Dog from Ripley becomes first to climb every mountain in England

A dog from Ripley has become the first to claim every mountain in England, according to its owner.

Jon Birtle, a civil engineer, and Bentley, a nine-year-old Yorkshire Jack Russell terrier, completed the challenge this month.

Mr Birtle said Bentley had become the first dog to ever climb all of the mountains in England.

Their escapades date back to 2019 when Mr Birtle turned 50 and wanted to “do something out of the ordinary”.

So to celebrate his landmark birthday, the pair set out to climb Pen-y-ghent in the Yorkshire Dales. They enjoyed the challenge so much Mr Birtle decided to attempt the other two Yorkshire peaks with Bentley.

After that, Mr Birtle began researching all of Yorkshire’s mountains.

After climbing all 41, he upgraded the challenge to taking on all 180 mountains in England above 2,000 feet (610 metres), which are classed as Hewitts.

The pair battled bad weather, lockdowns, exclusion zones and injuries to complete this feat.

Man and dog averaged a climb every three weeks over five years in an adventure that has taken them from the Yorkshire Dales to the Peak District, the Lake District and Dartmoor.

They trekked over 600 miles and Bentley has recorded over half a million steps. Their climbs have now achieved the equivalent of scaling Mt Everest more than 15 times.

Bentley on Scafell in Cumbria

Mr Birtle took a date stamped photo of Bentley on every summit and soon amassed a keen following on social media who watched their journey.

He said:

“Our last summit was a bit emotional. Five years ago I didn’t even like walking now we have climbed every mountain in England. There are plenty of times I have wanted to turn around and Bentley has been running up in front, so we have pushed on.”

“We are going to carry on doing something, I love it and Bentley lives for it. As soon as I get my backpack on, he knows we are going. He is always in front waiting for me up the mountains, it is good for us both. Bentley may be nine, but he is still fit, I’m probably going to have to retire before him.”

After each mountain climb, the pair finished the day in a pub to celebrate with a lager and a treat for Bentley.

Mr Birtle added:

“My favourites have been Pen-y-ghent, because it was our first and was a wonderful experience, and Fountains Fell, which we did twice because I loved it. The most challenging has been the harshness of the North Pennines where there are almost no paths — it is a bit like a maze.

“The mental health aspect has been great, all the pressures of life are left up at the top of the mountain – it is like a soul cleanser.”

Jon Birtle and Bentley at Crag Hill summit.

Mr Birtle said he is now looking at taking on more long walks and is considering a coast-to-coast route for his next challenge.

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Two arrested after man stabbed in Harrogate

A man was stabbed in the Mayfield Grove area of Harrogate last night (May 12).

North Yorkshire Police said in a statement today it received reports that a man had suffered stab wounds just before 7.30pm last night.

The statement added:

“Officers attended and found a man had suffered an injury to his hand.

“A short time later two men were arrested in connection with the incident. A 27-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of robbery and a 32-year-old man was arrested for wounding with intent. Both currently remain in police custody.

“Following the incident, the victim received treatment in hospital for minor injuries.

Police reassured residents today by describing it as an “isolated incident”.

Superintendent Teresa Lam, senior commander for the Harrogate district, said:

“Thankfully incidents of this nature are extremely rare in Harrogate, and they will not be tolerated. An investigation is now underway to establish the full circumstances.

“I would like to stress that we are treating this as an isolated incident and do not believe that there is any ongoing wider threat to the general public.”

Mayfield Grove

Mayfield Grove

However, it is not the first serious incident in the Mayfield Grove area in recent years.

Vitalijus Koreiva, 37, was jailed at Leeds Crown Court in 2022 for murdering Gracijus Balciauskas in a flat on the road.

In the previous year Daniel Ainsley was sentenced to 22 years in prison for murdering 48-year-old Mark Wolsey at a bedsit on the road.

