t remember when, he said:

“I’ve had this job for the last year which obviously makes my transport slightly different but before that I took buses in my constituency in particular to focus on provision of buses in rural areas. It’s not about me it’s about everyone across communities using buses.”

Former transport minister Mr Jones said:

“I can answer that question very clearly. I catch the bus quite regularly here and when down in Westminster. The last time I caught the bus here was the 36 into Leeds and I catch the 24 between where I stay during the week and Parliament. So I am on the bus every week.”

As Mr Sunak left the room, he turned back to say he used to catch the 45 and 45 blue line services in Southampton, where he grew up.

Speaking after the PM’s visit, Mr Rohard said government investment was helping “us to deliver a revolution in the quality and sustainability of public transport in Harrogate and North Yorkshire”.

He added:

“In combination with our existing eight Harrogate Electrics-branded Volvo 7900E electric buses, the first of their kind in Britain, 47 fully-electric vehicles will be in service when our project is complete by this summer. All our bus fleet will be renewed, giving the Harrogate Bus Company the most modern and passenger oriented network in Britain.

The 20 new Mercedes-Benz E-Citaro all-electric single deck buses will be used on route 1 between Harrogate and Knaresborough, route 7 linking Harrogate, Wetherby and Leeds, and route 24 between Harrogate and Pateley Bridge.

A further 19 new Alexander Dennis Enviro 400EV fully electric double deck buses will relaunch the company’s flagship route, the 36 linking Ripon, Harrogate and Leeds.

Here are some images from today’s visit.

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Shaking hands with Mr Jones.

 

Managing director Henri Rohard and operations director Vitto Pizzuti show Mr Sunak and Mr Jones round.

 

Meeting drivers and engineers.

 

 

 

Aboard one of the new buses.

 

 

 

 

Harrogate teen jailed for terrifying knifepoint robbery

A Harrogate teenager has been jailed for an attempted knifepoint robbery in which he lunged at the victim with a serrated blade after warning him: “Don’t think I won’t take your life”.

The named victim and his female friend heard the “click” of a folding knife after Danny Smyth crept up on them in King Edward’s Drive in the Bilton area of Harrogate and demanded his mobile phone.

Smyth, 19, from Pannal, had followed the two friends onto King Edward’s Drive and crossed over onto their side of the street before creeping up behind them, prosecutor Kelly Clarke told York Crown Court.

The victim asked him:

“What’s your problem? What’s wrong?”

Smyth replied:

“Don’t think I won’t take your life.”

The victim and his friend then heard a “click” and saw Smyth holding a three-inch serrated switchblade which he “flicked out”.

They said they heard the flick or lock knife “crack into place”.

Smyth then told the victim:

“Don’t think I won’t stab you. Don’t get lippy.”

The terrified victim quickly crossed the road to try to escape. As he walked away, he said to his friend: “What was all that about?”

Ms Clarke said that Smyth must have heard him because he crossed the road again towards the victim and repeated: “Don’t get lippy.” Ms Clarke added”

“He saw the phone in (the victim’s) hand and demanded it. He then lunged at him with the knife.”

The knife missed and the victim struck Smyth in the face in self-defence, knocking him into a bush. The victim and his friend then ran away and called police.

They said the victim’s eyes were “like saucers” and that he was clearly under the influence of some kind of substance.

Officers soon located Smyth and arrested him. He was taken to Harrogate Police Station where he became extremely aggressive and verbally abusive with officers.

Abused police

One officer was called a deeply offensive name as Smyth threatened to “knock her the fxxx out” and spit in her face, before kicking that officer and her colleague repeatedly in the arms and legs.

The shocking series of events occurred on June 13 last year while Smyth was already facing a public-disorder charge at the Crown Court following a previous violent incident in Harrogate on April 16, 2021, when police were called out to Knox Chase by neighbours.

“Police were called (out) to reports of…males fighting with residents,” said Ms Clarke.

