The Walker Galleries has closed its shop on Montpellier Parade in Harrogate and moved its operations online.

Established in 1972, the family-run contemporary gallery is one of Harrogate’s premier art destinations.

It has a large number of 19th and 20th century English and European paintings and watercolours.

Managing director Ian Walker said the property was due to be renovated and stressed the gallery would continue to operate online and at art fairs.

Mr Walker said:

“We are continuing as a business, we are merely shutting down as a retail site. We have written to all our clients explaining the situation.”

Read more:

• New Mediterranean restaurant opens in Harrogate
• Ambulance workers in Harrogate district begin strike

The Stray Ferret Business Awards 2023 are for businesses across all sectors in the Harrogate district.

Over the next few weeks we will reveal what our judging panel is looking for when it comes to each of the 10 categories.

Next up is the Rising Star under 30 Award, which is sponsored by Thompsons Chartered Accountants.

This award is designed to highlight some of the young talent from across the Harrogate district.

Those nominated or who enter for the Rising Star under 30 Award are sure to make waves and build a successful career in the years to come.

Entries for this category need to provide details of the person’s background and position they hold in the business. Provide examples of how the entrant’s work ethic has affected the business.

Do you know someone who deserves to win the Rising Star Under 30 Award at the Stray Ferret Business Awards? Entries close on January 16. It’s simple and quick, so enter today!

Click here or the banner below to enter for the Stray Ferret Business Awards, sponsored by Prosperis.

A new Mediterranean restaurant specialising in Turkish and Italian cuisine has opened in Harrogate.

Rubin’s is based in a large unit that used to be a bathroom shop on Cheltenham Parade. It is next door to the former Catch seafood restaurant.

The venue opens at 10am for all-day breakfasts and then serves lunch at noon and evening meals from 5pm to 9pm. It also offers afternoon teas and has its own pastry chef making all the sweet treats.

Named after one of the business partners’ sons, Rubin’s can seat up to 98 customers.

Rubin’s is situated on Cheltenham Parade.

The restaurant, which opened last week, is expecting new signs next week and currently does not have an alcohol licence.  Customers can bring their own alcohol until a licence is approved and there is no corkage charge.

Read more:

• New 80-seat restaurant to open in Harrogate on Friday
• Ambulance workers in Harrogate district begin strike

Manager David Rogers said:

“We make everything fresh and have created a nice atmosphere. It’s a big, comfortable place and we look forward to welcoming customers.”

The evening menu includes burgers, pasta, Neapolitan sourdough pizzas and Turkish pide. Vegetarian options are available.

The extensive range of pastries and ice-creams.

A doctors’ practice that has been looking after patients in Harrogate for three-quarters of a century will be changing its name in the new year. 

Dr Moss & Partners was founded in 1947 – before the advent of the NHS – and has clinics opposite the convention centre on King’s Road, in the Jennyfields area of Harrogate, and in Killinghall.

From February 1 it will be known as Moss Healthcare Harrogate and have a new logo. 

Dr Moss & Partners on King’s Road in Harrogate.

In a letter sent today to to the firm’s 19,600 patients, senior partner Dr Nick Taylor said:

“Our decision to change our identity reflects the role of modern general practice and the different healthcare specialists patients can now access.

“Our practice now incorporates a much wider range of healthcare professionals and non-clinical staff.

“If you’re unwell, or living with a long-term condition, the best people to help aren’t necessarily doctors.”

In addition to its doctors, the practice now also provides services from nurses, healthcare assistants, advanced clinical practitioners, first-contact physiotherapists, pharmacists and social prescribers. 

Work on a £69 million plan to realign the A59 at Kex Gill has been delayed until January.

The project will see a diversion built west of Blubberhouses on a stretch of road blighted by a history of landslips

The scheme has faced numerous delays and following tender returns, the estimated cost of the scheme increased by £7.2 million to £68.8 million, which the council attributes to inflation affecting constructions costs.

