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Jul 2020

Last Updated: 04/07/2020

Harrogate

Beaches, tipis and coffee: Harrogate back to life on Super Saturday

by Connor Creaghan

| 04 Jul, 2020

All businesses have taken extra precautions to make sure the experience is safe but some went above and beyond to draw people back in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4rQfPpm-Sc&feature=youtu.be

Harrogate welcomed back pubs, cafes, and hotels with open arms on Super Saturday. Some even queued up for a slice of normality.

Lockdown has been tough on Harrogate's hospitality sector so they have been anxiously waiting for the big day to arrive.

All businesses have taken extra precautions to make sure the experience is safe but some went above and beyond to draw people back in.

Caffe Marconi reported a line of customers first thing this morning desperate for their coffee and cake fix. Owner Sara Ferguson told The Stray Ferret:

"Everyone's just really happy to come back and be able to do something that's a bit closer to what they did before. It's not what it was before, it has changed, but it's still us. It's still our coffee, it's still our cake."

Both Cedar Hotel Harrogate and the Fat Badger pub decided to go all out on their outdoor dining experiences. The hotel set up a tipi experience and the pub set up a beach on its doorstep.

Wayne Topley, the managing director at Cedar Court Hotels, told The Stray Ferret:

"We have been making sure as a business that the customer has a choice. Do they want to check in on their phone, on a touch screen or face to face? They decide."

Simon Cotton, the managing director at The Fat Badger, said:

"I was stood up here three weeks ago, the sun was shining. I just saw the space and thought it was great, we just needed to get rid of the cars for this beach."

He also stressed that the beach is not a play pit for children, just a visual backdrop for people to enjoy.