One of Smyth’s co-defendants in that case, 20-year-old Lewis Edmondson, of Byland Place, and a youth who can’t be named for legal reasons, had been walking along the street when the youth fell into a hedge outside a property in Knox Chase.

Neighbours Neil Lyons, 51, and Andrew Preston, 50, came out of their property to confront the pair because there had been “a number of incidents involving youths in Knox Chase in the past”.

Ms Clarke said a fight broke out among all five males present, including Smyth. The incident was captured on CCTV and witnessed by residents including an elderly woman.

All five males were charged with an offence under the Public Order Act, namely using or threatening unlawful violence. They all admitted the offence and appeared for sentence today – almost three years after the incident.

Defence counsel for all but Smyth were spared the need for mitigation after judge Sean Morris said that all the defendants would be receiving 12-month conditional discharges for the offence.

However, as Smyth’s co-defendants walked free from court, he remained in the dock to be sentenced for the attempted robbery, carrying a knife and two counts of assaulting police officers during the incident in June 2023, all of which he admitted.

14 previous offences

Before sentence, Ms Clarke reminded the court of Smyth’s six previous convictions for 14 offences including carrying a knife, public disorder, battery and racially aggravated threatening behaviour.

Defence barrister Kristina Goodwin said that Smyth, a former Harrogate College student, had mental-health issues and traits of an anti-social personality disorder.

She added that Smyth, who had once been involved with the Sea Cadets and gained a Prince’s Trust award at college, had endured a difficult childhood and turned to alcohol and drugs to cope. He had been using cocaine “for a few years” and the drug abuse had resulted in him starting to get into trouble by 2020.

She said that Smyth, of Pannal Green, had been remanded in custody since his arrest in June last year, which was the equivalent of 16 months’ jail time already deemed served.

Judge Mr Morris, the Recorder of York, told Smyth he was “so lucky you didn’t kill someone” in the attempted knifepoint robbery.

He added:

“Knives are the scourge of the city streets at the moment and you would have been up for murder (if the attack had been fatal). You should hang your head in shame.”

Handing Smyth a two-year jail sentence, he told the teenager he already had a “nasty” record for one so young.

However, Smyth will only spend half that sentence behind bars, less the time he had already spent on remand, before being released on prison licence.

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Harrogate firm sold to Irish multinational

Harrogate firm Groundtrax Systems has been acquired by an international company based in Dublin.

Groundtrax, which was founded by Simon Adams in 2011, has a storage and distribution facility at Station Yard in Ripley. It provides specialist ground protection products, such as reinforced paving, for roads, car parks and commercial sites.

According to a media release issued today, it has been bought for an undisclosed sum by Origin UK Operations Ltd, which is part of Irish multinational Origin Enterprises PLC.

The release added the business, led by Mr Adams and supported by director Laura Tyrrell and sales manager David Marsh, “has experienced strong growth in recent years” and has “built a UK-wide customer base of high-profile organisations that operate in the construction, hospitality and transport sectors, amongst others”.

Mr Adams, who will remain with the business, said:

“I am exceptionally proud of what we’ve built at Groundtrax Systems with a prestigious portfolio of customers and a reputation for quality and service.

“As part of Origin, the business will experience the next stage of its growth, benefiting from the strong presence the group has in a diverse range of industries, supplementing where we already operate. I’m excited to support the Origin team as we integrate into the group and deliver new opportunities for the business.”

Advising Mr Adams, who was the 100% shareholder of Groundtrax, was north-east based RG Corporate Finance. LCF Law provided legal advice.

Chris Clark, managing director of Origin Amenity, said:

“Groundtrax Systems is a welcome addition to our amenity and landscaping operations as we accelerate the diversification of the group beyond our core agricultural business.

“There are strong synergies with our existing amenity businesses and its products and distribution capabilities will add value to our expanding offering to our key sector client base.”

