Harrogate’s new Irish bar, The Four Leaf, has served its first pints of Guinness.

The pub, on John Street, opened at 3.30pm today (Friday, March 8) — nine days before St Patrick’s Day.

Owner Paul Kinsey, who runs the Harewood Group, also revealed today he had agreed terms for the next Four Leaf Irish pub and kitchen in Sheffield, and he planned to have four Four Leaf venues operating in Yorkshire by the end of this year.

He said:

“I think we have hit the spot with a modern Irish bar with a good balance of humour and craic along with standards and menu variety you want in a modern bar.”

The venue was rebranded as The Harlow when it was taken over by the Harewood Group last November. The Harewood Group owned the Viper Rooms nightclub, which closed in December 2022.

The bar area of Four Leaf

Now the pub has a completely new look. There will be live music on Fridays and Saturdays, a quiz night, an Irish folk night, an open mic night and live comedy.

The pub serves 11 types of specialist Irish whiskey and offers two-for-one cocktails, including the Guinness slammer, as well as the usual pub drinks.

Regarding food, Mr Kinsey said it will serve “traditional Irish fare with a modern twist”. He added:

“We have a wide ranging menu catering for all tastes.”

Options range from sausage and mash to beef patty to Irish steak baguette.

Seating in Four Leaf

Mr Kinsey said:

“There isn’t an Irish bar in Harrogate, which was the appeal to open one. There’s a lot of generic bars in the town already, all of which have their own appeal, but we will be providing good food, good drinks, entertainment and good craic. We’re going to lean into the Irish theme and humour. It’s going to be a place where you can enjoy a party, but it also caters for everyone.”

The venue is set to offer live music

Guinness, the drink of choice in Four Leaf

He added:

“It’s just something different for the town and it’s also something different for us. But we know we can deliver the core of it — the food, the drinks and the entertainment — it’s exciting to see how people will react to it.”

The decor aims to reflect Irish charm

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An 89-year-old local billiards legend played his last ever league match last night.

Peter Chadwick, from Pateley Bridge, has played billiards for over 70 years. He started in 1951 aged 16 when a local player took him under his wing.

A few years later Mr Chadwick began competing in leagues and joined the Pateley Bridge Social club, where he is still a member.

Last night marked a celebration of Mr Chadwick’s dedication to the sport in the final match of Markington and District Rural Billiards League’s season at Kirkby Malzeard.

Peter Chadwick played Malcolm Tattersall, 85, in a close match. Mr Tattersall won by three points, 125-122 but Pateley Bridge Social club won the match 3-2.

Peter Chadwick (left) and Malcolm Tattersall

Mr Chadwick said:

“It is sad to be giving up playing league billiards, but following both hip replacements, which has reduced my mobility around the table and restricted my cueing, I felt now was the right time to hang up my cue, although I will continue to support the team and offer advice”

His son, Colin Chadwick, said:

“It was made more even memorable as my father played his old adversary and good friend Malcom Tattersall.

“My father is 89 & Malcolm is 85, so 174 years of experience between them. My dad was a very good player in his time and has always been a very good sportsman, club members say he is the perfect gentlemen and is highly respected. I am very proud of him.”

Billiards, in which three balls are struck with cues into pockets around the edge of the table, has been overshadowed by snooker and pool in recent years.

Mr Chadwick said the sport was more popular when Mr Chadwick was young, which he added was just a sign of the times.

Mr Chadwick is also an ex-Yorkshire and Harrogate professional cricketer who has coached many young players at the billiards club over the years.

A spokesman for the league said:

“Peter will be truly missed next season. He has huge respect amongst his peers and is a true gentleman on the green baize.”

Pateley Bridge Social club

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Plans to convert the former Kings Club strip club in Harrogate into 14 apartments have been revised.

North Yorkshire Council approved plans by Harrogate developer Forward Investments LLP to turn the site into 12 flats last year. But further plans were then submitted for 14 apartments.

Those plans have now been amended to propose converting the former entrance to the club  into a shopping unit on Cheltenham Parade, between SOAM Barber shop and Blamey’s Florist. The entrance to the flats would be on Beulah Street.