Police urged anyone with information about the latest incident or doorbell footage to call them on 101 and quote incident number 12240083406 or to contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

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Harrogate business park could get 10 more units

Plans have been submitted for phase two of the Harrogate West Business Park which could see 10 industrial units constructed for businesses to rent.

The Burley Bank Road site is alongside Penny Pot Lane and is close to the Army Foundation College.

Teakwood Investments Ltd has already built several industrial buildings at the business park including the headquarters for Harrogate firm Envirovent which opened in 2022.

Designs by Harrogate-based SPX Architects show the 10 units would vary in size with the smallest being 307 square metres and the largest 2,908 square metres. They would all be between seven and nine metres tall.

In total, the units would create 12,535 square metres of commercial floor space.

The site would be accessed and exited through the existing industrial park estate road, Bardner Bank.

According to the plans, service yards have been designed with sufficient space for HGVs to turn.

A design and access statement attached to the application said the business park has a “very minor impact” on nearby roads.

However, so far one resident has objected to the proposals fearing congestion from vehicles and HGVs.

They said:

“Local residents rightly are unhappy as property/amenity values will reduce and Burley Bank Road will become a car and HGV rat run to the A59.”

North Yorkshire Council has also received several letters of support from businesses interested in taking up units at the site.

Yorkshire Flapjack said they currently operate from a unit at the business park and would be interested in expanding to a larger one.

They said:

“The speed at which the phase 1 development was taken up by 13 different businesses has been testament to the pent-up demand for this type of commercial propertiy in the town.”

North Yorkshire Council will decide on the plans at a later date.

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Business Breakfast: New partner appointed at Harrogate accountants

Harrogate accountancy firm Lithgow Perkins has promoted Stuart Abbott to partner.

Formerly the company’s trusts and tax manager, Mr Abbott will work alongside partner Joe Taylor on tax advice and planning for current and new clients.

Mr Taylor said:

“Stuart has outstanding knowledge and expertise in his specialist areas, and strong and trusted relationships with many of our clients. His promotion is thoroughly deserved.”

Local opticians recognised for sustainability

Bayfields Opticians and Audiologists has achieved net zero carbon status for its practices in Harrogate and Knaresborough after helping residents recycle their old eyewear and contact lenses.

The business was given the sustainability endorsement following an auditing by not-for-profit organisation Net Zero Eyecare.

Old glasses and cases, contact lenses, and packaging that cannot be disposed of in recycling bins at home can be recycled at each practice.

Megan Harper, sustainability manager at Bayfields, said:

“We’d urge anyone with an old pair of glasses to bring them into a practice and pop them in our recycling box to avoid them going into landfill and helping us contribute to a more sustainable future.”

Harrogate Chamber to focus on regeneration tonight

The May Harrogate District Chamber of Commerce meeting will be held tonight (May 13) from 5.30pm- to 8pm at Cedar Court Hotel.

This month’s meeting will commence with the AGM, followed by guest speakers, Julian Rudd, head of regeneration (south) for North Yorkshire Council and Stuart Holland and Paul Hatherley from Harrogate Civic Society on the subject of a neighbourhood plan for Harrogate.

Harrogate care home residents celebrate Cinco de Mayo

Granby Resident Brian and his partner with Mexican musician, Rafael

Residents at Granby Care Home in Harrogate had a Mexican-themed party to celebrate the Cinco de Mayo festival.

It was the first stop on their ‘Cruise Around the World’ armchair travel activity which will see residents at Brighterkind care homes, experiencing the culture of other countries.

The care home’s magic moments coordinator, Lydia Jackson, said:

“It’s been a very exciting first port of call on our world cruise, none of us had been to Mexico before, so everyone enjoyed experiencing the culture and loved the food.”

Have some news to share about your business? Send it to us at contact@thestrayferret.co.uk

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Felling Bishop Monkton topiary cockerel did not breach planning, council says

The felling of a giant topiary cockerel in a village between Harrogate and Ripon did not breach planning rules, North Yorkshire Council has said.

