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01
Oct 2024
Wine café looks set to open in Harrogate
An upmarket wine café looks set to open in Harrogate.
Wine merchants Ake & Humphris, which has shops in Harrogate and Collingham, has taken over the former Shuropody unit on Oxford Street.
It plans to create a hybrid model, with one half operating as a retail unit selling predominantly wine and the other half operating as a wine café.
Renovations to the premises are underway in the hope of setting up a pop-up Ake & Humphris shop in time for the festive season.
The wine café and retail unit are expected to follow next year.
The venture, situated just metres from Harrogate Theatre, aims to appeal to people seeking pre-theatre drinks or a glass of wine during the day.
Tara Stagman, finance director at Ake & Humphris, said:
We’ll be carrying out renovations to the ground floor premises over the next six to eight weeks and will open later in November, offering a fabulous range of wines, beers and spirits — with a particular focus on whisky — in a relaxed setting staffed by knowledgeable wine enthusiasts.
Our longer-term plan, looking ahead to 2025, is to convert the premises on Oxford Street to a truly special wine merchants with wine café. We’ll be serving wine by the glass and by the bottle, some local beers and spirits, along with light tapas, cheese and biscuits and charcuterie sharing boards, with a refreshing take on wine education and innovative ways for customers to experience great wine in all its glory.
The company is recruiting staff and has applied for an alcohol licence for the premises from 8am to 11pm Monday to Saturday and from 10am to 10.30pm on Sundays. However, Ms Stagman said it did not intend to trade late at night except on special occasions.
Ms Stagman said the success of the company’s pop-up wine bar events on Leeds Road in Harrogate and Collingham during the summer had encouraged it to go down this route.
Ake & Humphris, which has been trading for 14 years, will continue to operate as normal at its shops on Leeds Road, Harrogate and Hastings Court, Collingham.
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