Harrogate’s independent shops say they are hesitant to stay open late in case there isn’t the footfall to make it profitable.

The government is to relax rules on late night opening to help stores recover sales after lockdown.

Store owners are gearing up to reopen on Wednesday but some want to see how many people return to the high street before spending money on additional staff.

In previous years, Harrogate’s shops have opened late one night during the week but this year shops are being precautious.

What do the shop owners say?

Louise Chesters, owner of Dizzy Duck in Harrogate, said:

“We’ll have to see how we go, if we get busy I will extend them to accordingly. It’s hard to tell if we will be inundated so it’s just a case of embracing it all. It would also take extra organising to extend the hours so we will have to see how it goes on Wednesday but I’m excited.”

Georgie Roberts, owner of Georgie’s, said:

“If someone asked I would stay open of course or if someone asks for a private appointment later in the day to feel safe then of course I would accommodate it. I’ll be flexible and see what happens but because I am out of the centre late nights tend not to work for me.”

Bob Kennedy, owner of G23 and Porters, said:

“Late nights don’t always work for us. It could be different this year with people supporting the high street, but I don’t know if it would be worth it. We will have to see how shoppers react when we reopen. It has been a difficult year and we need people to support local retail.”

After another month of closure the shops were eager to reopen. They are hoping a festive boost in sales can begin to make up for lost time.

Sandra Doherty, Chief Executive of Harrogate District Chamber of Commerce, was sceptical of the impact of the new guidelines. She said:

“Permitting shops to open for extra hours will, in a few instances, allow the retailers to benefit from a potential increase in trade, however, in most cases the extra costs in staffing will actually cut into profits.

“The temptation to stay open when others are closed will be tremendous, but there is only so much money to go around, and opening more hours will just spread the ‘spend’ over a longer time frame.”

All 285 students in year 11 at Harrogate Grammar School have been told to stay at home to self-isolate for two weeks.

The school contacted families yesterday after the number of infections gradually increased between Thursday and Sunday to eight.

Only pupils in close proximity to those who test positive should isolate.

But the school decided to put the whole year group into isolation when the number of cases rose to eight.

It comes at a difficult time for the students, who were preparing to take mock GCSE exams this week.

A school spokeswoman acknowledged the outbreak had occurred at a bad time but added “the safety of pupils and staff must come first”.

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Pupils will now use school computers to complete some of their exams at home – at the same time as they would have done at school.

The students will upload their exam results into a secure folder.

A spokesperson for the school said:

“We know and respect that the students have worked hard to prepare for these exams so we wanted to give them the opportunity to complete them.

“We have made it achievable with the iPads, and so far we have had positive feedback.”

Staff from a Harrogate construction company travelled to London yesterday to deliver this year’s Downing Street Christmas tree.

HACS Group employees took the tree, which was chosen at a competition in Harrogate, from York to the country’s most famous house.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the 20 ft tree was the “first step to bringing us some festive cheer”.

The tree was grown by York Christmas Trees, which won last month’s annual Champion Christmas Tree Grower of the Year competition at the Great Yorkshire Showground.

After the HACS Group erected the tree it was decorated by an Oxfordshire company.

Yorkshire shepherdess Amanda Owen, from Channel 5’s Our Yorkshire Farm, and Peter Wright from The Yorkshire Vet, were among the judges.

Heather Parry, managing agent of event organisers the British Christmas Tree Growers Association, which is based at the Great Yorkshire Showground, said:

“Today is a symbolic moment which shows the start of a Christmas which we have all been so focussed on.

“It was a significant boost that the government supported our members, recognising that Christmas trees are essential at this time of year and that the selling season is short; whilst understanding consumers are particularly keen to get their decorations up this year.”

HACS, which is based in Ripley, is an independent building and construction services contractor.

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The staff and trustees at Harrogate Mind are walking 1932 miles next month to raise money and awareness for the importance of your mental health.

This festive challenge will see the team walk the distance from The Acorn Centre, central Harrogate, to Lapland between December 1 and December 25.

There are 15 staff members and trustees taking part, meaning each of them has to walk, run or cycle almost 130 miles in 24 days.

The charity said it hopes to promote the benefits of exercise for a person’s mental health through this fundraising campaign.

Tina Chamberlain, CEO of Mind in the Harrogate district, said everyone had worked really hard during the pandemic and even they can sometimes forget to work on their own mental health.

She said:

“We are often too busy taking calls from people to take a lunch break and the long days mean that you don’t feel like exercising when you leave work either. I noticed it was all starting to take its toll on staff.

