North Yorkshire Council confirmed today it will increase all car park charges from April 19.

The Stray Ferret reported last week charges across the Harrogate district were in line to rise.

The council said in a statement today it would increase tariffs by 20% as “part of North Yorkshire’s commitment to maintain and improve its facilities”. It added the decision “was made after careful consideration of several factors impacting the service”.

Karl Battersby, the council’s corporate director of environment, said:

“We continuously strive to improve our parking services to provide a better customer experience. This includes investments in technology upgrades, such as automated payment systems and the installation of electric vehicle chargers to accommodate the growing market.

“We have refrained from increasing our car parking tariff for several years. However, to ensure we can continue to maintain the current provision and not divert funds away from vital frontline council services, we plan on introducing an increase across the car parking tariff that is in line with inflation.”

The statement said the cost of parking facilities, including infrastructure, repairs, lighting, and security had risen “and ensuring a safe and well-maintained environment is essential for the convenience and satisfaction of customers”.

The move affects all parking at council-owned car parks.

The hike in prices comes despite the council increasing council tax bills by 4.99% in 2024/25. It means the amount paid by an average Band D property for council services will increase by £87.80 to £1,847.62. The council faces a shortfall of more than £30 million for the next financial year.

Mr Battersby added:

“We also remain committed to improving public transport provision across North Yorkshire to ensure there are alternatives to car usage, as well as supporting efforts to become carbon neutral by 2030.”

The council plans to draft a strategy this year that will look at parking provision across North Yorkshire to see where future changes and improvements can be made.

Read more:

• Car park charges to rise by up to 25% in Harrogate district 
• Harrogate hospital could face six more months of strikes 

Bettys has announced its tearooms will stay open later on Fridays and Saturdays in Harrogate and York.

The company reduced its opening hours in 2021 due to staff shortages. You can read the Stray Ferret’s coverage of the issue at the time here.

Many hospitality businesses suffered similar problems after covid.

But in a social media post today, Bettys said it was “thrilled to announce extended Friday and Saturday hours in York and Harrogate”.

From this Saturday, the Harrogate café will open on Saturdays until 7pm and the shop will open until 6pm. On Fridays, the café and shop will open until 6pm. The café opened until 9pm prior to covid.

From this Saturday, the York café and shop will open until 7pm on Saturdays, and until 6pm on Fridays.

Read more:

• Mediterranean café opens in Harrogate
• Still no date when work will begin on closed road near Kex Gill

There is still no date for when work will begin to repair the landslip that led to the closure of the A59 at Blubberhouses.

The road, which is the main route between Harrogate and Skipton, closed suddenly on February 2 when a crack appeared on the verge.

The council has said wet weather caused the crack in the landslip-prone area.

However Alistair Young, whose house in Blubberhouses overlooks the closed section of road, has claimed previous landslips occurred about half a mile away at Kex Gill, where the council is working on a £68.8 million road realignment. Mr Young believes the council’s work on the Kex Gill realignment has caused the landslip.

The closed section of road at Blubberhouses.

Seven weeks on from the road being closed, repair work has yet to begin.

Barrie Mason, North Yorkshire Council’s assistant director highways and transportation, parking services, street scene, parks and grounds, gave an update in a video published on the council’s social media channels on Friday.

Mr Mason, who was filmed speaking on the closed road, said:

“We are working hard on a design solution involving sheet piles, which is where we put interlocking sheets of metal into the ground to stabilise the ground and stabilise the road.

“We are working hard to get that design finalised and programmed as soon as possible.

“As soon as possible we will be out on site and getting this road reopened.”

Read more:

• Harrogate to Skipton bus suspended due to Kex Gill work
• ‘The lack of communication and transparency over Kex Gill is appalling’

Harrogate District Hospital could face a further six months of disruption after junior doctors voted to extend their mandate for strike action.

It’s been over a year since junior doctors began striking over pay and this week 98% of British Medical Association union members backed further walkouts on a turnout of 62%.

Most recently, junior doctors at the Lancaster Park Road hospital staged two separate walk-outs between December 20-23 and January 3-9.

The strikes have had a “draining impact”, according to the boss of Harrogate & District NHS Foundation Trust.

Junior doctors are qualified doctors in clinical training and they make up nearly half of the medical workforce in England.

