District Bar in Harrogate is to keep its covered outdoor seating area constructed during covid.

The bar opened on Cold Bath Road in September 2019, just a few months before the town’s hospitality industry was turned on its head by covid.

Like many other bars and restaurants during the pandemic, District Bar was granted approval by the council to erect a semi-permanent metal structure on its patio to allow customers to sit outside.

Not only did the covered area allow customers to sit away from each other during covid restrictions, it also became a dry and warm space during the winter months and helped to block out noise from the bar onto the street.

Last week North Yorkshire Council approved a planning application to see the structure remain on the site for good.

The council has stipulated the area must close by 9pm when customers have to move inside.

How it previously looked

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Planning documents submitted by the owner of District Bar said:

“Following a well received launch we were then, like the rest of the world, thrust into the unknown with covid and the challenges it brought.

“Like many other small local businesses, we struggled to exist and get through it. But we consider ourselves part of the local fabric and community, and to that end received tremendous support from local public.

“In 2020, since we couldn’t operate inside due to covid restrictions, we applied and received permission for a ‘semi-permanent’ structure to be erected on our patio connected to the bar.

“What we have found since its erection, is we disrupt our local community even less than we did before since noise is no longer an issue (prior we had people outside talking till 9pm) and as well as that an area where people still sceptical of covid and contagion can distance them selves from our main inside bar area.

“It has created a warm and cosy area for people to still keep safe distances.”

North Yorkshire Police has released CCTV footage in the search for missing Harrogate woman Sophie Lambert, 22.

Sophie was reported missing from her home in Starbeck at 10.10pm on Friday having last been seen by her family at 7.20pm before she left the house.

CCTV footage taken on the night she disappeared shows she was wearing dark trousers, a black top with a white adidas logo and dark shoes with a white sole. She had her hair tied back and was carrying a bottle with a pink lid.

Concerns are growing for Sophie Lambert.

A police statement said:

“Concerns are growing for her welfare and North Yorkshire Police are currently making extensive house-to-house enquiries to help find her.

“Police searches have continued today in the Nidd Gorge area with assistance from search and rescue.”

Sophie is described as white, 5ft 3in with a slim build

She has a distinctive scar on her forehead which is likely to be noticeable.

The police statement added:

“If you have seen a woman matching Sophie’s description or photograph, please call North Yorkshire Police immediately on 999, quoting reference 12230110845.”

Read more:

• New photo of missing Sophie as concerns grow for Harrogate woman
• Police issue urgent appeal to find missing Harrogate woman

It’s time to join the Stray Ferret Business Club. Our next networking event is lunch at Manahatta, on June 29th at 12.30pm.

Don’t miss out on this chance to network with businesses from across the Harrogate district. Get your tickets by clicking or tapping here.

The Swinton Estate in Masham has launched a wild swimming lake for guests and visitors.

The lake has been introduced as part of the summer “wild swimming” season and includes a ladder platform to access the water.

It is open to both guests at the Swinton Hotel and day visitors.

Felicity Cunliffe-Lister, owner of the Swinton Estate, said:

“We are excited to launch our 2023 wild swimming season on our private lake. 

“Swimming in open water is an amazing way to connect with nature, and we are delighted to offer this activity to our guests in such a beautiful location.”

The private lake is located in the heart of the 200-acre estate.

Wild swimming season at the estate runs from May to September and the lake is free to hotel guests.

Day visitors can purchase a Parklands & Gardens Pass for just £10 per day, or £60 for a whole year.

For more information, visit the Swinton Estate website here.

Harrogate training company expands into North East

A Harrogate-based training company has appointed a new regional manager as part of an expansion of its programme.

Quarterdeck, which was founded in 2007, provides training schemes for companies in Harrogate and Leeds in areas such as leadership.

The firm has now announced it will now offer courses and programmes in Newcastle.

It has also appointed Gavin Hutchinson as regional director to oversee the operations in the North East.

He said:

“I am really excited to lead Quarterdeck’s expansion into Newcastle and bring our transformative leadership seminars to professionals in the region.

“Our seminars go beyond theory, offering practical guidance and empowering individuals to become impactful leaders in their respective roles.

“I look forward to partnering with local businesses and helping them unlock their leadership potential.”

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• Business Breakfast: Harrogate beauty brand appoints chief executive
• Business Breakfast: Harrogate woman launches padel sports clothing range

Stray Views 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.

I live on Badger Hill and have contacted the council about this road. It is now a speed track by the idiot drivers among us.