The 30ft hedge, which had been a feature of the village for generations, was felled in Bishop Monkton last month.

The 100-year-old hedge stood proudly in front of Cockerel Cottage and garnered local and national attention during its lifetime.

Its disappearance led to furore among villagers.

In a letter from the council, seen by the Stray Ferret, residents were last week told an investigation was launched into the felling following complaints of a potential breach of planning control.

But planning enforcement officer, Christopher Keddle, who wrote the letter, concluded “no breaches have taken place”.

Mr Keddle said after reviewing all the evidence, he found the cockerel was a hedge, rather than a tree, which “does not require consent from the council” to cut down.

He adds:

“Furthermore the council couldn’t prevent the owner from growing the cockerel shape out, even if the hedge was retained, we had no control whatsoever regarding the shape of the hedge.”

Mr Keddle also said one complainant had commented on the listed status of the property, adding:

“Finally, there has been comment regarding the listing of the property. Hedges, trees, flowers etc. are never included within the listing and therefore the hedge would not be protected.”

Mr Keddle said as there is “no breach” the case will be closed.

Bishop Monkton Today reported one villager who had complained was “unhappy” about the council’s findings, but added they had “no plans” to appeal.

The Stray Ferret reported on the felling at the time, as villagers were left horrified by the move.

Gary Cross, landlord of the Masons Arms in the village, said he knows the owners, who were not named, and understood the cockerel blocked light and became difficult to maintain.

He added:

“It was a pretty big object and attraction. Some residents are very upset about it. But they don’t have to live next to it.

“With the beck flooding, a lot of their garden was subject to flooding and it held pools of water, which was difficult to deal with. The owners have been there two or three years and tried to work with the cockerel but it had just become so big.”

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Readers’ Letters: Does North Yorkshire Council not know how a drain works?

Readers’ Letters is a weekly column giving you the chance to have your say on issues affecting the Harrogate district. It is an opinion column and does not reflect the views of the Stray Ferret. Send your views to letters@thestrayferret.co.uk.  

The following three letters are in response to the extreme flooding in Knaresborough earlier this week. Roads were under water, homes were flooded and residents evacuated. The council denied the conditions of the drains played a part, but some residents feel otherwise.  

Does North Yorkshire Council not know what a drain is and how they work?

I think the Stray Ferret should take a stand on behalf of all Knaresborough folk and demand that they do something about it.

I live up Ripley Road and can tell you that the drains on High and Low Bond End and Ripley Road haven’t been cleaned out properly for at least 30 years.

Steve Newbould, Knaresborough

Here on Hambleton Close we had a near miss – although both our neighbours took on water.

I have consistently notified North Yorkshire County Council (that was) about the state of drainage in Knaresborough. Each time I receive hollow words of acknowledgement, but nothing is done.

The autumn leaf-fall and the failure to sweep the roads only added to this catastrophe.

What do we pay our council tax for?

Ralph Thrower, Knaresborough

We have reported the blocked drains for years and no works seems to have been done.

Last week we were down to one working drain on our street and we directly reported it to the council.

We have issues with Waterside becoming a river even with normal levels of rainfall.

We warned the council numerous times it would flood, as the water has nowhere else to go other than through the houses.

Mark Johnson, Knaresborough

Maybe Keane Duncan’s defeat means he will ‘finally fix our roads’

This story follows the York and North Yorkshire mayoral election last week. Labour’s David Skaith took home the crown, leaving Tory councillor Keane Duncan defeated.

Thank goodness for the mayoral result, which hopefully now means we are also done with Mr Keane’s tedious photo opportunities (hopefully!).

For months he’s courted the camera and delivered on little else. Even the well-hyped ‘100 days in Peggy’ went suspiciously quiet.

Maybe now he can finally concentrate on the job he has, including fixing our roads for starters.

He might want to take Peggy for a drive down Pannal Ash Road and sample the disgraceful state of a public highway.