Origin Enterprises provides a range of agricultural advice, services and products to arable, fruit, vegetable growers amenity and landscaping professionals in the UK, Europe and Brazil.

Photo caption: Simon Adams, managing director of Groundtrax, with its trackway and truck grade cellular paver products ready for dispatch from the company’s facility in Ripon.

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Yemi’s Food Stories: My review of new Harrogate fine-dining restaurant Rhubarb

Yemi Adelekan is a food writer and blogger who was a semi-finalist in the 2022 series of BBC TV’s Masterchefcompetition.

Every Saturday Yemi writes on the Stray Ferret about her love of the district’s food and shares cooking tips – please get in touch with her if you want her to review a restaurant, visit your farm, taste the produce you sell or even share a recipe.

This week, I had the opportunity to eat at the newly opened Rhubarb in Harrogate.

It is located of Cheltenham Crescent, above Sukhothai, and is just a stones throw from the town centre and a multi-storey car park.

Harrogate has an abundance of restaurants, bars and coffee shops so one might be tempted to ask if there is room for yet another restaurant. After my meal at Rhubarb, I can confidently say yes.

Appetisers

The head chef Varun Khanna, who has previous experience at Restaurant Sat Bains in Birmingham and the Pipe and Glass in Beverley, has curated an exciting and innovative menu that reads like a dream.

The complimentary truffled pudding with walnut ketchup and winter truffle delivered a tang that woke up the tastebuds, and this was followed by sourdough breads with caramelised onion chicken liver parfait and marmite butter.

The parfait was silky smooth, light and delicious. The sun-dried tomato and basil bread combined the sweetness of the tomatoes with the fragrance of basil, making it the perfect vessel for the umami from the parfait.

The marmite butter grew on me — it was delicious. Marmite lovers would adore it, and marmite haters may even be pleasantly surprised by how the perfect blend of marmite and butter draws you in to have yet another taste.

The beetroot cured salmon starter.

Starters

The beetroot-cured salmon with Exmoor caviar, Whittaker’s gin and crème fraiche sorbet, and compressed cucumber was sublime. I am not usually a fan of smoked or cured salmon, but when done right it’s a thing of beauty. This was certainly done right! The texture and the sweetness of the beetroot shone through, and the sorbet was the perfect accompaniment. This was a 10 out of 10 starter.

The second starter was a dressed Whitby crab, brown crab bhaji, pickled okra and curried carrot, coconut and lobster bisque. It was beautifully plated and tasted delicious with a generous amount of crab. The bisque also showcased the delicate curry flavour.

The Whitby crab starter.

Mains

The main of Skrei cod loin with trout caviar, nasturtium, samphire and champagne sauce was a feast for the eyes – with the fish topped with radish scales. The cooking of the cod was on point, with each layer flaking away, super juicy and glistening. The sauce was delicious, light and delicate, but I think I would have liked it to be a touch thicker.

The cod loin

I loved the second main, which was a rack of lamb with spiced leg and potato puri, apple chutney, tamarind, mango chutney and mint. The lamb was pink, juicy and had a slight smokiness from finishing it on the grill, which added a layer of delicious complexity. Given this is a fatty cut, perfect rendering of the fat whilst still keeping it pink is a must.

The rack of lamb

Desserts

Desserts in many restaurants are often predictable and uninspiring, but the head chef has curated exciting options that make leaving room for dessert a no-brainer. The warm dark chocolate tart of chocolate sourdough French toast was surprising and paired very well with the creamy and delicious artichoke ice cream garnished with artichoke crisp.

I had to try ‘the lemon’, which is a lemon curd mousse with finger lime pearls folded through and bergamot meringue tubes. I expected this to be a sweet dessert given the mousse was encased in white chocolate, but I was pleasantly surprised that the sweetness came from the ice cream and floral meringue tubes and matched the light acidity from the mousse. This is a wonderful dessert to finish a meal on.

