This story is sponsored by Jespers Bar & Kitchen.
Danish-born Jesper Callisen opened Jesper’s Bar & Kitchen on Station Parade with the aim of creating a unique, cosy space that offers quality delicious food and drink, with amazing service, that will ensure all guests are treated to a fantastic experience.
The venue that was previously run by Filmore & Union and Hustle & Co, now has a bar, with a sophisticated restaurant upstairs serving refined British fare with an international twist in the evenings. In the Spring/Summer there is also the opportunity to enjoy al fresco drinking and dining in the courtyard and pavement seating.
But even though the 36-year-old may seem relatively young to open a 90-cover restaurant staffed by 18 people, he’s no novice to the industry.
“I first became interested in hospitality at the age of four, when I watched my brother practising his bartending skills in the garden. At the age of 7, I started collecting miniature bottles of whisky. “I wanted to be the best bartender in the world. I didn’t quite get there , but my passion for the industry grew and I managed to become pretty good.”
Some of the cocktails and food available at Jesper’s Bar & Kitchen in Harrogate.
Jesper has previously been crowned Denmark’s champion flair bartender three times consecutively and was ranked 8th in the world at the 2011 World Championships.
After opening Ofelia, a “wildly popular” bar for the Royal Danish Theatre in Copenhagen in 2008, he then took his skills around the world, living and working in the Caribbean, Brazil, France, Spain and the UK. He said:
“I love people and I have worked and studied incredibly hard to be able to have the opportunity to travel, work and experience the hospitality industry in many walks of life.”
“After qualifying as a sommelier, I moved to the Cayman Islands, where I was lucky enough to work with an exquisite amount of fine wines.
“I ran the biggest tasting room in the Caribbean, with over 80 wines available by the glass. That was where I honed my skills and learned how to give people an experience they don’t forget.
“We don’t have quite that many here, but we do have a great deal of specially selected fantastic wines at different price levels, and they’re all superb. We also have lots of unique tipples, including an 1899 vintage cognac – only one exists in the world.
“We strive to create a place that makes you feel good, where you are looked after and the service and product you receive are second to none. A lifetime of stories will come to show on your plate, in your drink and from the service you receive.”
As well as being a champion flare bartender, Jesper Callisen is a qualified sommelier and holds wine-tasting evenings.
Jesper’s Bar & Kitchen marks the start of a long-awaited dream for Jesper, who runs it with his wife, Kelly. He said:
“We have been looking for the perfect place to open something like this for many years. We didn’t want to stay abroad and wanted to find a place where we call home. My wife, who has family that live in the surrounding area, loves the warmth and friendliness of Yorkshire people, so we came here. And she’s right about the people – they’ve made us feel very welcome.”
Jesper’s Bar & Kitchen will be holding events throughout the year, including wine tastings, cocktail masterclasses, live music, themed dinners and lounge sessions, and soon, Jesper’s will be serving street food tapas for lunch and in the bar in the evenings. This will be in addition to the restaurant offering in the upstairs dining area.
“This restaurant means the world to us, and we are just so lucky to be able to share it with such a wonderful community. Some customers have already become friends.”
“This is absolutely what I want to do,” he says. “It started when I was four years old, and now we’re here.
Find out more:
Jesper’s Bar & Kitchen is open every day except Tuesdays; for opening times, visit the website, www.jespersbarandkitchen.co.uk.
To reserve a table or enquire about booking a private function, call 01423 552844 or book online.
Harrogate’s affordable boutique gym goes from strength-to-strength
This story is sponsored by Coach.
Harrogate’s £1.5m Coach gym is continuing to go from strength-to-strength following its launch in the town a year ago.
The affordable boutique gym boasts more than 200 pieces of state-of-the art equipment, as well as over 200 instructor-led fitness classes across four studios.
Surge Padel, where members can play one of the world’s fastest growing sports, can also be found on the first floor of the building at Hornbeam Park.
Stuart Perrin, owner and CEO of Coach, which opened in January 2022, said:
“Coach is a boutique health and fitness concept, which in a nutshell means everything is very high end. From the fixtures and fittings, to the experience.
“It’s something very different and is the biggest gym in Harrogate by a long way.”