Simon Ewing, Harrogate

Do you have an opinion on the Harrogate district? Email us at letters@thestrayferret.co.uk. Please include your name and approximate location details. Limit your letters to 350 words. We reserve the right to edit letters.

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Harrogate disability charity launches accessible walking route packs

A Harrogate disability charity has launched a range of accessible route packs to help more people to access the outdoors.

Open Country has produced a range of ‘breakfree’ packs offering inspiration on great places to walk, wheel, stroll, or cycle, covering the Harrogate district.

The charity helps people with disabilities to access the countryside. It offers daily activities for disabled people, including walks, conservation projects, allotment clubs, tandems clubs and adventure clubs.

The packs have been launched to celebrate National Walking Month, which takes place in May.

The Harrogate routes include the Beryl Burton cycleway, Staveley Nature Reserve, Pateley Bridge Glasshouses and the Valley Gardens.

A spokesperson for Open Country said:

“The free packs have been specially developed with wheelchair users in mind, but they could also support anyone who might struggle with exercise, limited mobility or even families with pushchairs.”

“Each trail features clear, colour maps for each location, with all the information needed to help plan a trip out, including access to facilities and points of interest.”

Open Country walks

The ‘breakfree packs’ also cover Leeds, Wakefield, Wharfedale and York. A range of audio walks are also available on the Open Country website or on their YouTube channel, so that people can enjoy fully descriptive walks from the comfort of their own home.

The charity also provides advice for landowners and organisations on accessibility issues through its Countryside Advice Service.

Packs are available to download here or the charity can to deliver or post packs in bulk to organisations. To request packs contact community@opencountry.org

An available breakfree map from Open Country, the Beryl Burton cycleway

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Photo of the week: sunrise over Harlow Carr

This week’s photograph was taken by Julie Addyman, capturing  the sun rising over Harlow Carr.

Photo of the Week takes centre stage in our new-look nightly email newsletter. The newsletter drops into your inbox every evening at 6pm with all the day’s stories and more. To subscribe, click here.

(Image: Julie Addyman)

Photo of the Week celebrates the Harrogate district. It could be anything from family life to capturing the district’s beauty. We are interested in amateur and professional photographs, in a landscape format.

Send your photographs to letters@thestrayferret.co.uk for a chance to be featured next week. We reserve the right to adjust and crop images to fit into our format.

Could Labour target Harrogate and Knaresborough at the next election?

Shortly after his victory speech, newly elected Labour Mayor of York and North Yorkshire David Skaith acknowledged how unusual it was for the party to win in a traditional Conservative heartland.

“North Yorkshire is not an area we normally do well in,” he told reporters huddled around him in Harrogate Convention Centre last week.

Labour leader Keir Starmer hailed it a “historic victory” for his party.

It was certainly a notable success given the traditionally Conservative voting nature of North Yorkshire, in particular in Harrogate and Knaresborough.

But does this mean Labour will begin to target the seat at the next general election?

Could Labour target Harrogate?

When the Stray Ferret spoke to Mr Skaith prior to his election win, we asked him about the fact that Labour does not perform well in Harrogate.

Mr Skaith, who was born in Harrogate, acknowledged that the town was traditionally Liberal Democrat and Conservative, but said it was a target area for his mayoral campaign.

“Certainly it is a key area for me personally because it is where I’m from and it is my hometown. It is a place that I love and I want to see it succeed and thrive.”

While the mayoral campaign may have proved successful for Labour, the party’s prospect of winning a seat in the House of Commons in the area remains difficult.

In general elections, the party’s highest vote share in Harrogate and Knaresborough came in 2017 when it managed 20% — but still finished third, well behind the Liberal Democrats and Conservatives.

Every election since and before then has seen Labour record 10% or below for vote share as the party barely managed to reach 10,000 votes in all but one poll since 1997.

But the victory in the mayoral election appears to have galvanised the party and raises questions over whether it will commit more campaign resources to Harrogate and Knaresborough.

