Vicky Carr is a journalist turned writer who grew up in Harrogate and returned in her late 20s to raise her family here. Find her on Instagram @vickycarrwrites.

When was the last time you went to Harrogate Convention Centre?

For most of us, visits are probably few and far between. Perhaps you’ve attended a gig in the auditorium, or you’re a keen crafter who’s wandered the halls during the Knitting & Stitching Show (apparently now known as “Knit & Stitch”. Which makes me feel very old.)

But unless you’re particularly interested in lawn care, sheep medicine or supermarket storage solutions, chances are that the vast majority of the schedule has passed you by.

Harrogate Convention Centre has developed into an enormous venue over the years. Beyond the original auditorium, a design presumably modelled on the old New Park gasworks, there are now labyrinthine halls stretching from Springfield Avenue to Ripon Road (and almost swallowing up the beautiful Royal Hall in the process. How planning permission was ever given to surround and overwhelm that wonderful building, I’ll never know.)

Such is its size, it has long been argued that Harrogate Convention Centre is vital to the local economy, despite – or perhaps because of – the fact that local people do not spend much time within its walls.

When it hosts a big event, hotel rooms fill, restaurant bookings skyrocket, and shops prepare for an influx of retail-hungry attendees on their lunch break.

These busy periods at Harrogate Convention Centre help to prop up a high number of hospitality businesses in Harrogate, creating jobs for them and the centre itself. The trickle-down effect, we are told, is worth £45 million annually.

Yet the centre itself has made consistent losses over many years. In 2023-24, it lost £1.9m, on the back of £2.6m the year before.

Pre-pandemic, in the 12 years between 2008-09 and 2019-20, Harrogate Convention Centre turned a profit only four times, and its overall loss for the period was almost £4.5 million.

In a commercial environment, heads would have rolled long before now – assuming the whole thing didn’t just collapse into administration first.

But somehow, because it’s owned by the council and because Harrogate apparently depends so heavily on it, the usual rules don’t apply. It simply can’t fail.

More money

In recent years, North Yorkshire Council has ploughed yet more money into Harrogate Convention Centre, in a bid to make it profitable again.

Fortunately, plans put forward during Harrogate Borough Council’s stewardship for an eye-watering £49 million overhaul have been dropped by North Yorkshire Council – though not before £1.9m was shelled out on consultants.

Those plans were shelved after bids for funding of up to £20m from the government were roundly rejected, presumably on the grounds that the expenditure was completely unjustifiable against Harrogate Convention Centre's financial record.

But a £9.6m upgrade to one of the studios is currently under way. The official argument is that Harrogate Convention Centre needs to change what it offers to compete in the marketplace. The needs of modern event organisers have changed, and Harrogate Convention Centre must reflect that.

Hmm.

Public confidence in financial decision-making by North Yorkshire Council is at an all-time low – not least because the council is cagey with the information it shares about how the venue is performing, citing commercial sensitivity. It occasionally issues a press release reporting “significant growth” but then refuses to answer follow-up questions or provide anything concrete to back up its claims.

Let’s not forget this is the same council which runs the perennially loss-making Brierley Homes, and which bought the Royal Baths for £9 million before allowing most of it to sit empty for the last four years while its value dropped by 22%. Is it any wonder there are doubts about its business acumen?

In October 2024, council leader Carl Les himself admitted North Yorkshire Council was not the best steward of Harrogate Convention Centre: 

Yet two years on, nothing has changed. Money continues to be sunk into Harrogate Convention Centre to help it meet the needs of the modern conference organiser. How can we be sure this isn’t throwing good money after bad?

We’re told Harrogate Convention Centre needs to be a success in order for Harrogate to be a success. But is the only measure of success a thriving convention centre run by the local authority?

In short, is it time to put the old dog out of its publicly-funded misery?

I think it might be.

A better solution

There must be a better solution than the status quo.

For a start, let’s put Harrogate Convention Centre in the hands of people with the expertise to deliver profit, both for Harrogate and for the venue itself – and without the challenges that come with public ownership, management and funding.

If North Yorkshire Council has any sense, it won’t just hand Harrogate Convention Centre to a private operator to try to make the best of the existing set-up. It will look for someone who accepts that the golden days of the conference trade have passed and who’s willing to think differently about the whole operation.

The site could form an interesting prospect for a creative developer. Interactive museums celebrating aspects of Harrogate’s history, a world-class spa like that in Bath, a unique events venue, or any number of other options: almost nothing should be off the table (though I will draw the line at an underground supermarket. We tried that. It wasn’t good.)

More than four decades after Harrogate Convention Centre was built, its legacy currently looks set to be one of struggle and controversy, sustained on public life support for far too long.

It’s time for a bold decision. Someone needs to take a risk, have the courage of their convictions, and give the venue a chance to sustain Harrogate’s economy for another 40 years.