Coach boasts a bar area, which serves bespoke shakes and smoothies. There are also luxury changing rooms, including GHD straighteners and solid oak benches.
The gym itself features a range of equipment – from cardio and resistance machines to free weights, squat racks, battle ropes, tyre flips and a sled.
Mr Perrin said:
“If you’re a real gym-goer, the equipment we have is really quite special. We have the best the brands have to offer, including Nautilus, Schwinn, StairMaster and Concept, all under one roof. We make sure we have the best possible pieces of kit.”
Boutique fitness studios
Coach’s four boutique fitness studios offer something for everyone. They include:
Coach Spin: A spinning studio that can take up to 30 people in a session.
Coach Class: A group exercise studio, which hosts everything from Body Pump to yoga and Pilates. Classes are delivered and programmed by highly-qualified, passionate and respected instructors.
Coach Box: A boxing studio, which can take up to 20 people in a full cardio and bodyweight resistance class, where you learn the fundamentals of boxing in the process.
Coach Evolution: A High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) studio which has 10 treadmills, 10 airbikes and 10 HIIT benches. Coach Evolution is designed using HIIT to give you a full cardiovascular exercise and full-body resistance workout.
Mr Perrin said:
“Within Coach itself we have four studios and we offer a timetable of more than 250 classes a month, which are included in membership if you are on our top tier.”
Coach is offering Stray Ferret readers a free day pass to come and try the facilities, which can be accessed here.
Mr Perrin added:
“Members love the feel, the experience, the quality. Come and try it for yourself with a free day pass.”
Coach Gyms is redefining affordable luxury. Join now from only £18.99 a month. Find out more and join the fitness revolution today!
Sneak Peek: Starling shows off new spacious bar after major renovation
Harrogate’s Starling Independent Bar Cafe and Kitchen has been showing off it’s impressive new space this week following a major renovation.
The restaurant and bar on Oxford Street serves craft beer, hot drinks and pizza, as well as a brunch menu.
The venue, which launched in 2017, now boasts a ground floor three times the size after expanding into the former TSB bank next door.
The refurbishment, which was completed in just three weeks, offers a more fully accessible space and a more vibrant bar atmosphere.
Dan Howard, general manager, said:
“The main idea was we didn’t want to reinvent the wheel. We didn’t consider the concept broken. We just wanted to expand on what we were offering already.
“We offer a great service and a great selection of products that people already liked. We definitely didn’t want to break that.
“We wanted to make sure people who come to Starling already would enjoy what we have done with it and that it would attract a new crowd as well.
“During a testing time in hospitality, we’ve managed to push through with the refurb and now it’s onwards and upwards.”
Read more:
- Sneak Peek: The Nelson Inn reopens this week
- Sneak peek: New Harrogate grill and bar opens this weekend
Mr Howard said the increased capacity would also allow the upstairs area to be used more.
He said:
“We are looking at putting football on up there. We already get quite a lot of bookings for functions and we now have the space available to allow those to happen more frequently.”
Starling, which is owned by Simon Midgley, will still offer full table service during the day. This will continue upstairs, however from 3pm the new downstairs area will operate as bar service only.
Mr Howard said:
“We are hoping that will just create a bit more of a social environment. It will just create a bit more of a bar vibe on an evening and really get the place buzzing. We will still be offering the same great service we always have done.
“We have got much more of a presence on the street now and when you look in you can see what we’ve got to offer.”
Starling is also well known for its charity quiz nights, with ‘Dan’s Questionable Quiz’, returning this Sunday.
The quiz raises money for the Harrogate Hospital and Community Charity and will now be held in the downstairs bar area.
Sneak peek: New Harrogate grill and bar opens this weekendA new restaurant is opening in Harrogate this weekend with a special set list of musicians and DJs to entertain diners.
HG1 Grill and World Bar opens its doors for the first time at 4pm tomorrow. To celebrate the launch, the venue will be offering 50% off food until Sunday, November 27 which has been extended to thank its diners.
There will be limited spaces available as the restaurant looks to improve with feedback from customers during its initial, soft launch.
The 80-seat independent restaurant with a cocktail bar and terrace replaces the building formerly occupied by Samsons and Le Bistrot Pierre on Cheltenham Crescent.
