Ferret Unlocked: what you missed in news last week

Is Harrogate town centre finally bouncing back from the covid pandemic? That’s one question the Stray Ferret delved into this past week.

With the Victoria Shopping Centre recovering in terms of valuation, we took a closer look at how the rest of the town's retail sector is performing following multiple enforced lockdowns. You can read the full article here.

Meanwhile, we also sat down with Harrogate’s very own Wikipedia creator.

Linda O’Caroll, who lives in Burn Bridge, is one of a global army of creators on the free encyclopaedia website. She has been doing it for more than 20 years and counts an array of pages dedicated to Harrogate in her work.

Our senior journalist, John Grainger, sat down with Linda to find out more about her work this past week.

We had the latest on the Harrogate Spring Water saga, which took another turn over the last seven days.

TV presenter, Julia Bradbury, who spearheaded a campaign to oppose the plans four years ago, will not be getting involved in the opposition this time around. Find out why in our latest article.

In Ripon, a judgement was handed down following a long-running employment tribunal involving premium meat retailer Farmison.

The Stray Ferret has followed the story since the firm fell into administration last year.

The tribunal’s two-page judgment ordered Farmison to pay John Pallagi, the founder of the firm, £115,352 for unfair dismissal for failing to comply with TUPE regulations, as reported by the Stray Ferret.

Now, employment judge Neil Maidment’s subsequent 21-page judgement has described the saga in detail. You can read the story in full here.

Finally, with the latest round of changes at leisure services set to come into force, we have put together an explainer on what it will mean for those who use facilities in the Harrogate district.

If you’re a regular user of council-run leisure centres, you can find out the latest on the overhaul here.

Subscribers to the Stray Ferret can also take advantage of a range of fantastic exclusive offers, discounts and giveaways from local businesses, which we regularly update.

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