The building, known as Villa Mercedes, ceased operating as a strip club during the first covid lockdown in 2020 and never reopened.

The 200-capacity venue was set out over two levels and included 25 strip booths as well as a large pole dancing stage.

Documents previously submitted to the council said the use of the site as an adult entertainment venue led to frequent anti-social behaviour issues. Planners concluded that converting the upper floors to a selection of “high-quality” two-bedroom apartments was the only viable economic use of the building.

The amended plans still propose 14 two-bedroom apartments, over three floors.

The new Villa Mercedes apartments floor plan created by J.C Robinson

A planning document says:

“Conversion of first and second floor of former strip club, and formation of third floor to roof void to accommodate 14 apartments with basement storage area, use of 36 Beulah Street as main access, conversion of main entrance to retail unit, and increased retail space to 32 and 38 Beulah Street.”

Today the architectural designer for JC Robinson, which is the firm behind the plans, said:

“On reflection, we felt that the scheme initially approved by the planning department could be improved.

“We are tidying up the access, so this would be off Beulah Street, and then the existing nightclub entrance would become a shop, which is a more prime location for a shop. We are altering the lower roof so that we can provide an extra two flats.”

The deadline to submit comments on the amended plans is March 24.

The proposed site for a new shop.

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Northern Powergrid apologised today after one of Harrogate‘s most popular shopping streets suffered its fourth consecutive day of power outages.

Nine stores on James Street have suffered inconvenience and loss of trade due to loss of intermittent power.

Shops along the street told the Stray Ferret that they have had issues with their tills, shutters, phone lines, lighting and internet.

Another power outage occurred this morning with most shops regaining power at approximately 11am.

Robert Ogden co-owner of jewellers Ogden of Harrogate, said:

“Our area of James Street is into its fourth consecutive day of power-cuts.  This means that we, and our neighbours have been unable to open or trade, even online.

“It has struck every day, but has then come on at midday or so, once the engineers have been on site, but has repeated.

“When I rang the helpline, no reasons were given, except that a fuse needed to be replaced at the substation. I was also told that ‘customers are expected to have a back up generator’ as the grid cannot guarantee uninterrupted power, but installing generators would be completely unrealistic.”

Robert Ogden and the sign displayed on the store’s shutters today.

Jigsaw clothes store told the Stray Ferret it was unable no trade at all on Sunday — like Ogden’s, the store has electric shutters which were unable to open. Since then it has lost power for a couple of hours each day.

Wasted food

Most stores said they had also suffered no power in the morning until midday, which has particularly affected the new Cornish Bakery shop as it needs to prepare its goods early in the day.

Cornish Bakery Harrogate manager Stephen Law said:

“It has badly affected us, but the staff are all keeping positive, we are trying to do the best we can for our customers.

“Today the power came on at around 11am but we won’t be able to open properly until 12 because we have to turn on all of the machines and prep the shop. We have also had a lot of wasted food because anything we have proving overnight cannot be sold when the power goes out, which is bad for us and the environment, it hasn’t been ideal.”

Cornish Bakery and Ogden’s closed due to power cuts.

Crew Clothing has also been impacted, with different parts of the shop affected at different times. On one day the lights were off; the next day the tills didn’t work. Staff said this morning was their worst day yet, Rituals and Brora also confirmed they had faced power cuts.

Hotel Chocolat manager Hannah Cosgriff said:

“We have been affected every morning. It has definitely impacted trade on one of our busiest weeks — Mother’s Day and Easter are huge events for us and we are normally very busy.

“It’s very frustrating. Harrogate is a destination town, some customers aren’t local and want to have a day shopping on the street. People have been trying the doors all morning and as soon as we opened we were busy, we are paying our bills but can’t provide a service to our customers when we can’t open and each day we don’t know what we are facing.”

Piglet in Bed homeware has been able to resume trade as normal. The store has a different till system which allows it to work without power. Store manager Terina Daly said:

“We have been affected since Sunday but we are very lucky to have been able to continue trading.”

She joked that only half of the lights working created “mood lighting”.