Despite hopes the scheme could start in December, the county council now says work is due to start in January.

A spokesperson for North Yorkshire County Council said the authority was awaiting full business case approval from the Department for Transport for the project.

They said:

“We are awaiting the decision by the Department for Transport to approve the scheme’s full business case. We are confident that approval will be given early in the New Year.

“We are, however, proposing to carry out some early ground works in January to ensure that the project remains on track.”

Read more:

• Council warns of ‘high risks’ as Kex Gill cost soars to £69m
• Council sets aside £11m for A59 Kex Gill contingency funding

The authority awarded a £50.7 million to John Sisk & Son (Holdings) Ltd, an Irish civil engineering and construction firm, to build the scheme.

The project is due to be funded by a £56.1 million grant from the Department for Transport, with the council covering the rest from its reserves.

A further £11 million has been factored into the £68 million budget to cover any issues with ground conditions or bad weather.

It comes as senior county council officials have warned about the risk involved with the authority’s major projects amid soaring inflation.

Gary Fielding, the council’s director for strategic resources, warned previously that the “burden of risk” for major projects, such as the realignment of the A59 at Kex Gill, will fall on the authority amid soaring inflation.

The A59 at Kex Gill, near Blubberhouses, is the main route between Harrogate and Skipton. Since 2000, the route has been closed 12 times following landslips.

The estimated completion date for the scheme is May 2025.

Swimming pools in the Harrogate district have received a national accreditation from Swim England.

The Water Wellbeing accreditation aims to transform community swimming pool into places for health, wellbeing and rehabilitation.

The award has been granted to Starbeck Baths, the Jack Laugher Leisure and Wellness Centre, Knaresborough Swimming Pool and Nidderdale Pool and Leisure Centre.

Brimhams Active, which runs the facilities, carried out changes to ensure all pools are accessible, inclusive and inviting to the local community in order to achieve the accreditation.

Mark Tweedie, managing director of Brimhams Active, said: 

“I’m delighted that through the hard work and dedication of the Brimhams Active team, with the support of Swim England, we have achieved Swim England’s Water Wellbeing accreditation at our facilities.

“Inactivity and the determinants of poor health adversely impact on thousands of people in our communities. Our mission is to help address this by supporting people to move more, live well and feel great, and to do this we are creating an inclusive, holistic, health and wellbeing focused service offer.”

Read more:

• Harrogate leisure chief defends Ripon pool location amid ground stability concern
• Harrogate swimming club seeks sponsor to keep head above water 

As part of the accreditation, exercise referral instructors have received training to deliver Swim England’s aquatic activity for health programme, which allows the team to deliver pool-based group exercise for people living with long term health conditions.

Meanwhile, swimming will be able to lead adult swimming lessons for people with health conditions, and all customer facing members of the team have had additional customer experience training, with a focus on inclusivity.

Andrew Power, Swim England’s water wellbeing specialist, said: 

“Swim England have been supporting Brimhams Active this past year across a number of key areas, in order to maximise the long term sustainability and growth of their aquatic assets.

“It has been an absolute pleasure to work with the Brimhams Active team at all levels, who have shown total commitment to the accreditation process and have gone beyond what was expected of them in doing so.

“I look forward to seeing the impact of this work and benefits to the local community, particularly around improved health and wellbeing for years to come.”

A picket line is in place outside Harrogate Ambulance Station today in the latest round of strikes.

Staff at Yorkshire Ambulance Service have walked out as part of a national dispute over pay and conditions. A second day of strikes is due to take place on December 28.

Vehicles tooted their horns in support of members of the GMB union picketing on Lancaster Park Road, which is on the same street at Harrogate Disrict Hospital.

Nurses and firefighters have also showed their support and a local cafe dropped off hot chocolate to strikers shivering besides a fire.

