Ripon’s Spa Hotel has been sold for an undisclosed sum to The Inn Collection Group.

The 40-bedroom Edwardian hotel was on the market for a guide price of £1.5 million.

It has been sold on behalf of long-standing owners the Hutchinson family by Colliers International.

The property agents brought the hotel to the commercial market for the first time since it was opened in 1906.

Julian Troup, head of UK hotels agency at Colliers, said:

“This sale marks a new chapter in the history of the Ripon Spa Hotel, and I look forward to seeing this renowned Yorkshire hotel benefitting from the high-quality of refurbishment for which The Inn Collection Group is synonymous.”

The hotel will be refurbished by the new owners

He added:

“There has been a noticeable change of mood in recent months among potential hotel purchasers.

“Activity has significantly increased, and the Ripon Spa Hotel attracted a good deal of interest from a diverse range of buyers before being secured by The Inn Collection Group.”

Located on Park Street in landscaped grounds of 5.75 acres and including croquet lawns, the three-star hotel was built complete with its own ballroom to accommodate high society in the early 1900s when Ripon Spa was operating in the cathedral city.

It continued to trade successfully long after Ripon Spa closed in 1947, although the hotel’s Turkish baths were eventually converted into The Turf, a popular public bar and bistro with horse-racing décor to complement the hotel’s more formal dining room.

The purchase of the Ripon Spa Hotel by The Inn Collection Group increases to 24 the portfolio of the Alchemy-backed hospitality company, which is based in Northumberland.

Sean Donkin, managing director of The Inn Collection Group, said:

“We are delighted to be welcoming the Ripon Spa Hotel into our portfolio.

“Its picturesque location in such a popular part of the UK makes it the perfect fit for The Inn Collection Group. and our offering.

“We’re excited to be furthering our expansion plans with such a great site, and are proud to be continuing to thrive during these challenging times for the hospitality sector.”

Read more:

• Council says no more delays to Ripon leisure project
• Former Ripon student takes on formidable 48 marathon challenge

The reopening of the hotel will come as a relief to operators of tourist attractions, as well as Ripon City Council, which was concerned that the property might be sold for redevelopment involving other uses.

Harrogate Borough Council (HBC) has confirmed that Ripon’s new swimming pool and refurbished leisure centre will open in November.

Last month, it was revealed that a new sinkhole had been discovered in 2020 near the leisure centre entrance.

This follows an incident in February 2018, when a sinkhole opened up on the centre’s car park.

However, the council says that investigation of the second void, and any remedial work required, will not cause further delay to the £10 million-plus project.

Following a report from consultant engineers, councillors approved additional spending of £110,000 to pay for the investigation.

The current insured value of the leisure centre is £3,796,135 plus 10% contents, which the authority would lose, should any damage be caused as a result of the work on site.

Read more:

• Final costs for Ripon leisure development ‘not yet known’
• Ripon Spa Baths up for sale

Once complete, the facility will include a six-lane, 25-metre pool, modern changing rooms, a sauna, an extended gym and an outside play area.

A spokesperson for HBC said:

“Thanks to this investment at Ripon Leisure Centre, the existing facility at Ripon Spa Baths will no longer be required.

“The sale, and redevelopment of the spa baths, will give this local listed building a new lease of life (subject to planning approval), retain key features and remain as a city landmark.”

The new pool offers a 70 per cent increase in water space compared with Ripon Spa Baths.

The improved leisure centre will also provide a new main entrance and lobby area, two new activity studios, a spin studio and meeting facilities.

Cllr Stanley Lumley, HBC’s cabinet member for culture, tourism and sport, added:

“The addition of the new swimming pool, and the improvements to the leisure centre, will be a major development for Ripon and the surrounding area.

“They’ll provide much needed modern facilities that will encourage a healthier and more active lifestyle for our residents and something they can be proud of.”

While construction activity continues, HBC has confirmed that Ripon’s Spa Baths, which is still up for sale, will remain open.

The spa building, with its pool that was added in the 1930s, reopened on May 14 after closing in March 2020 due to covid.

For sale signs remain in place outside the building.