They use the bridge like a sling shot and accelerate to go up the hill.

The road markings have disappeared, which enable many to cut the corner, which makes our 180 turn to enter Badger Hill scary.

Of course drivers know there is no chance of being caught as the police seem non-existent.

Malcolm Wood, Knaresborough

Bypass project rejected due to ‘misinformation’

The bypass project was rejected by the public as it was called the Nidd Gorge Project and photos of Nidd Gorge were shown in the local newspaper and political documents.

The road was not planned to be built in the gorge but this misinformation influenced the vote. 

With this rejection and no alternative route being planned we now have a build up of traffic through Knaresborough and Scotton. What route can the new residents of Killinghall, etc. take to the A1(M) and York?

I also cannot see how blocking off a road assists congestion or helps to get traffic from the A1(M) to Skipton and vice versa.

We now prefer to shop in Northallerton where new roads have been opened recently, by the same councillor who is managing the closure of streets in Harrogate.

Pam Watson, Harrogate

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• Stray Views: Negative views about Station Gateway ‘outdated and unrealistic’

The A61 south of Harrogate has been closed this afternoon as police deal with a serious collision.

The road is closed between Swindon Lane near Kirkby Overblow and the A659 Otley Road near Arthington, at the bottom of Harewood Bank by the bridge over the River Wharfe.

The collision reportedly happened in the early hours of this morning and the road has been closed all day.

Neither North Yorkshire Police or West Yorkshire Police have issued any details about the incident or the closure, which is near the boundary between the two counties.

The closure is affecting public transport, with the 36 bus between Harrogate and Leeds having to divert from its stops at Walton Head Road, Rigton Lane End, Kirkby Overblow Lane End, Dunkeswick Lane End and Harewood Bridge.

The Harrogate Bus Company has issued advice to passengers, saying:

“There are no alternative stops due to the length of diversion for this route.

“Customers wanting to get to and from these stops will need to find an alternative way of travel as the bus cannot get to these stops.”

Drivers are also being diverted away from the scene, via either Otley or Wetherby.

Read more:

• Road closure continues after gas pipe problem found in Knaresborough
• Child airlifted to hospital after collision outside school near Ripon

In April, King Charles III appointed Harrogate artist Clare Granger as High Sheriff of North Yorkshire.

The high sheriff — a role which dates back over 1,000 years — represents the monarch in matters relating to law and order.

It may seem incongruous that an artist with a studio in High Birstwith is rubbing shoulders with barristers and judges on behalf of the king.

But Ms Granger is well qualified for the role: she studied law at Cambridge University and briefly worked as a lawyer before swapping legal briefs for paint brushes and forging a successful career as an artist, with annual shows in London.

Her son and daughter-in-law are barristers so “the law has never really left me”, as she puts it.

Art and law may appear unlikely bedfellows but Ms Granger brings a stamp of colour and style to the role.

Among her aims is to use the 12-month appointment to promote art as therapy for offenders. The role also involves representing the voluntary sector and emergency services, and she has revamped a Dragon’s Den-style contest run by Two Ridings Community Foundation by getting charities bidding for funding to submit photographs illustrating what they do. She says:

“Art is a therapeutic tool. It’s such a joyful thing to do. It makes people feel really happy.”

Ms Granger says she’s “more or less” retired from portraits and is focusing more on the use of colour in her art, which she works on from 9am to 5pm at her home studio. She says:

“I love colour. I’m enjoying the freedom of painting whatever I like and if someone likes it they buy it.”

But ironically, being high sheriff has left little time for painting.  The role comes with few essential engagements but Ms Granger has thrown herself so enthusiastically into the role, clocking up hundreds of miles each week to attend engagements in North Yorkshire, she has barely any time left.

The day before our interview, she visited the coroner’s office in Northallerton. After our early morning interview she was due to drive to Scarborough for a lunch and then participate in a 10 kilometre evening walk in York.

Tomorrow featured a community event in Birstwith, followed the day after by a visit to Yorkshire Air Ambulance in Nostell and the day after that she was due to attend a rewilding event in Sharow and another community event.

That took her to the weekend, where her engagements included the Harrogate Army Foundation College parade through Harrogate town centre, a golden wedding and a trip to an Open Studios art event.

With Mark Dowie, chief executive of RNLI

The size of North Yorkshire doesn’t make life easy.

Moreover, the role isn’t paid: she self-funds her trips and even hosted a big coronation garden party at her own expense in a marquee that had already been erected for her son’s wedding.