The desserts.

The Thai curry ice cream with banana, Exmoor caviar and blood orange consommé was intriguing, and diners could be nervous about it… but it would be a huge miss, as it was a surreal experience to be eating something that perfectly straddled the path between eating a curry and a dessert — something that shouldn’t work but absolutely does. There was spice, sweetness, heat, curry flavour and saltiness.

This is a stunning and phenomenal dessert from conception to execution that everyone should treat themselves to. Caviar on dessert? Yes, please.

The Thai curry ice cream and chocolates.

The dining experience ended with petit four of four chocolate creations. I left immediately thinking about all the people I would want to experience what Rhubarb has to offer.

Rhubarb is a fine dining restaurant without the pretentiousness that sometimes goes with fine dining.

It’s a place you can go for special occasions and opt for their tasting menu, business and casual lunches with their three-course lunch menu priced at £29 or opt for their a la carte menu for mid-week treats or weekend out.

I am delighted that Rhubarb has opened to offer a refreshing, innovative, exciting and accessible take on fine dining right in the heart of the town. I encourage you to check it out.

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Editor’s Pick of the Week: A new Harrogate restaurant and ongoing battles to save trees

Harrogate’s new fine-dining restaurant Rhubarb created quite a stir this week, especially as its town centre location has proved a graveyard for several recent ventures.

Today our food writer, Masterchef semi-finalist and Harrogate resident Yemi Adelekan, reviews it.

On the topic of good food, we also revealed the local entries in the latest Michelin Guide.

Besides food, trees have dominated the local news landscape. Some have been felled at the former gasworks where Tesco is starting sitework on its new Harrogate supermarket.

Campaigners are doing their utmost to resist 450 being felled in Rotary Wood, where Harrogate Spring Water’s expansion plans took a step forward.

In Ripon, the cathedral announced it was still open to ways of saving a veteran beech tree due to be felled as part of a new development on Minster Gardens — but none has been identified yet.

Some weird and wonderful things have been happening in Knaresborough. Tonight the town hosts a show featuring local burlesque performer Foxie Gingerella, better known locally as businesswoman Sarah Lowe, from beauty salon Orchis Escape. And did you see our article about another person having to be rescued from public toilets on Waterside?

It’s difficult to follow that — enjoy the weekend content.

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Harrogate manager Simon Weaver named Manager of the Month

Harrogate Town manager Simon Weaver has been named SkyBet League Two Manager of the Month for January.

Weaver guided his side into the promotion race with 10 points from four unbeaten matches.

He said:

“I think this award should go to the whole management team. Everyone does contribute so much to the cause, the staff, the players, we are all here together.”

Weaver has guided his side up the table.

Danny Wilson who chairs the Sky Bet Championship Manager of the Month judging panel, said:

“Four unbeaten games in January and 10 points returned is a fantastic run considering the injury list Simon has had to deal with.

“With the momentum gaining pace, Harrogate find themselves on the brink of the play off places with some very exciting fixtures coming up.”

Celebrating with Town colleagues.

Sky Sports’ EFL pundit Don Goodman described Town as “the form team in League One and Simon Weaver deserves a lot of credit”.

He added:

“They are now in the chase for a play-off position and have hit their stride at the perfect time.”

The Sulphurites started the season 100/30 favourites for relegation but are now 33/1 to be promoted and 7/1 to make the play offs.

They entertain Colchester United this weekend at the EnviroVent Stadium on Wetherby Road.

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Grassroots funding awarded to Harrogate football clubs

Four football clubs in the Harrogate district have been awarded grants from the government as part of the Multi-Sport Grassroots Fund.

The fund will award £93 million in 2023-24 to more than 1,100 projects around the country.

In total the Harrogate district was awarded £5,077 between the four clubs, with all of them applying for goalpost funding. 

Applicants could apply for a range of facilities including football turf, floodlights, pavilions, goalposts, changing rooms and improving sports access.