Brimham Rocks can be seen in a different light at an exhibition starting on Monday.

Innovative Yorkshire landscape photographer and artist Joe Cornish has captured the ancient rock formations at different times of day and seasons of the year.

His images reveal the rugged landscape from a point of view that few people see.

Mr Cornish’s photographs and images captured in other mediums, will be on display at the Brimham Rocks visitors’ centre from June 21 until November 30.

The iconic moorland was formed by a huge river that covered the area 100 million years before dinosaurs made their first footprints on the earth.

The Drawn to Rock exhibition is part of the National Trust’s celebration of 50 years of ownership of a site that has been attracting visitors since the 18th century.

Joe Cornish’s photographic exhibition will be on display until November

Mr Cornish said:

“The photographs and mixed media pieces for this exhibition were created through numerous visits to Brimham in many conditions, and subsequent ruminations on the nature of geological time.

“Inspired by what lies above the surface, the intention is to reflect on what lies beneath it, something that finds its equivalent in the human condition.

“Although landscape photography remains the primary form of expression, by using words and paint as well, I hope to question the hard boundaries that exist between different media, as well as exploring the interplay of material and energy inherent in sedimentary geology.”

Brimham Rocks in winter – one of the images in the exhibition

Most people visit Brimham during the day, so Mr Cornish wanted to capture the rocks at night – a time when few people see them and the surrounding countryside.

Through his nocturnal images, Brimham takes on a very different but powerful guise, as he plays with light and shadows.

Some of Mr Cornish’s daylight images contrast the wide-ranging views of the rock formations many know so well, with extreme close-ups of the rock structures within the same image.

Although known primarily as a photographer, he hasn’t always worked in this medium, originally beginning his career working in fine art.

Through his work on this project, Mr Cornish included an experimental aspect to his craft, combining photographs with added elements of paint and text.

Justin Scully, general manager of Brimham Rocks said:

“We’re delighted to be working with Joe, especially since we had to postpone the exhibition because of the coronavirus pandemic.

“His work captures the power of landscape at Brimham but also helps us look at it in a new light at a time when, as well the growing appreciation of nature, we are also more than ever aware of the threat to nature from climate change.”

Ownership of Ripon’s famous Spa Hotel looks set to change hands.

Colliers International, which has been marketing the 40-bed property since spring, reports it is currently ‘under offer’.

While confirmation of the sale to an unknown buyer is awaited, it remains unclear whether the building will remain as a hotel or be redeveloped for another use.

The Stray Ferret approached Colliers for clarification, but had not received a response by the time of publication.

The 16,125 sq ft Edwardian hotel was on the market for £1.5 million.

The hotel and its surrounding grounds.

Read more:

• What we reported on Ripon’s Spa Hotel in February
• Will Grantley Hall’s helipad plans be grounded again?

The Spa Hotel has been closed since March last year, when the first covid lockdown came into effect.

In July 2020, the long-term owners of the hotel, announced permanent closure after failing to attract an asking price of £1.75 million.

At the reduced price of £1.5 million, it  was marketed by Colliers for continued use as a hotel.

The agents’ executive summary of the property said:

“This is an outstanding opportunity to acquire a renowned Yorkshire hotel in a desirable trading location.”

The summary added that the hotel, with its range of public rooms, has enjoyed ‘strong regular repeat custom based on its standing in the Ripon area’.

A former Ripon Grammar School student is to run 48 marathons in 48 days to raise £48,000 for children in food poverty.

John Clark’s own family struggled to survive on benefits, after his father suffered life-changing injuries in a work accident.

The 34-year-old will attempt to run the 48 marathons in a different county every day for a grand total of 1,248 miles.

John Clark from his school days at Ripon Grammar.

Former international strongman Mr Clark set up the charity Miles4Meals to help families facing the same issues that he did as a child.

He explained why he is attempting the extreme feat of endurance:

“I grew up in a household with a disabled father and a mother who was his full-time carer.

“We lived in food poverty, reliant on government support to make ends meet.”

His life changed when his father Alan, a roofer, broke his back and shattered his foot in a fall after scaffolding collapsed.