She doubts whether anyone could combine being high sheriff with a full-time job.

“You don’t have to take a year off to do it but it does compromise you.”

The high sheriff has no formal powers but the invitations have piled up. Why does she think this is?

“The value of saying ‘thank-you’ is huge. People appreciate someone coming and listening to their concerns. I don’t have any powers but I have conversations and can bring people together.”

Ms Granger is a big supporter of the police and is putting particular emphasis on supporting them as part of her role. She says:

“All of us expect the police to be there when push comes to shove yet we are constantly knocking them and if we are not careful nobody will want to do the job.”

With Lady Justice King in York when she accepted the role.

For all the robes of office and archaic traditions, Ms Granger brings a warmth that is often lacking to the legal world. Her name will join a long list of high sheriffs at York Crown Court.

But although she has a lot of respect for the legal profession, she doesn’t take long to respond when asked if she regrets giving it up to become an artist:

“Not one single jot! I love the fact that law is still in my life but I’m relieved not to have to do it myself. Perhaps I wasn’t a solicitor long enough to enjoy it but I think I’d find it boring.”

Read more:

• Birstwith artist Clare Granger becomes High Sheriff of North Yorkshire
• Harrogate cyclist aiming to ride 1,000 km in 48 hours

This week’s photograph was taken by Brian Morrison, capturing the light breaking through the trees at Hookstone Woods.

Brian Morrison

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.

North Yorkshire Police has today issued a fresh photo of missing Harrogate woman Sophie Lambert, as concerns for her welfare grow.

Sophie, 22, was reported missing from her home in Starbeck at 10.10pm on Friday. She was last seen by her family at 7.20pm before she left the house.

Police issued an urgent appeal for help yesterday by asking anyone with information or possible sightings to get in touch. They said a search and rescue team was taking part in an extensive operation to find her in the Nidd Gorge area.

Police said today concerns were growing for Sophie’s welfare and issued a more recent photo and updated description.

Sophie Lambert

A statement said:

“Sophie is described as white, 5ft 3in, aged in her early 20s, slim build, with long dark brown hair that is possibly plaited or wavy.

“She has a distinctive scar on her forehead which is likely to be noticeable.

“It is unknown what clothing she has on, but her family said she tends to wear jogging bottoms and has dark green Adidas trainers with a white sole.

“If you have seen a woman matching Sophie’s description or photograph, please call North Yorkshire Police immediately on 999 quoting reference 12230110845.”

Read more:

• Tories on course to retain Harrogate and Knaresborough, says political forecaster
• Where to see Open Gardens in the Harrogate district

Relocating businesses is a common sight with some upscaling and others downsizing.

But, for one Harrogate district firm, moving the company which has been based in the same place for half a century to the other side of the A1(M) is a once in a generation decision.

Northern Energy has operated from its headquarters in Hampsthwaite for 70 years.

It was founded by Ralph Robinson in 1932 when it supplied milk and coal before moving to its current base in the 1950s where the company stared to distribute agricultural and commercial oil.

These days, the firm has ambitions to shift into the renewable gas trade.

However, to do that it needed a bigger base.

‘Once in a generational spend’

James Illingworth, Ralph’s great-grandson and director of sales at Northern Energy, said they identified Marton-cum-Grafton as its new home some three years ago.

For him, he describes the project to relocate as a decision made only once in a generation.

He said:

“This is a once in a generational spend, if you want to put it that way.

“We have been at our current site for 70 years. This is gearing up for the next 50 years really. I’m fourth generation.

“We want to keep it as a family business and it’s one of those big spends that we’ve got to make for the future.”

Work being carried out on the new Northern Energy site.

The new headquarters will be based off Limebar Lane on the A168 and is 15 miles from the current home.

The company bought the land from WA Pick and Sons farm and started work on phase one at the start of June.

As part of the plans, 10,000 square feet of office space, a vehicle depot, LPG and oil storage tanks and a new car park will be built.

Mr Illingworth said much of the driving force behind moving the family-firm was the need for space in order to grow the company in the coming years.

“The site that we are currently at [in Hampsthwaite], we have been there since the 50s. We have basically run out of space and it is not fit for purpose anymore.

“The gas storage is what we really need to take our business to the next level and we can’t put it there. That was the main driver for moving sites.”