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Andrew Williamson, treasurer of Harrogate and Knaresborough Labour Party, said the victory for Mr Skaith proved people locally had switched from Conservative to Labour.

Mr Williamson added that the win also showed there were no “no go” areas for the party.

He said:

“Labour winning in Harrogate and Knaresborough and in Rishi Sunak’s backyard is a seismic result. Even the local Tory MP acknowledged that Labour did incredibly well in the area.

“So many people told us they voted Labour, many for the first time and including many former Tory voters.

“They said they were impressed by Labour’s positive vision for our area and were pleased to see our new mayor, David Skaith, campaigning in Harrogate with shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves, demonstrating that there are no ‘no go’ areas for Keir Starmer’s changed Labour Party.

“It’s clear that people want change for our area. It’s time that we got the chance to elect a new Labour government and Harrogate and Knaresborough Labour Party will be working hard to deliver that fresh start.”

‘A two horse race’

However, if you ask other political parties in contention for the constituency – Labour do not factor into the equation.

The Stray Ferret reported in December 2023 that the national Labour Party designated Harrogate and Knaresborough a “non-battleground” seat.

The party published a list online of 211 seats which it considers to be non-target constituencies.

Andrew Jones and Tom Gordon.

Andrew Jones and Tom Gordon.

Tom Gordon, the Liberal Democrat candidate for the constituency, claimed the move proved that the contest is a “two-horse race”.

Mr Gordon’s latest newsletter, delivered after the mayoral election., reinforced the claim that “no other result is possible here” besides a Tory or Lib Dem win.

Labour has also yet to confirm a candidate for Harrogate and Knaresborough despite the fact that a general election must take place before January 2025. By contrast, the Lib Dems confirmed Mr Gordon as its candidate in February 2023.

The opinion polls in recent months have swayed in the Lib Dems favour and painted a glum picture for the Tories.

However, Andrew Jones, the current Conservative MP, has his sights set on five election wins in a row.

Mr Jones has a 9,675 majority to defend and told the Stray Ferret in May last year that he had “no hesitation” in putting his name forward again.

“The election is about who offers the best future  – will it be Rishi or Keir Starmer. The answer is Rishi. Who will be the best local champion? Me.”

Perversely, a resurgent Labour Party may help Mr Jones if it takes votes off the Lib Dems. But how hard Starmer’s party will contest Harrogate and Knaresborough remains unclear.

Whatever it chooses, the election in Harrogate and Knaresborough is shaping up to be the closest for years.

Peter Banks: the man withdrawing from Rudding Park

Peter Banks is giving out books. They’re copies of one of his favourite novels, Shane by Jack Schaefer, and he’s milling around Rudding Park Hotel, dropping them off with various former colleagues as leaving gifts. 

That’s because, after spending the best part of three decades creating Britain’s best hotel, he’s just called it a day. He hasn’t been on the payroll at Rudding Park for a couple of weeks now, but his bearing is of a man still in his own domain. It’s clearly hard to let go. 

In an exclusive interview with the Stray Ferret, he told us: 

“I’m a rescuer, I’m a sorter-outer. When there’s a problem, I know what to do and what to say to people to get them to come out with the desired result. It’s incredibly stressful but incredibly flattering being at the centre of all that.

“I’ve been mainlining that for 28 years. When all of a sudden that goes, it’s like your dealer’s left town, he hasn’t given you a forwarding address, he’s not answering your phone calls, and you’re going ‘cold turkey’. It’s pretty brutal.” 

If it sounds like a strong drug, perhaps that’s because Peter’s first ‘hit’ was so powerful. A self-confessed “gobby idiot” as a boy, his careers master – who despaired of his “scattergun humour” – told him: 

“Banksy, you ought to try something with your mouth, not your brain. Try hotels.”

Rudding Park

‘An exercise in survival’

So following a “good education”, thanks to a bursary at Christ’s Hospital, the Tudor-era independent school in West Sussex, he left to become a management trainee at the Savoy in London. 