Mr Clark said:

“I understand the difficulties families face and the hard choices that need to be made with minimal budgets available for basic living expenses.

“I hope to make a difference, so others don’t have to experience the same as I did.”

The coronavirus pandemic has increased problems faced by families across the UK with an estimated 8.4 million people living in food poverty.

Mr Clark, who left Ripon Grammar in 2003, owns and operates a chain of gyms.

He is appealing for volunteers and supporters to help him along the way in their local county, starting in Northumberland on July 5. reaching North Yorkshire on July 16 and eventually finishing in Worcestershire on August 21.

After leaving Ripon Grammar, Mr Clark studied sports and exercise science at university and took up strongman competitions after breaking his neck in a scrum collapse, which left him unable to play rugby.

Read more:

• How Olympic Gold hero Jack Laugher has stayed loyal to his Ripon roots
• Advance warning of delays for Ripon bypass motorists

Now living in Worcester, he was crowned Britain’s Natural Strongest Man in 2015 and 2016, and when further injury curtailed his strongman career, the former Malvern Rugby Union player took up triathlon.

The Miles4Meals charity, which he set up in May, also works with the Trussell Trust, which campaigns to end hunger and destitution by supporting more than 1,200 food banks in the UK.

For more information visit: www.miles4meals.co.uk/484848. You can follow Mr Clark’s journey on Instagram www.instagram.com/_john.clark

Two senior Ripon councillors have stepped up calls for an urgent tidy up of Ripon Cemetery.

Last week, Ripon City Council leader Andrew Williams and fellow independent Pauline McHardy, accused Harrogate Borough Council (HBC) of ‘disrespecting the dead of Ripon’ and causing ‘distress’ to their relatives and friends.

At the same time, people visiting the  cemetery on Kirkby Road spoke of their ‘distress and disgust.’

They were concerned that unmown grass has grown to such a height it makes finding and visiting graves difficult.

In some areas of Ripon cemetery, overhanging trees and hedges completely obscure rows of graves.

Cllr Williams, who has generations of his own family buried at the cemetery, pointed out:

“When you look at the care given by the borough council to Stonefall and compare it with Ripon, the contrast is there for all to see.

“I don’t think that it is unreasonable to expect the council to deliver the same standard of service across the entire district.

“It is deeply disrespectful to those with deceased relatives in other parts of the Harrogate District to provide a high standard of maintenance at Stonefall and a much lower one elsewhere.”

The above photograph was taken at Stonefall Cemetery in Harrogate on Friday (11 June).

Now cllr McHardy, a city and district councillor, has contacted conservative cllr Andrew Paraskos, HBC cabinet member for environment, waste reduction and recycling, whose portfolio includes 11 district cemeteries, and called for him to take immediate action.

She told the Stray Ferret:

“People in Ripon are angry that they and their deceased relatives are being treated like second-class citizens.

“What you can see in Ripon isn’t ‘re-wilding’ for the benefit of nature, it’s purely and simply a cost-cutting exercise.”

Read more:

• Is HBC disrespectful of Ripon’s dead?
• Hold-ups ahead on Ripon bypass

Last week, an HBC spokesperson, said:

“Visitors to several of the cemeteries across the district may start to notice that some areas are being left to grow and not mown.

“We want to encourage biodiversity so are working with parish councils to leave specific areas to grow, attract pollinators and create habitats

“We have a regular programme of work, across all of the district’s cemeteries that we manage, and when specific issues are raised we will work to address these and carry out any required maintenance.

“We will of course continue to mow the grass along pathways and around gravestones so that mourners can pay their respects to their loved ones.”

Essential maintenance work on Ripon’s Duchess of Kent bridge is scheduled to start on June 28 and take two weeks.

The bridge, crossing the River Ure, is part of the city’s bypass. It was officially opened by the Yorkshire-born duchess in March 1996.

The arterial road carries traffic around the city, avoiding Ripon’s ancient streets. It is a key route to the A1 and A1M

Advance warning signs are being put in place this week to advise drivers of likely delays.