Jas Gill, the owner, told the Stray Ferret:
“People are going to have a great time here. We’ve got a great team here, who are all passionate about food and are fully on board with our vision.”
Read more:
Jerome Lacheure, general manager, said:
“Everything is on track, I am really looking forward to it. Very excited, very nervous. A mixture of emotion. We’ve put a lot of work into the place during the last few busy weeks.
“It’s not just about the food or drink. We are here to provide a full evening for our customers and the music offering is going to form a big part of that.”
The menu will change with the seasons. Currently there is a range of dishes on offer from grilled whole fish to beef tataki, burgers and a vegetarian choices like ginger and chilli tofu stir-fry.
The drinks list will also be ever-adapting, focusing on new trends from across the world. There will also be plenty of the classics and local tipples to enjoy too.
Bookings are now open and can be made by clicking or tapping here.
Pic shows: Staff outside the venue, including head chef (centre right) Javier Oitana, general manager (first in from the right) Jerome Lacheure and bar manager (right) Joe Oliver.
Expansion plans for busy Harrogate bar and cafeA popular bar and cafe in central Harrogate is set to expand to offer more space for customers.
Starling on Oxford Street will close its doors on Sunday at 3pm to knock through to the neighbouring unit, tripling the ground floor space it currently has.
Owner Simon Midgley told the Stray Ferret that, despite the current economic uncertainty, he was confident the move was right for the business.
He said:
“We bounced back really strongly after the closures and lockdowns. We know what we do is well thought of and we’ve got a good team delivering it.
“It has been a slow burn to get to this point. We first looked next door at the start of the year and it has taken quite a long time to get to the point we are now.
“The world has changed a bit so it brings more challenges than there were 12 months ago. But I’ve done cash flow models working with our accountants, Wild and Co, and they’re doing a fantastic job to support us.
“We’re just really thrilled it has all come to fruition.”
Work has been taking place in the neighbouring building for around 12 weeks already, with the landlord also converting the upper floors into residential space.
Starling is expected to close for around three weeks while the ground floor is completed.
Read more:
- Sneak Peek: Cheers! New Harrogate craft beer bar opens today
- Cafe-bar and record store plans submitted for Cold Bath Road shop
One of the key reasons for the expansion, as well as extending the ground floor space, is to give a better view of what Starling offers from the street to entice people inside. The bar will be turned around and there will be more seating for customers.
Once it re-opens, more jobs will be created, including full- and part-time front-of-house roles and positions in the kitchen.
Simon said, like many other hospitality businesses, recruiting chefs had proved tricky this year and he was still seeking the right people to deliver the menu of brunches and pizzas to complement the soft and alcoholic drinks on offer.
He said:
“We’re expecting to be significantly busier.
“We aren’t trying to reinvent the wheel. I’ve got every confidence in the team and the sort of food and drink we offer.
“We aren’t trying to recreate what we are so much as create a better ambience and a more comfortable space in which to do it.”
He added:
Cafe-bar and record store plans submitted for Cold Bath Road shop“There are always challenges. As long as you assess the risk and go at it in a calculated way, when times are hard you’re better showing a bit of spark and attacking that situation than sitting back and being cautious.
“Put your best foot forward.”
A new cafe-bar and vinyl records shop could open on Harrogate’s Cold Bath Road if planning permission is granted.
Plans have been put forward to convert the ground floor of 129 Cold Bath Road, which has up to now been used by a travel agency.
The proposals state that the travel agency would continue to trade from the two floors above, while the ground floor – stretching to 52m sq – would be used as a cafe, bar and shop selling records and clothing.
The business would create three full-time jobs and five part-time roles. Its proposed trading hours are 9am to midnight, seven days a week.
The site on Cold Bath Road.
The application has been made by John Caladine, who founded Audio Archtct Experience Ltd in February, along with David Swallow.
To view or comment on the application, visit the planning pages of Harrogate Borough Council’s website and use reference 22/03540/FUL.
Read more:
- Residential conversion plan submitted for upper floors of Harrogate estate agency
- New plan to convert former Harrogate post office into holiday apartments
Sneak peek at Harrogate’s new Cosy Club
Cosy Club is set to open the doors to its latest bar and restaurant in Harrogate today – so we went for a sneak peek.