He said: 

“I still remember to this day going into the kitchen of the Savoy as a spotty 17-year-old, and there was this maelstrom of noise.  

“The head chef was there with his massive, tall hat, and it was all in French: ‘Ça marche! Envoyer!’, ‘Oui, chef – coming now!’. And all this food would arrive out of various areas and would be put together on the hotplate. It was like an ocean-going liner’s engine room, there was that much going on.  

“And then these incredibly glamorous, good-looking Italian waiters with dark, swept-back hair and flashing brown eyes, wearing tailcoats and stiff collars, glided into this maelstrom of noise, picked up these beautiful trays of food and then went back out of the swing doors.  

“We followed them out, and there was a string quartet playing in the Thames Foyer, and I just thought it was so glamorous. I thought, this is the job for me. I was hooked.” 

The highs were offset by some alarming lows, though. Assigned to the meat department on his first day, within 10 minutes a “massive” butcher tried to strangle him in a pitch-black service lift simply because he didn’t like management trainees. On another occasion, he was kicked headfirst into a hot oven by a disgruntled chef. It was, he says, “an exercise in survival”. 

But it also gave him a thorough grounding in every aspect of the business, and during his five years there Peter worked as a waiter, barman, chef, fruit-and-veg porter, switchboard operator, housekeeper, receptionist, cashier, maintenance man and even ‘carpet spotter’, getting burns and stains out of carpets. 

He then took his skills to Scotland, working, “drinking and playing a lot of golf” at the Old Course Hotel in St Andrews, before moving back to London and the Hilton on Park Lane, which was, he says, “an absolute zoo”.  

He says: 

“The manager would say, ‘You’ll never get anybody’s respect until you sack someone!’. I disagreed. 

“I hated working there. I used to come out of Hyde Park Corner tube station each morning and see the Hilton in front of me, and I’d be really disappointed that it hadn’t burnt down in the middle of the night!” 

But it was there that he was told to “look after our guests as if they were your guests in your home”. He says: 

“If you do that, 999 times out of 1,000 you’re going to get it right. If this person was a guest at my house, what would I say to him? You wouldn’t say ‘The kitchen’s closed’ – you’d rustle him something up.” 

It was an approach that he’d never forget and that would serve him well at his next posting, which he secured after seeing a small ad posted by a brand-new hotel in The Caterer. If the Savoy, the Old Course and the Hilton were ‘gateway drugs’, he would find his main fix in Harrogate. 

Rudding Park Spa

Rudding Park

The manager at the Hilton had told Peter that moving up to Yorkshire would be the “death of his career”, so when he and owner Simon Mackaness launched the brand-new Rudding Park Hotel on April 15, 1997, he set out to prove him wrong.  

Initially only in charge of housekeeping, bedrooms and reception, he soon started accumulating extra responsibilities, and within a few years he was in charge of the whole thing. Gathering the staff, he told them: 

“First of all, we’re going to be the best hotel in Harrogate. Second, we’re going to be the best hotel in the north of England. Then we’re going to be the best hotel in England, and then we’re going to be the best hotel in Britain. That’s where we’re going from here.” 

Commercially minded, he did leave for a stint to open his own boutique restaurant with rooms in Southwold, Suffolk, while still working for Simon Mackaness two days a fortnight. Sutherland House was the first in the UK to list food miles on the menu, and was already winning awards within a year of opening, but Peter got bored and came back to Yorkshire. 

He said: 

“I was polishing glasses at 12 o’clock at night, and I realised that it didn’t matter whose glasses you were polishing, you’re still polishing glasses at midnight.” 

Returning to Rudding Park, he oversaw the most dramatic programme of expansion and upgrade seen by a Yorkshire hotel in decades. 

An £8 million project in 2010 doubled the number of rooms to 90, which meant that staff numbers doubled too. In 2017, a £10 million scheme saw the launch of the spa, requiring a further 50 employees. 

Under his management, Rudding Park’s turnover grew from £2m to £28m, and staff numbers ballooned from 20 to 400.