The BMA says while workload and waiting lists are at record highs, pay has effectively been cut by more than a quarter since 2008.

The union is asking the government for a 35% pay rise, but health ministers have described the demands as unreasonable.

A spokesperson for Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust said the hospital hopes a deal can be reached before future strikes take place.

They said:

“Whilst we respect the decision made by BMA junior doctors to extend their mandate for industrial action, we hope that the BMA and government can have effective discussions which will lead to a solution before further strikes are undertaken.

“Should further industrial action take place we will continue to manage the disruption to ensure our patients are safe during the strike, any impact on patient care is kept to a minimum and emergency services continue to operate as normal.

“We value our staff and know that junior doctors do not want to be striking. We hope a breakthrough can be made soon so that we can continue to focus on delivering high quality care to all those who need it.”

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• Reform UK announces Easingwold and Wetherby parliamentary candidate

A Harrogate financial firm has appointed a new joint chief executive.

Matt Beddall has joined Titan Private Wealth as joint chief executive, alongside existing chief executive Mark Puleikis

Mr Beddall joins Titan from Investec Wealth & Investment, where he was divisional director and head of the Sheffield office.

Titan Private Wealth, previously Cardale Asset Management, is an investment management business providing portfolio management to private clients, pension schemes, charities, corporates and intermediaries across the UK.

Mr Beddall said:

“I am thrilled to be joining such a successful and award-winning business as Titan. I look forward to helping lead the business through its next growth phase and continuing the amazing work that has already been put in place.”

Grantley Hall restaurant collaborates with champagne house 

Grantley Hall has unveiled a new Mediterranean-inspired menu at one of its restaurants.

The menu is launched in time for the summer at The Orchard and is in collaboration with Veuve Clicquot.

The Orchard changes with the seasons and is one of five restaurants at Grantley Hall.

Monika Czop, food & beverage manager at Grantley Hall, said:

“I am so very excited that our new concept for The Orchard is now live for our guests to experience this summer.

“Our collaboration with Veuve Clicquot encapsulates the spirit of the summer and we are delighted to be one of only a few locations to be part of its Road to the Sun campaign this year! I can’t wait to welcome you all to experience The Orchard in all its glory – let’s celebrate with Champagne this season.”

Orchard, Grantley Hall

Cedar Court Hotels is the latest sponsor of Harrogate International Festivals

Harrogate International Festivals has announced a new sponsor.

Cedar Court Hotels, which has a hotel in the town, is the latest company to agree sponsorship of the festival.

Cedar Court managing director Wayne Topley said:

“Harrogate is synonymous with world-class art and culture – attracting amazing musicians as well as some of the biggest names in literature. To be a festival sponsor feels like a perfect match.”

Sharon Canavar, Harrogate International Festivals chief executive, said:

“Art and culture go hand in hand with hospitality and the fact that Cedar Court Hotels believe in Harrogate and are prepared to invest in the town makes this partnership all the more rewarding.”

(Left to right) Wayne Topley, Sharon Canavar and Oliver Stott, the hotel manager. Image: Mike Whorley

Nomad Catering opens tasting room 

Nomad Catering, a Harrogate based catering company, moved to Cardale Park on the outskirts of Harrogate in June last year. This week it celebrated finishing its tasting room.

The room provides a modern industrial space for clients to taste their food ahead of booking them for events.

In the past year Nomad Catering has catered for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards at Media City in Salford, the centenary dinner for the Flying Scotsman at the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway and provided food for a Michelin three-star chef’s wedding.

Nomad Catering event. Image: Leanne Peacock Photography

Harrogate Bridal Boutiques Named in UK Top 50

Two wedding dress shops in Harrogate have been named among the Top 50 bridal boutiques in the UK, according to one of the leading hen party providers in its annual rundown.

Joana Bridal and Bee Bridal were listed by GoHen.com which compiled its list based on a variety of factors including style, variety, value for money and service.

Fourth award for Ripon photographer 

Ripon photographer Helen Tabor has won her fourth bronze award from the British Institute of Professional Photography for her architectural images.

Her photo of architect Santiago Calatrava’s railway station at Lyon-Saint-Exupéry TGV station won the award in the BIPP’s monthly image competition. Her January entry, of the spiral staircase at Victoria Gate Leeds was also awarded a bronze.