Read more:

• Northern Energy begins work on new Harrogate district headquarters
• Council approves Northern Energy plan to move from Hampsthwaite

The new site will be accessed via the A168, which runs parallel to the A1(M) near Boroughbridge.

Part of the reason for choosing the Limebar Lane site was to take advantage of the motorway system, says Mr Illingworth.

“The great thing about this new location is the access to the motorway, which will give us connectivity down to the refinery a lot better.

“It will reduce our journey times, which will mean we will get an extra shift in and extra load in from the refinery per day.

“It might not seem a lot, but we lose a lot of time going through Harrogate every day on Wetherby Road and Skipton Road. That time that we save will be really important from a logistics point of view.”

Completion of the first phase, which includes the 400,000 litres of gas storage and loading bays, is earmarked for completion in March 2024.

From there, the company hopes to construct the staff offices and begin trading more in renewable gas.

For Mr Illingworth, the site is the next step for Northern Energy in its evolution as a company.

“The site generally is more suited to the size of our business and for future growth.”

The Conservatives would retain Harrogate and Knaresborough while Labour could gain Selby and Ainsty if a general election were held tomorrow.

According to Electoral Calculus, a political forecasting company, Andrew Jones MP would win a fifth successive election in Harrogate.

Meanwhile, Labour would unseat the Tories in Selby and Ainsty, which includes areas of rural Harrogate, and Julian Smith, Skipton and Ripon MP, would retain his seat for the Conservatives but in a far closer contest.

Electoral Calculus uses past voting figures, polling trends and party support to predict the average outcome of seats in the House of Commons.

The chances of winning seats in Parliament has become particularly pertinent as a by-election looms in Selby and Ainsty next month and a general election is lined up for next year.

The Conservative campaign in Selby and Ainsty was thrown into disarray on Friday when its candidate, Michael Naughton, withdrew just days after being selected.

But with by-election fever mounting, we looked at the state of play locally according to Electoral Calculus.

Harrogate and Knaresborough

According to the political forecaster, Andrew Jones has a 67% chance of winning in Harrogate and Knaresborough.

Mr Jones, who has already confirmed he will stand at the next election, currently has a majority of 9,675.

The website says the Liberal Democrats have a 20% chance of winning while Labour, which has yet to name a candidate, is rated 13%.

The figures come as Tom Gordon, Liberal Democrat candidate for the seat, this week called for an election in light of three Conservative MPs resigning last weekend.

The predictions for Harrogate and Knaresborough, according to Electoral Calculus.

However, under an election scenario, the Lib Dems would pick up 28% of the vote – which is down on their 2019 figure of 35.6%.

Meanwhile, Mr Jones’ share would drop from 52.6% to 37%.

However, the increase in share of Labour from 9.6% to 24% suggests a split in the vote which paves the way for the Tories to retain the constituency.

Selby and Ainsty

The chances of the Conservatives holding onto Selby and Ainsty in the upcoming by-election look tight, according to Electoral Calculus.

Voters will head to the polls on July 20 after the resignation of Nigel Adams MP last weekend.

Labour announced 26-year-old Keir Mather will fight the by-election for the party.

Michael Naughton was picked to succeed Mr Adams for the Conservatives but withdrew on Friday and a replacement has yet to be named.

The Green Party has chosen Arnold Warneken, who represents Ouseburn on North Yorkshire Council, as its prospective parliamentary candidate.

The predictions for Selby and Ainsty, according to Electoral Calculus.

Electoral Calculus has the contest as a two-horse race, with Labour a 55% chance of winning and the Conservatives 45%.

Such a result would be dramatic given that Mr Adams, who was a former Foreign Office minister, had a majority of 20,137.

Under such a scenario, Labour would increase its vote share from 24.6% at the last election to 39.8%.

Meanwhile, the Tories would fall from 60.3% to 37.9%.

Skipton and Ripon

A similarly tight contest can be found in Skipton and Ripon.

Julian Smith, the former Northern Ireland secretary, currently holds the seat for the Conservatives with a majority of 23,694.

He’s predicted to have a 55% chance of retaining the seat for the party.

The predictions for Skipton and Ripon, according to Electoral Calculus.

Meanwhile, Labour has a 44% chance.

Despite a predicted drop in vote share from 59.5% to 37.5%, Mr Smith would be safe.

The figures, however, also forecast a hike in Labour’s share from 19.1% at the last election to 35.5%.

Read more:

• Tories and Greens name candidates as local by-election looms
• Selby and Ainsty MP resigns with immediate effect
• Labour names candidate for local by-election