Along the way, the hotel has collected scores of awards, including the “industry Oscar” that Peter says he’s proudest of – the Independent Hotel Catey of the Year in 2019, which marked Rudding Park out as the best hotel in the UK. 

He says: 

“That vindicated all the work and stuck two fingers up at everyone who laughed at me for coming up here.” 

Highs and lows

He’s also welcomed some extremely high-profile guests. He’s taken President George Bush Sr (“a real gentleman”) for a golf-buggy tour of the grounds, had Archbishop Desmond Tutu (“a funny guy”) taking a turn on reception, and even caddied for President Bill Clinton. He says: 

“Clinton was incredible. I thought that I was immune to charisma, but he had that incredible skill of making you feel like the most wanted, important person in the world. He left the room and it felt strangely empty, and then you realised it was because he’d gone out. Amazing.” 

The satisfaction he takes from the Catey win is made all the sweeter by the fact that his time at Rudding Park has not been a uniformly easy ride: there have been hard times too. 

In 2008, a couple who were regular customers were tragically killed when their helicopter crashed in the grounds, and in another incident, a colleague died on duty when struck down by a heart attack. 

Then there was covid, which played havoc with the hospitality industry worldwide and forced many hotels and restaurants to close permanently. After a fortnight of tense uncertainty under lockdown, staff were furloughed and Peter set about keeping them active and engaged, as he recounted for the Stray Ferret in 2020. But although he acknowledges the wider catastrophe, his feelings are not all negative. He says: 

“In an ironic, strange way I almost enjoyed covid after those two weeks, because it was problem management: who can be quickest, who can be most creative?” 

Photo of Peter Banks, the former manager of Rudding Park Hotel in Harrogate.

That fleet-footed flexibility is a quality that hotel managers have always needed to have, but some things are not the same as they used to be. So just what has changed over the 38 years Peter has been in hospitality? He says: 

“It’s much better. There’s none of the ‘homicidal chef’ activity going on. There’s none of the monstrous abuses of power that I experienced at the Hilton.  

“Also, when I started, the guests would accept a lot more, but now – with all the TV shows like Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares – they’re all ‘experts’.  

“Social media has made our job a lot more difficult – anybody can say whatever they like about you and your property to the whole wide world, and you have no recourse. 

“They slag off staff as well. I’m big enough and ugly enough to take it, but when they have a go at the staff, it demotivates the team. Some of them might leave. If we’re not careful, we’re only going to be left in this industry with people who don’t care – and then it really will be bad.” 

He adds: 

“Every time there’s a complaint, that’s a scar on your back. In this industry, you don’t so much get physical injuries, but you end up carrying scars on your soul – if you care.” 

How is his soul? 

“Fairly scarred.” 

But that’s not why he’s left Rudding Park. That has far more to do with wanting to spend more time with his family, whom he feels he has neglected for decades. He says: 

“My eldest son is 28 and I’ve spent one Christmas with him. That’s how much dedication you need to this job. It crucifies you. I’ll never ever have that chance again. 

“To work as hard as I have for 38 years, you need to want it and need it in equal measure, because you have to sacrifice so much. I still want it, because I still love the industry, but I don’t need it. My kids are grown up and ‘off the payroll’, so that’s it. Happy days. Somebody else can work Christmas Day.” 

Still only 55, he’s not planning on retiring completely. A second career as a hospitality consultant beckons, and he’s already got “nine or 10” projects to consider. 

But for the time being, he’s taking a three-month break, and today is handing out those books. But why has he chosen Shane? He says: 

“It’s all in the final paragraph. Answering the question of who Shane was, it says ‘He was the man who rode into our little valley out of the heart of the great glowing West, and when his work was done, rode back whence he had come, and he was Shane’.

“I sometimes feel that I’m the Shane of the hospitality world. I rode into this little valley, not meaning to stay here as long as I did, but my job is done now. 

“It’s a young man’s game.” 

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