Union organiser Katherine Mitchell told the Stray Ferret GMB staff were striking today from one minute past midnight until 10pm. Ms Mitchell said members of Unison were due to join the action at noon today.

She said about 60 staff were employed at Harrogate Ambulance Station and they would continue to respond to the most serious category one incidents during the strike. Some strikers had already been called in to deal with such incidents, she added.

Several staff said the dispute was not only about pay but also about conditions and the state of the NHS. One person said they had waited four hours outside Harrogate District Hospital recently with a patient because the hospital did not have enough staff to escort the person away.

Health Secretary Steve Barclay said this morning NHS contingency plans would not cover all 999 calls and that “ambulance unions have taken a conscious choice to inflict harm on patients” — which drew an angry response from union leaders.

Rail and postal workers in the Harrogate district have been on strike this winter, but Harrogate District Hospital was not included in the first two days of nurses strikes. Firefighters are expected to be balloted in the new year over strike action.

Read more:

• No walkout at Harrogate hospital as part of nurses strike
• Harrogate district braced for rail and postal strikes

A Harrogate teacher whose passion for wood inspired a generation of carpenters and joiners has died in his mid-nineties.  

Bernard Smith, founding head of woodwork at St John Fisher Catholic Secondary School when it opened in 1958 on Ainsty Road in Harrogate, was a perfectionist who encouraged his pupils to share his love for good design and flawless execution. 

Inside and outside school, he created many objects that were both beautiful and practical.

A particular beneficiary of his talents was the historic St Joseph’s Church, in Bishop Thornton. To help celebrate the bicentenary of the church in 2009, Bernard produced a superb credence table for use at masses and a series of carved and jointed shelves to embellish the otherwise austere interior of the windows.  

Bernard’s funeral will be held at St Joseph’s on Wednesday, December 28 at 2pm. His remains will join his wife Moira’s in the churchyard. 

The couple lived for many years off Wetherby Road in Harrogate, where Moira worked as a technician in the pathology department at the old Harrogate General Hospital. They had three daughters. 

Pic: Bernard Smith pictured with some of the shelving he made for St Joseph’s Church in Bishop Thornton. PHOTO: Michael Coghlan.

An longstanding car garage in Hampsthwaite has proposed plans to relocate.

Simon Graeme Auto Services Centre, which is based on Grayson Plain Lane, has submitted a planning application to relocate onto the opposite side of the road.

The move would see a new purpose built facility built and the current MOT centre and car park demolished.

The new facility would include units for MOT servicing, training space and a reception and office. Fifteen car parking spaces would be provided, including six electric vehicle charging points.

In documents submitted to Harrogate Borough Council, the developer said the larger building was needed in order to “respond to changes in the automotive industry”.

It said:

“The business has outgrown the site and given the growth of electric and hybrid vehicles, together with need to maintain services for the farming community, there is a clear need for a larger, more bespoke building.

“This would also enable the building to be future proofed in terms of electric vehicle charging.”

The garage, situated just off the A59 near to Hampsthwaite, has been established for over 25 years.

Harrogate Borough Council will make a decision on the proposal at a later date.

Read more:

• Environment Agency calls for Allerton Park asphalt plant to be rejected
• County council agrees creation of 30-year housing plan

The Stray Ferret Business Awards 2023 are for businesses across all sectors in the Harrogate district.

Over the next few weeks we will reveal what our judging panel is looking for when it comes to each of the 10 categories.

Next up is the Business Growth Award, which is sponsored by Raworths.

This award is designed to recognise those businesses that have seen significant growth in the last three years.

Business growth could be measured either financially, by employee numbers of market share increase.

Companies looking to enter for the Business Growth Award need to provide evidence of the growth, background information as to the reason for growth and plans for the future.

Does your business deserve to win the Business Growth Award at the Stray Ferret Business Awards? Entries close on January 16. It’s simple and quick, so enter today!

Click here or the banner below to enter for the Stray Ferret Business Awards, sponsored by Prosperis.