Ms Tabor said:

“My architectural work all stems from my love of interesting buildings and their structure, and I like to bring out the art in their design through careful composition in my photographs.”

Into the unknown by Helen Tabor

Read more:

• Business Breakfast: Berwins Solicitors continues partnership with Harrogate International Festivals
• Business Breakfast: Masham brewery set for rebrand 

The Starbeck community has created a mosaic dedicated to supporting mental health after three young people from the area died from suicide last year.

Starbeck Post Office has funded and erected the large mosaic for a wall on Camwal Terrace, Harrogate. The mural reads ‘Mental Health Matters’ and is surrounded by brightly coloured tiles.

Postmaster Andrew Hart, who runs the Red Box in Starbeck commissioned the artwork. He said:

“The mosaic remains our tribute to the memory of three young people the community lost.”

The Red Box Starbeck

The artwork was commissioned from Artizan International and created by Liz Cluderay, director of Artizan’s cafe and creative space in Harrogate. Ms Cluderay and her students set to work creating the art piece last summer.

Ms Cluderay said:

“It took us a number of weeks to complete it is a huge project, now it is up it looks tiny but it was huge. All of the Artizan community got involved in the art, from the design to completion.

“The students especially liked the messiness of grouting. It is really important for disabled artists to be recognised by the public for their work and to beat stereotypes.

“We were grateful to be commissioned by The Red Box, the mental health mosaic is an important topic and it was good for us to have important conversations about mental health with our disabled artists. It is good to raise awareness so they can be aware of their own mental state, often disabled people can feel isolated but this opened up important communication.”

Liz Cluderay and Andrew Hart

Starbeck Post Office commissioned a large mosaic rainbow for the same wall, which Henshaw’s created. The rainbow mosaic is dedicated to local medical staff, carers and key workers who worked during covid.

Then last year a mural of Bees for the High Street was commissioned, dedicated to the king’s coronation. It was painted by Sam Porter of Muralminded.

Starbeck rainbow mosaic

Read more:

• Trading Hell: ‘Report crime so we can cut crime’, says BID manager
• French brasserie Côte to close Harrogate restaurant

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.

This letter is in response to the Trading Hell series we ran this week. It followed a three-month investigation into anti-social behaviour and crime in parts of Harrogate.

Congratulations to you for raising this issue.

I don’t have a specific situation or incident to report, but I have noticed a huge increase in what might be called passive aggressive behaviour in town.

The beggars are abusive, the teenagers look at you as if you have encroached on their patch and there is a general feeling that something is about to kick off”. I don’t think I have ever seen a police officer on foot in town over the past five years or so.

But why does it always have to be somebody’s fault other than the perpetrator of the misdemeanour? Sadly, this reflects a breakdown in society as us old timers (I’m in my 60s) comment upon time after time.

Unfortunately, I can only see the situation deteriorating further.

Punishments need to fit crimes and these pariahs of society need to learn that their anti-social behaviour is the road to nowhere.

John Chadwick, Huby

The Kex Gill saga is an ‘absolute farce’

This letter is in response to one man’s frustration over a lack of communication about the ongoing A59 at Kex Gill closure.

I 100% agree with Mr Young. This situation is an absolute farce, it is not a difficult situation to address, nor was it unforeseeable that it would happen.

Surely the project risk assessment should have identified the potential for this type of event and made suitable provision.

It is a huge inconvenience for residents and others who are having to suffer lengthy diversions.

That said, everything relating to this route has been so badly managed for years and, unfortunately, is no surprise to anyone affected.

Tony Sidwell, Ripon

Paul Haslam for mayor is a ‘breath of fresh air’

This letter follows news of former Tory whip councillor Paul Haslam standing for mayor of North Yorkshire. 

It came as a breath of fresh air to read that councillor Paul Haslam has resigned as the Conservative party whip to stand as an Independent candidate for Mayor of North Yorkshire.

It is a position which demands loyalty to all residents of North Yorkshire and not allegiance to a political party, which has gifted the incumbent their salary of £81,300.

It requires broad knowledge of commerce, as well the workings of public services and its politics. It requires the ability to identify and lead a network of talent and not one based on party hierarchy or other organisations..

This is not political party propaganda. I do not belong to a political party and I am a centrist.

I have seen Cllr Haslam at local community meetings and consider him an efficient operator with local interests at heart.