The Harrogate district clubs which were successful in securing grassroots funding were: 

The aim of the funding was to increase participation in sport amongst underrepresented groups and target communities most in need. 

Currently, the focus within underrepresented groups is to increase the involvement of women and girls, disabled players and those in deprived areas. 

The government funding is partnered with investments from the English FA and the Premier League. 

Conservative MP for Skipton and Ripon, Julian Smith, said:

“This is great news for these local clubs. 

“The government is making a real investment in grassroots sports as we make significant progress towards meeting our ambitious target of 3.5 million more people active by 2030.”

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Harrogate’s Ashville College to end boarding next year

Harrogate‘s Ashville College is to phase out boarding by next year as part of a major new masterplan.

The fee-paying school said the masterplan would see “the biggest investment in its academic and sporting facilities in its history”.

But it will also result in the end of boarding after almost 150 years as Ashville begins a new era exclusively for day pupils, who currently account for more than 90 per cent of its intake.

Chair of governors Jamie Search described the decision as “sensible — and inevitable”.

He added:

“Decisions we have taken about boarding will allow us to fulfil our aim of becoming the school of first choice for those parents in the Harrogate, and the wider Harrogate area, who want independent education for their children aged 2-18.

“In the UK independent sector, boarding education as a concept has been under considerable pressure for some time, exacerbated by the covid pandemic.”

Ashville’s campus

Mr Search added:

“Ashville is a day school with some boarding and is, therefore, very different to a full boarding school.

“Like many similar schools, where boarding is a small and decreasing part of its operation, Ashville has not been immune to these trends. We now have about a third of the number of boarders we had 10 years ago and we occupy only two of our four boarding houses.”

Current Year 10 and lower sixth boarders will be able to complete their current stage of education, whether at GCSE or ‘A’ Level.

Ashville said in a statement it was “working to support families of pupils who currently board by offering one-to-one specialist advice and guidance, including signposting them to alternative boarding schools, before boarding at Ashville ceases in July 2025″.

It added the school was already working with architects and designers on its new vision and would share more details and images next term.

Rhiannon Wilkinson, Ashville head

Rhiannon Wilkinson

Head Rhiannon Wilkinson said in a letter to parents:

“The decision to wind down boarding is made from a position of confidence and it brings us many opportunities as an all-through, co-educational day school.

“We will be able to develop our teaching spaces to accommodate the new styles of teaching and learning and curriculum design which a changing world of work necessitates.”

She added:

“We have plans to develop social and study spaces for our pupils and we are keen to invest further in our sporting facilities.

“We also want to redesign and upgrade a number of other areas across the campus as we further develop a modern learning environment for all our pupils.”

 Founded in 1877, Ashville College caters for boys and girls aged 2-18 years. It consists of Acorns Early Years, and Ashville’s prep school, senior school and sixth form.

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New fine dining restaurant opens in Harrogate

A fine dining restaurant has opened in the premises above Sukhothai on Harrogate’s Cheltenham Crescent.

Rhubarb Harrogate serves modern British cuisine under Bradford-born head chef Varun Khanna. Silviu Hasna is the restaurant director.

It offers a tasting menu at £79, a three-course set lunch for £29 and an a la carte menu that includes dishes such as monkfish tail for £29 and venison haunch for £32.

The site has had a chequered recent history. After being occupied by Le Bistrot Pierre for many years. It was briefly Samsons, HG1 Grill and World Bar and most recently The Rooftop.

The latter — a Mexican restaurant and cocktail bar — closed after just two days in August last year.

According to the restaurant’s website, Rhubarb Harrogate is an “understated modern British restaurant, where carefully sourced local ingredients take centre stage” led by “a talented chef with serious culinary heritage”.

It adds:

“Varun provides a dining experience that epitomises quality, sourcing ingredients locally to showcase the very best produce Yorkshire has to offer.”

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