“We came up with the idea that we would walk the 1932 miles from Harrogate to Lapland. Having this goal has really galvanised the team.”

Read more:

• Two Knaresborough women ‘brave the shave’ for local school.
• Mind in Harrogate calls for more volunteers for its befriending service. 

Knaresborough is set to lose its only bank next year as Halifax announces it is planning to close the branch in spring.

The Halifax bank on Market Square was the town’s last remaining bank.

When the news of the bank’s closure broke earlier this year 1,200 people signed a petition to encourage Halifax keep it open. But the bank has said due to a decline in use it has to close.

This decision means local people and businesses will have to travel into Harrogate and Ripon to bank their money.

A Halifax spokesperson said:

“In January this year we announced that the Knaresborough Halifax branch would be closing due to a decline in use. We paused the closures due to the Covid-19 pandemic and, after careful consideration, the planned closures will take place between March and April 2021.”

The cash machine will also be removed leaving the town with only two other cash points in the town centre. The Knaresborough Chamber of Trade has said it is looking into potential locations for another cash machine.

It said the loss of this bank will be a “major blow” for town, the chamber’s president Steve Teggin said:

“This is a sad set of affairs, it will be a major blow for the town. We have so many new businesses that have opened up recently and they have been let down by the banking system.”

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Harrogate Borough Council has said it will be launching a survey asking for residents’ views on the current banking services available in Knaresborough.

Cllr Graham Swift said “we can’t promise anything in the future” but says it is essential residents fill out the survey to show what facilities they think are necessary for the town.

Residents can fill out the survey, here, from today.

Two women from Knaresborough have shaved their heads to fundraise for The Forest School in Knaresborough – the school supports children with additional needs.

Sarah Bennington and Michelle Czupcyck both work at the school and wanted to do their bit to raise much needed funds. The school is in need of new playground equipment and additional sports facilities.

The women shaved their heads today at the school.

The pair had hopes to raise £500 but have already surpassed that by raising an additional £100.

To support their efforts, click here.

Children at The Forest School, Knaresborough.

Sarah Bennington sacrificed her blue locks for the cause. She has worked at the school for eight years, she said:

“We decided to do Brave the Shave to raise money for the playground equipment. The kids at this school are fantastic and deserve everything we can raise money to get for them.

“The many questions we get asked are why shaving your hair? My answer to that is you only live once; my hair will grow back and for me I will be interested in what colour it will grow back as my hair is always different colours.”

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The school’s headteacher, Michelle Farr, thanked the women for their efforts saying the impact on the children with access to the new equipment will be “immense”.

She said:

“The staff never cease to amaze me with their dedication and support for our pupils. Sarah and Michelle decided they wanted to help our fundraising campaign by Braving the Shave and I am extremely grateful to them.

“Some of our play equipment failed a safety test and had to be removed, and some of our playground was reduced due to building additional classrooms. The redevelopment will allow the children to play and socialise independently in a safe environment.”

The Liberal Democrats have said it was “inappropriate” for the Harrogate and Knaresborough Conservative Association to accept a £10,000 grant aimed at small businesses struggling during the pandemic.

The conservative group insisted the grant was necessary because the pandemic made it unable to generate income through its usual “activities”.

But the chair of the Harrogate and Knaresborough Liberal Democrats said he struggled to see the similarities between the small, local businesses unable to open and a political group.

Michael Newby, said:

“I thought it was inappropriate to take advantage of the money for businesses who are struggling. I struggle to understand how their income has been impacted the same as small businesses.

“We are all struggling, we, as a party,  have lost out because we can’t have our fundraising events but we aren’t depending on customers or clients and that’s where I see the difference.”

The conservative’s grant came to light after an investigation by journalist Alexandra Rogers at Yorkshire Live, who found that Harrogate and Knaresborough was one of only four associations in the whole of Yorkshire to receive one.

The grant was introduced by the government for companies with a rateable value of £15,000 and received business rates relief. The local association met these requirements.

Cllr Graham Swift, Harrogate Borough Council’s deputy leader is quoted in the Yorkshire Live article and said the grant was used to cover staff costs and rent:

“Our association, like most businesses, was unable to carry out our regular income generating activities.

“The government’s specific support to all these businesses has prevented us from closure, prevented us from laying off staff and ensured that our landlord is fairly compensated for their service.”

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The Stray Ferret asked Harrogate and Knaresborough Conservative Association for a comment but had no response at the time of publication.