Councillor Mike Chambers, North Yorkshire County Council’s member for Ripon North, said:

“The maintenance to this well-used bridge will involve replacing the expansion joints and surfacing works to remove the depressions at each end of the bridge.

“The work will be carried out overnight to minimise disruption as much as possible. We apologise in advance for any inconvenience this may cause.”

Work on the bridge will be carried out between 6pm and 6am over a two-week period.

The work will take place from 6pm to 6am using four-way traffic lights and is scheduled to finish on July 10.

At the northern end of the bridge is a roundabout with exits for Ripon city centre and Copt Hewick.

The lights will be removed before rush hour each day to reduce inconvenience to road users.

The council said it was notifying nearby residents directly affected by the roadworks.

Read more:

• Relief in Ripon for brides-to-be
• New Uber-style bus service for Ripon

Hairdressers and brides-to-be in the Harrogate district will have their fingers tightly crossed this evening.

Social distancing restrictions were due to end on June 21 but now it seems the 30-person cap on wedding guests could be extended for another four weeks, throwing numerous wedding plans in jeopardy.

Some people have already put back their weddings as many as four times because of the coronavirus crisis.

Now they are relying on Prime Minister Boris Johnson, not to ruin their big days yet again.

Deborah Chalmers, of Love Hair & Beauty in Ripon, told the Stray Ferret:

“Three quarters of the bookings I have are for weddings with more than 100 guests.

“With the government’s roadmap to June 21 and the anticipated lifting of covid social distancing requirements, people were counting on finally getting married.

“They thought they were safe to book a post-June 21 date and everything that goes with it.

“Now there is another big question mark and we are all hoping and praying that a way can be found to allow weddings with more than 30 attendees to go ahead.”

Brides-to-be across the Harrogate district will be listening carefully to this evening’s announcement from Boris Johnson.

Later this year, Ms Chalmers celebrates her 10th anniversary of being in business in Ripon.

Over the decade she has prepared hundreds of brides and their bridesmaids for weddings.

She said:

“You can be in a restaurant with 100 people that you don’t know, or at a sporting event with thousands, so surely the Prime Minister can come up with something.

“I fully understand that there is a need to keep everybody safe, but perhaps we would be OK if there was covid testing available for all attending a wedding and those, like myself, providing services on the day.

“It will be desperate if weddings for some are put off for the fifth time, or if the limit on attendance remains at 30 and they have to un-invite family members and friends if they decide to go ahead with their ceremony.”

For Ms Chalmers and other businesses in the wedding sector, it has been a tough 16 months.

She has managed to keep ticking over by providing hair and beauty treatments for smaller weddings.

Read more:

• Who are the women behind Ripon’s Jack Laugher?
• Ripon’s Community Diamond receives her award

Fortunately, customers forced to postpone have stayed loyal when rearranging for different dates.

She said:

“For some, the wedding has been a long time coming, but we stay optimistic in the knowledge that the brides will eventually, have their big day.”

In the golden glow of Olympic glory, Jack Laugher told BBC television viewers that his favourite place in the world is “back home in Littlethorpe”.

For those who know him best, that came as no surprise.

The sporting role model has never forgotten his roots in the Ripon area and he continues to give back to the community where he was raised.

In the same week that he heard he had been selected for the GB’s Tokyo Olympic team, Jack agreed to sponsor the Roosters – Ripon’s newest netball team.

His mother Jackie, who will play in the a team for players aged 50 and above, told the Stray Ferret:

“While achieving so much in his sport, Jack has always been a loving son, supportive of what I’m doing.

“He takes as much interest in my membership of Ripon City Netball Club, as I do in his membership of the GB Olympic team.”

In addition to his Olympic gold and silver, Jack was a multiple medallist at the 2014 and 2018 Commonwealth Games. He is pictured here with Sylvia Grice.

A Transdev 36 double-decker bus is named in his honour and a bench installed by Littlethorpe Parish Council bears his name.

He was also one of six GB Olympic competitors supported by ALDI whose shoppers in Ripon and across the country could see his face on posters.