As a capable Independent candidate, who is challenging the existing hierarchy, Cllr Haslam will have my vote.

I hope the electorate fully realise importance of the Mayor of North Yorkshire and that usual voter apathy for local elections does not occur. The election turnout for the retiring Police Commissioner was less than 15%, which means that 85% didn’t care.

The outcome of this election will be more meaningful and it will affect everyone by influencing the many areas of our public services.

Brian Graham, 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.

Read more:

• Readers’ Letters: Harrogate is short of social housing – not luxury apartments
• Readers’ Letters: Why does everything in Harrogate have to cater to the young?
• Readers’ Letters: Stainburn Forest parking charges are a ‘dismal state of affairs’

This week’s photograph was taken by Mark Fuller from Harrogate, capturing one of the art installations from BEAM, hosted in Harrogate last weekend.

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: Mark Fuller)

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.

From a little-noticed gym on Skipton Road in Harrogate, Nathaniel Kalogiannidis is preparing for the fight of his life.

He’s one on the UK’s best practitioners of Thai boxing – or muay thai – and he’s just three bouts away from winning a six-figure contract with ONE Championship, the world’s biggest fight promotion organisation. If you’re a little hazy on the muay thai hierarchy, think Premier League. 

When I meet him at the Kao Loi Gym, he’s relaxed after a week in Morocco, where he and his girlfriend went for a quick holiday following his last fight. Yet nine days after the bout in Manchester, his nose is still bruised and his knuckles still hurt, but he’s in good spirits, relentlessly cheerful and hitting the pads on full power. 

He lost that fight, but the winner – the UK’s number one at 79kg – broke his hand on Nathaniel’s forehead, so he’s out of contention and the Harrogate man has a second chance. He’s not going to let it pass. 

He said: 

“I’ll be grabbing this opportunity with both hands. If it works out the way that I’m hoping, I should be going to Canada.” 

Nathaniel Kalogiannidis punches opponent Dan Bonner during their recent bout in Manchester. Photo: Lamine Mersch.

His last fight was part of a four-man tournament where the winners were supposed to fight each other. They didn’t – “neither made it out” says Nathaniel – so that contest will happen next month at the O2 in London. The winner of that will head to Alberta, Canada in November. From there, the victor will be on a flight to Thailand. 

If he ever feels daunted by how far there is yet to go to achieve his dreams – which appears unlikely, given his easy confidence – he should perhaps reflect on how far he’s come. 

Born in Harrogate District Hospital, he spent his childhood in his father’s home country of Greece, where his dad introduced his “little hyperactive kid” to taekwondo. He won his first fight at the age of six and has been hooked ever since. 

Nathaniel at the Kao Loi gym on Skipton Road in Harroagte.

He returned to Yorkshire and attended King James’s School in Knaresborough, always keeping up with the martial arts. Did he fight at school? He laughs: 

“I tried to stay out of trouble! I’m sure there are some teachers who can remember a few instances. 

“My first coach, who I had in Greece, was always encouraging us not to get into confrontations outside of the gym, so it’s something I’ve tried to stay away from. But as a teenage boy, I feel like that’s sometimes a little inevitable.” 

Does he regard himself as a Harrogate fighter, or a Knaresborough fighter? Yorkshire, English, or Greek? He said: 

“Harrogate, Yorkshire – I don’t want to sound too territorial, to be honest! I want to represent my team and the people who believe in me. That’s who I represent.” 

Photo: Lamine Mersch.

He’s now a professional fighter and at the age of 25, he jokes that he’s “still got about 10 more years of punch-ups” in him. His record is 10 wins and five losses, but he says those don’t bother him. He ranks eighth in the UK at middleweight and his trajectory is ever upward. 

He said: 

“I pride myself on not cherry-picking opponents. I’ve never said no to any man who’s been offered to me in a fight. My first professional fight was against the UK number five ranked K1 fighter. All of my opponents have gone on to fight at international level or world level, so the guys that I’m getting beaten by – and it’s not by a lot – are very respectable opponents. 

“I’ve never said no to anybody, because I’m not interested in polishing my record. I’m interested in being the guy who will just get in there, fight anybody and always make it an entertaining fight. Wins and losses don’t really matter to me too much.” 