Piglet in bed staff, Zoe Wass store assistant (left) and Terina Daly manager (right)

Today a spokesperson for Northern Powergrid said:

“The power cut affecting commercial properties in the HG1 area of Harrogate was caused by a fault on the underground low voltage cable, resulting in a blown fuse, causing three power outages on 3, 4 and 5 March 2024.

“Our engineers have attended site to connect fault finding equipment to enable us to identify and repair the fault as soon as possible. Affected customers are now on supply and this should enable commercial customers to trade as usual. We would like to apologise to customers for any inconvenience caused and we will keep customers informed of any future planned outages in the future.

Northern Powergrid added it was about to embark on a £5.5m scheme in the Harrogate area, that will “improve the resilience and reliability of the vital local electricity network”.

James Street

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Author Malcolm Hollingdrake has solved a Ripon school mystery.

Holy Trinity Infant School in Ripon has been trying to track down the creators of a mosaic wall mural dating back 50 years.

Staff at the school issued a plea for help when they found a newspaper clipping shared on social media that showed the mural, which was made by Ripon College students. The mosaic was hidden beneath a cloth for years and when teachers finally removed it this year, they discovered the mural was still there.

The mural was completed on April 5 1974, when Mr Hollingdrake and two female Ripon College students’ artwork was featured in the Ripon Gazette.

Half a century on, the author was shocked to learn he was part of an unsolved mystery.

He said:

“I actually once called the school and asked if it was still there but they weren’t sure what I meant.

“I always wondered if it would still be there and then recently I was looking on the Stray Ferret and saw a photo of myself. It is lovely to be reminded of it. It has a real community connection, it is living history and it brought back good memories.”

The mosaic wall in Holy Trinity Infant school which Malcom Hollingdrake helped create

Mr Hollingdrake lives in Wigan and specialises in crime writing. He even created a series of crime thrillers titled the Harrogate Crime Series featuring DCI Cyril Bennett after acquiring a fondness for the area.

Originally from Bradford, he studied art and history at Ripon College between 1971-1974. It was after visiting the area with his grandfather that he chose to stay and study in North Yorkshire, and the area has been a key influence in his writing.

Following his student days he became a teacher in Bingley before moving to Wigan and becoming deputy head of a school, where he created another wall mural reminiscent of the one in Ripon.

He revealed the Ripon mural is based the theme of ‘feeding the birds’ — at the time it was created the school children had been studying birds and life sciences by feeding chickens. He added that at the time the piece was a real challenge because the mural is so big.

The artwork was created using clay and powdered glass, which was fired and glazed. The mosaic was made inside Ripon College and Holy Trinity students were sent over in small groups to help with the creative process.  It was made in separate sections and then carried across to the school.

Mr Hollingdrake said it was extremely heavy and you’d have to break it to remove it.

He said:

“I’m glad it hasn’t been broken down and gone into landfill. I’m hopeful now that it will last another 50 years. It will be lovely to go up to the school and see it. I am happy to give longevity to a piece of work. I thank serendipity, we take it for granted but this chance has opened up an opportunity from being hidden away to suddenly seeing the light. I hope it will inspire children to create art because it can have a lifelong effect.”

Ms Bell-Walker, deputy head at Holy Trinity Infant school, said:

“We are incredibly excited that the Stray Ferret have helped us to find one of the artists of our mural. Malcolm has been very generous with his time in contacting us and has kindly offered to visit school in April, 50 years to the month after the mural was created. He is going to talk to us about the creation and hopefully give us some clues to help us find the other artists.”

Malcom Hollingdrake’s latest book, Edge of the Land, the third in the Merseyside crime series, is set to be published by Hobeck Books on April 16 and he is currently writing the 14th book in the Harrogate Crime Series.

Anyone with any further clues on the identities of the other artists can contact Ms Bell-Walker here.

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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!

Don’t miss out and click here to book your tickets now for the awards night on March 14 2024. 

Harrogate Business Improvement District has launched a match-funding scheme, offering members the chance to gain experience working overseas with Harrogate’s twinned towns.