Other Conservative associations in Wakefield, Selby and Ainsty and Shipley also accepted the grant. Their decisions have also been met with criticism.

Earlier this evening we showed a picture of the Harrogate Conservative Club, this was an error and we would like to clarify the club has no connection to the Conservative Association.

Harrogate’s catering companies are set to miss out on huge amounts of income this festive season with the loss of company Christmas parties.

Businesses across the Harrogate district are preparing to reopen next week under tier two restrictions. This mean only people in the same household can mix together indoors.

Catering companies like, Kings Catering and Harrogate Food and Drink (HGFD), rely on Christmas party bookings. But this year they have had to adapt in order to stay afloat.

Each has forecast huge losses as they prepare to miss out on another busy season for events.

Both companies are hopeful next year will allow them to cater events more frequently. Photograph: www.hgfd.co.uk

Ian King, owner of Kings Catering, says his company could lose out on up to £70,000 in turnover during December:

“Last Christmas we did around 8,000 Christmas dinners for parties and this year we can’t do anything like that. We’ve had to diversify and start delivering meals to houses for people to enjoy and then they’ve been getting on zoom to eat them with their friends and colleagues.

“Covid has had a huge impact we’re set to lose £70,000 in December in turnover. We’re working so hard to keep going, it’s our 24th anniversary soon and I want to be here to see our 25th year.”

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• District pubs were left disappointed today after “praying for tier one”.
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HGFD caters for events and weddings but after losing out on a lot of trade this year was hoping to cater for Christmas parties too. Co-owner, Andi Aikman, is determined to be positive after putting his company into “hibernation”. He said:

“We have lost out on quite a lot this year. We are going to fight for this, we’ve had to hibernate the company and I think it could be a while before we’re back to where we were.

“We’ve had to diversify to do other things to survive, so we’re doing some little things. We have to try and keep busy to keep our staff employed, we can’t just give up.”

A charity supporting people with disabilities is offering members of the deaf community the opportunity to work in its cafe next year.

Artizan International is a Harrogate-based charity offering art and crafts workshops for differently-abled people. It also sells crafts made by disabled artisans in Ecuador and Peru in its Oxford Street store.

In Spring 2021, the charity has plans to open a cafe offering supported internships to members of the deaf community. Those involved will be trained in barista work and general hospitality.

The hope is the training the interns receive will allow them to pursue a career in the catering industry. The long term visions is for the cafe to be completely deaf run.

Artizan International isn’t able to run its usual workshops during the pandemic.

“At Artizan as we look forward, we want to create valued opportunities for those living with disabilities in our community. The cafe would be an ideal opportunity for those in the deaf community to either train and volunteer or develop the experience further into potential careers in hospitality locally.”

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Susie Hart, the charity’s founder, opened a cafe run by the deaf community in Tanzania previously so has experience in running similar projects successfully.

The charity opened its shop three weeks before lockdown two hit but it says it has stayed “busy” with online orders and prepping new products for the shop when it is allowed to reopen next week.

Harrogate Borough Council leader, Richard Cooper, has sent a letter to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) asking for the local Lib Dems’ petitions to be investigated for “data harvesting”.

Cllr Cooper says none of the four petitions were submitted to relevant bodies and were instead an exercise to build a database of contact information. The Liberal Democrats say the accusations are false and a cynical ploy to put people off signing petitions.

In the letter Mr Cooper says he believes the party “may have breached at least three tenets of data protection”.

The ICO was set up to uphold an individual’s data privacy. The ICO told the Stray Ferret it is yet to receive the letter but a spokesperson added:

“When we receive the letter we will assess the information provided and decide whether we need to make further enquiries.”

Cllr Cooper criticised the Lib Dems in the letter saying the purposes of the petitions put forward were not fulfilled:

“My contention is that these petitions breach data protections rules because there is a pattern of behaviour which demonstrates that people’s details were collected for a purpose and then not used for that purpose.”

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The Liberal Democrats have called his accusations “ridiculous and laughable”.

The party says three of the petitions were not submitted but insists the Stray FM petition was sent to Bauer Media.

The campaign manager for the Harrogate and Knaresborough Liberal Democrats, Conor McKenzie, said:

“Let’s set the record straight though. The Stray FM petition was submitted, while other petitions achieved a u-turn before we even had chance to submit them.

“No data has been collected improperly as only those who explicitly told us they would like to will hear from us in future. To falsely suggest otherwise is a blatant attempt to put people off signing any group’s petitions in future. Doing so would be hugely damaging to community engagement and council scrutiny.”