Jack’s history-making performance with diving partner Chris Mears meant the pair became Britain’s first Olympic diving gold medallists.

Jack in action at this year’s European Aquatics Championships, where he won silver. Picture: British Swimming

Jack’s mother Jackie and her best friend Helen Mackenzie were at the Maria Lenk Aquatics Centre in Rio to witness the winning springboard-propelled synchronised twists and turns, which denied the China team a clean sweep of the 2016 Olympic diving golds.

Back in the UK, a third woman shared in this triangle of triumph, watching on television in the lounge of her Littlethorpe home.

Sylvia Grice, who was made an MBE for teaching an estimated 250,000 children how to swim, saw her former water babe become an Olympic champion.

Jack, who started with his first splash at Ripon’s Spa Baths when he was three, now had gold around his neck.

Sylvia pointed out:

“Even at that age, he had the confidence and control to swim under water and that proved to be a good omen.”

A week later, Jack added silver in the men’s individual three-metre springboard event, becoming the first British diver to win multiple medals at an Olympic games.

Helen, who is Sylvia’s daughter and has followed in her mother’s slipstream as a swimming teacher, also teaches PE at Ripon Grammar School, where Jack’s academic and sporting prowess was developed.

She will also join the new Roosters netball team, and said:

“Jack is such a special person – a giver, not a taker.

“After donating a buddies bench to Ripon Cathedral School, he turned up at his old primary in his GB Olympic kit to present sports day prizes, pose with children and parents for photographs and sign autographs.”

Read more:

• Many happy returns for Ripon City Netball Club
• Ripon’s former Wrens store to fly again

Harrogate Borough Council (HBC) has been accused of ‘disrespecting the dead of Ripon’ and causing ‘distress’ to their relatives and friends.

People visiting the city’s cemetery on Kirkby Road this week spoke of their ‘distress and disgust.’

They are concerned about unmown grass that has grown to a height that makes finding and visiting graves difficult.

In some areas of the cemetery, overhanging trees and hedges completely obscure rows of graves.

Ripon City Council leader Andrew Williams, who has generations of his own family buried at the cemetery, told the Stray Ferret:

“The very limited maintenance of the grounds, perimeter hedges and trees is disrespectful of those who have their last resting place here.

“Visiting the graves of loved ones should provide consolation and help those who grieve, but instead of finding this peace, the state of the cemetery adds to their distress.”

Pictured above is the last headstone visible in a line of graves engulfed by an overgrown perimeter hedge

Rita Stuart, whose husband Robert died in February, was visiting to place flowers. She said:

“I feel as though the council doesn’t care.”

Tina Ward regularly visits the cemetery to pay her respects to family and friends who have passed. She pointed out:

“For many years this used to be a peaceful and well-kept place, with a man who looked after it living in a house within the grounds.

“Now, there is no proper care and It has descended into this disgusting condition.”

Pat Park, whose parents and sister are buried at the cemetery, added:

“Many of the people who visit are elderly and have limited mobility.

“The length of the grass makes visiting the graves very difficult, if not impossible.”

Read more:

• Approval as Harrogate district goes wild
• Ripon’s department store to return

Recently the council has been accused of not doing enough at another cemetery in Knaresborough where areas of the graveyard were overgrown. 

In responding to the concerns an HBC spokesperson, said:

“Visitors to several of the cemeteries across the district may start to notice that some areas are being left to grow and not mown.

“We want to encourage biodiversity so are working with parish councils to leave specific areas to grow, attract pollinators and create habitats

“We have a regular programme of work, across all of the district’s cemeteries that we manage, and when specific issues are raised we will work to address these and carry out any required maintenance.

“We will of course continue to mow the grass along pathways and around gravestones so that mourners can pay their respects to their loved ones.”

Independent city and Harrogate district councillor Pauline McHardy has family members, friends and former nursing colleagues buried at the cemetery.

She said:

“There has been no consultation with Ripon City Council about plans for ‘re-wilding.’

“It’s clear to me that this is an excuse for cutting costs, instead of cutting the grass and trimming hedges and bushes.

“This is a cemetery, not a nature reserve.”