The available twinned towns are Luchon in France, Montecatini in Italy, Barrie in Canada and Wellington in New Zealand.

The International Work Experience Grant from the BID allows staff from levy-paying businesses to travel to one of Harrogate’s four twin towns to represent their sector and learn more about working overseas.

The scheme is planned to encourage staff retention and a wider recruitment pool into Harrogate, as some businesses in the town centre face unprecedented pressures for resource and recruitment.

Harrogate BID manager, Matthew Chapman, said:

“I’m very excited to see this project come to fruition. Our members have consistently told us that recruitment and retention of staff has been challenging for a while now, so to be able to support them through a meaningful way is really exciting.”

Dennis Richards, chair of the Harrogate International Partnerships, added:

“There is increasing awareness that Harrogate is uniquely privileged in having four long standing links with towns in the Commonwealth and in Europe. Congratulations to BID on this exciting initiative. Barrie in Canada is a great place for such a project.”

The grant is open to all BID Members and is available on a first come first serve basis. The BID will provide match funding up to £750, with terms and conditions applicable.

Harrogate bid specialist appoints new CEO

Big Bamboo BIDS, a Harrogate bid specialist has appointed a chief executive.

Ken Erskine has been promoted to the role after spending the last six months as managing director.

Big Bamboo BIDS was incorporated in May 2022, since then it has won and retained work with clients in the construction, engineering, soft and hard FM and infrastructure sectors.

Mr Erskine said:

“I am delighted, and feel privileged, to take on this role as we continue to grow Big Bamboo BIDS into one of the leading consultancies in its field. We have achieved a great deal in the six months that I have been here as managing director, working alongside Racheal Gregory and Jamie O’Neill.”

Big Bamboo founding director, Nicola Stamford, said:

“Ken joined the business in September and has since made a huge difference to what was essentially a start-up business, with only one year of trading behind it.”

Women’s business group celebrates first anniversary

Harrogate Ladies Who Latte, which offers support and inspiration to working women, has celebrated its first birthday.

Part of a nationwide network, the group launched last February and was the first in North Yorkshire and has since has inspired a sister group in York. It is led by Harrogate women Sarah Shaw, a senior public engagement manager, and Carol Beeley, director of On The Spot Accountants.

Ms Shaw said:

“I think our success is down to the informal and friendly nature of the group. There are no speakers, no membership fees, no agenda, and no pitches or presentations. It’s just a really friendly, vibrant and professional space for like-minded working women to support and inspire each other.”

Ms Beeley added:

“Many of our members have already built strong relationships with each other, both on a personal and business level.”

Knaresborough solicitor wins Women in Business award

Camilla Greenwood, director of Greenwoods Solicitors, has won a Triumph over Adversity award in the Women in Business UK awards 2024.

The Triumph over Adversity is a award national award with other winners including HSBC and IBM. The Knaresborough law firm was founded in 1991, by Ms Greenwood’s mother Lynda. When Lynda died in 2022 she took over the firm and continued her mother’s legacy.

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A 13-year-old girl has become the youngest qualified bell-ringer at Ripon Cathedral.

Alice Barrett began bell-ringing lessons at just 10 years old and has now been elected a member of the Yorkshire Association of Change Ringers.

She lives behind the cathedral with her family and was first introduced to the practice as her mum, Louise, had always listened to the bells and wanted to try her hand at ringing.

When Louise saw an advert on Facebook explaining the cathedral’s lack of bell-ringers for the 2020 New Year service she decided to give it a go. When she went along she told them Alice had expressed and interest and they insisted she was brought along.

Alice went for a look around and fell in love with the practice. She now rings in almost every Ripon Cathedral Sunday service and rings with the Yorkshire Tykes, an under-18s group who meet once a month at different locations across the county.

Louise added that Alice “loves the challenge” of the practice. She said:

“It’s not just the skill and technique but also learning the methods and being part of a diverse group. It’s complex to start with and then it becomes not easy but natural. Then you start to learn how to do call changes then methods and that’s when it starts to challenge your brain.”

After the hard work of bell-ringing at Ripon Cathedral’s Sunday service, she loves nothing more than the hot chocolate and cake that comes afterwards.