That may be so, but it doesn’t mean he’s not deadly serious about getting to Canada and then Thailand. He knows who he’s up against and he’s training hard, with between 10 and 12 sessions a week – two a day, six days a week, each an hour-and-a-half or two-and-a-half hours long. He said: 

“We prefer quality over quantity. I don’t really need really long hours to be training – it’s just how good I can be for five three-minute rounds. That’s all that matters in a fight.” 

Those 15 minutes are intense. The lead-up to a fight typically takes months, so there’s a lot of time to think about it. Nathaniel said: 

“It’s really interesting, because the emotions up to the fight are never consistent. For a lot of fights I’ve been really nervous, about a month out. It’s a rollercoaster of emotions – it’s so inconsistent. Up, down, up, down. And then you get to walk into the ring, and there’s still a little bit of that anxiety and right before I walk out, my music comes on and everything leaves. It just goes and I’m just full of confidence. And I’m completely zoned into I have to do.

“It’s quite a beautiful thing for me because my brain’s quite full-on and I’ve got a lot of internal chatter, but to know that for however long the fight is, all I have to think about is me and the person stood in front of me. I don’t have to think about anything else. It sounds mental, but for me that’s a really, really peaceful place.”

It may feel peaceful, but that’s not how it looks. Muay thai is known as the ‘Art of Eight Limbs’ because it allows the use of eight “weapons” – the hands, the elbows, the knees, and the legs/feet – and the damage they can do can be spectacular. When Nathaniel’s last opponent broke his hand on his skull, the two of them were covered in his blood, and he needed seven staples in his forehead. 

Nathaniel lost his last fight, but the winner broke his hand and will be unable to progress. Photo: Lamine Mersch.

Little wonder that fighters study each other intently to avoid the traps. In training, their sparring partners aim to imitate the fighting style of their next opponent, so that all the correct responses can be filed away and incorporated into the game plan. The last thing a fighter wants is to have to think too hard when in the ring. Nathaniel said: 

“You put it all into your autopilot so you don’t have to think. I’ve had times where I have been really thinking and you fall behind. You don’t have any momentum – it’s gone. Gone. It’s like a meditation – you can’t afford to be stuck on any single thought.” 

He says the worst feeling is finishing a fight and thinking he could have done more. It only happened once and he’s never let it happen again. He said: 

“I know for a fact that I leave absolutely everything in the ring. I give absolutely everything in my preparation. Anything I can possibly do, anything that I can control, I do 100%. I don’t do half measures.” 

But then again, the other fighters are doing the same thing, so is there ever bad blood? Trash talking has become de rigueur in boxing, so is it the same in muay thai? He said: 

“Muay thai is a much more traditional, respectful support, and I’ve always had respect between me and my opponents.  

“It doesn’t always mean that I’ve liked the guys who I’ve fought, before or after, but they’ve never been anything but respectful after the fight. A lot of the time it might not even be a personal thing, but when you have the same dream as somebody else, it’s very hard to get along with them. We both want the same thing. We’ve both put a lot into what we’re doing. 

“But I’ve met some of the nicest people I’ve ever met through combat sports. To go through 15 minutes of doing what we do in a ring to then hug it out covered in blood and have a drink, which I have done with a lot of my opponents – a drink and a chinwag after – is really, really quite a beautiful thing, I think.” 

That feeling is, of course, intensified by victory – winning, he says, is like an addictive drug. He said: 

“It’s an incredible feeling getting your hand raised. I wish I could bottle it up and give it to people. But I can’t – it’s the product of giving something 100%, chasing something that you love, and coming out the other side victorious. It’s got to be one of the best feelings in life.” 

Whether he wins, loses or draws at the O2 next month – he says “When I win” – there’s no chance that Harrogate and Knaresborough’s hometown challenger will throw in the towel on his career anytime soon. Had he lost that first bout aged six, he would still have kept fighting. He said: 

“I’ve lost loads of times and there have been times when people have told me to stop, and I could have just quit and done something else as a career. But I’ve never wanted to do anything else.

“I really feel like this is my calling and this is what I was put on this planet to do. And to use my platform to help and influence other people through combat sports. So, one way or another I’d have found myself back inside of a ring!”

Read more:

• ‘Tai chi teaches you about yourself’ – the Valley Gardens class honouring martial arts principles
• Harrogate fitness instructor qualifies for Miss England
• Harrogate man to fight in boxing match in aid of charity