Alice completed a quarter peel, a longer performance to a specific composition, which has left her with some sizeable blisters, showing the determination she had to become qualified. Now she is officially qualified, Alice is, according to her mum, “extremely proud of herself and now feels accomplished”.

Canon Michael Gisbourne, Ripon Cathedral’s canon precentor, said:

“Alice should be really proud of her achievement of being elected a member of the Yorkshire Association of Change Ringers. She has worked hard and Ripon Cathedral is overjoyed to have such a young person as a member of its excellent bell-ringing team.”

Boroughbridge High School pupil Alice admits her friends at school think her hobby is “a bit weird” but her family support her unconventional pastime.

Kathryn Stephenson, headteacher at Boroughbridge High, said:

“We’re very proud of Alice. It’s been lovely to see her enthusiasm for her bell-ringing and we’re delighted that her hard work and commitment has been recognised. To be given this award is an amazing achievement.”

Mum Louise said:

“Our family are very proud of her dedication. I am incredibly proud of Alice, not only for her accomplishments but also for her resilience and determination. Learning to ring has been a challenge especially as a small 10-year-old, but she went back week after week with 100% effort and a positive outlook.

“We are forever grateful for the opportunity to ring in such a magnificent building and for the support and friendship so willingly shared by all of the team. If anyone has ever thought ‘I’d like to try that’, just go and do it. You’ll never look back.”

Both mother and daughter plan to continue ringing and Alice’s next step is this year’s youth competition held in London. She is looking forward to ringing at more towers, making progress with more bell-ringing methods and of course, more cake.

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A £100,00 renovation of Hampsthwaite Village Room is almost complete.

The building, which dates back to 1890, was initially a reading room.

It was recently used for parish council meetings and various societies as well as private functions and classes such as yoga and bridge. But it had become unfit for purpose, with no disabled access or facilities.

The six-month upgrade has included creating a new kitchen and a disabled toilet, as well as better insulation and solar panels.

Most of the funding came from payments made by developers for building in Hampsthwaite.

In addition, an £8,700 grant from the National Lottery Community Fund paid for the installation of solar panels.

Volunteers have installed a library and more than 1,500 books have been donated.

Dr Mozaffar Nami, a trustee of the village room said:

“The renovations mean a warm and comfortable space where residents can meet to have tea and coffee, borrow books and enjoy participating in activities.”

Cllr Michael Harrison, a Conservative who represents Killinghall, Hampsthwaite and Saltergate on North Yorkshire Council, said:

“This has been made possible by the enthusiasm of a small number of people who were determined to see this village asset remain in use and refurbished for future generations.

“The majority of the funding was generated from the Brookfields housing developments, and this is a good example of new housing being used as a catalyst for investment into the infrastructure of a village.”

Villagers are invited for coffee and cake in the new room at the reopening at 11am on April 27 when the charter mayor for Harrogate and local MP are expected to attend.

The renovation was undertaken by B&N Batty Ltd, and Townscape Architects Limited. The room is soon to have a new website made by Loyalty Matters.

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Lucia wine bar and grill Harrogate is set to retain its Italian flavour when it re-opens under new management next month.

Lucia, which calls itself “Harrogate’s favourite al fresco Italian restaurant & cocktail bar” will serve its final customers on March 10, before being refurbished and rebranded as Divino Italian.

The restaurant on Ripon Road has been Lucia Harrogate for 10 years and underwent a £750,000 refurbishment in 2021. The venue is set over three floors and serves Italian cuisine and cocktails.

Lucia after the refurbishment.

Lucia has two more restaurants in Beverley and York, which will remain open. The company also owns The Cut & Craft, a fine dining restaurant with branches in York and Leeds, with another one due to open in Manchester this summer.

Darioush Shahidi, operations manager for Lucia, said:

“Lucia is still really successful and is not why it is closing. It was a case of the right buyer with the right offer and that money will be invested into the Cut & Craft restaurants. We thank all our loyal customers of Lucia Harrogate over the years.”

He told the Stray Ferret that staff would transfer to the new restaurant.

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