The new venue is designed to bring “relaxed dining and drinking with a touch of timeless glamour” to Cambridge Street.
Cosy Club Harrogate has an arts and crafts feel with wallpaper originally designed in 1895.
Diners will find handmade table lamps throughout the restaurant and an eyecatching bar with bespoke, handmade stained-glass.
The all-day menus will include “fresh and modern classics” with “extensive brunch, gluten free and vegan options”.
The venue had a special opening evening last night.
Loungers Ltd runs the Cosy Club and Lounge brands. As of March 2022 the company operated 193 sites in England and Wales, including Claro Lounge in Ripon.
Amber Wood, managing director at Loungers Ltd, said ahead of the opening that Harrogate “has been a target of ours for some time”. She added:
“Our new restaurant offers a very strong location, linking the main retail and leisure pitches within the town. The externals of this historic building have been extensively renovated by our landlord, Broadland Properties.”
Read more:
- Oliver Bonas to open in Harrogate in September
- Harrogate men’s fashion retailer relocates to James Street
Loungers Ltd was founded by a trio of friends from Bristol: Dave Reid, Alex Reilley and Jake Bishop.
They opened their first first venue in Bristol in 2002 and then opened the first Cosy Club in Taunton eight years later. They set up the separate Cosy Club brand to cater for larger sites.
More photos from inside the Cosy Club
Plans to build an extension at the back of the former Ali Raj restaurant on Cheltenham Crescent have been approved by Harrogate Borough Council.
The plans were submitted by the owners of the building, who also own the pub downstairs, The Little Ale House.
Richard Park and his wife Danni opened The Little Ale House in 2016 to recreate a rustic country pub atmosphere in the town centre.
The Ali Raj was a longstanding Indian and Bangladeshi restaurant in Harrogate that closed in 2021. It was the first Bangladeshi restaurant in town when it opened more than 35 years ago.
A change of use application was approved in February to turn the restaurant into a bar.
The latest plans will create improved back-of-house and toilet facilities and a roof terrace to increase seating capacity.
Mr Park told the Stray Ferret that building work is set to begin next summer when he will say which business will use the space.
He stressed the new venue will not be an extension of the Little Ale House, which will remain a separate business downstairs.
A CGI image of how the extension will look
Read more:
- Knaresborough pub co-founder leaves after two years
- Four traditional pubs to visit in the Harrogate district
New cocktail bar to open in Harrogate in 12 days
A new cocktail bar is to open in Harrogate in 12 days.
Cosy Club will be situated in the heart of the town on Cambridge Street.
Loungers, which owns the venture, operates 193 sites in England and Wales, including Leeds and York.
The company issued a press release today confirming it will open on what is predominantly a retail street on August 31. Forty jobs will be created.
It said in a statement:
“The popular Victorian spa town of Harrogate has been a target of ours for some time.
“Our new restaurant offers a very strong location, linking the main retail and leisure pitches within the town. The externals of this historic building have been extensively renovated by our landlord, Broadland Properties.”
The release said the building had “an arts and crafts feel with wallpaper originally designed in 1895, table lamps throughout the restaurant which were made by hand and the main bar featuring lots of bespoke handmade stained-glass work”.
Work is taking place on Cambridge Street to complete the refurbishment.
It added the “opulent all-day bar and restaurant brand” would “bring a touch of glamour and our fresh, modern menu to the food scene”.
The menus will include “fresh and modern classics, extensive brunch, gluten free and vegan menus”
Read more:
- Cosy Club plans new bar on Harrogate’s Cambridge Street
- Cheers! Knaresborough and Harrogate to host beer festivals
Cosy Club’s licensing application proposed opening hours of 8am to 1am Monday to Wednesday and Sunday and 8am until 2am from Thursday to Saturday.
The Stray Ferret has asked Loungers if it still plans to operate between these hours. It replied to say it will open from 9am each day and would confirm the closing times shortly.
Loungers was founded by a trio of friends from Bristol: Dave Reid, Alex Reilley and Jake Bishop.
They opened their first first venue in Bristol in 2002 and then opened the first Cosy Club in Taunton eight years later. They set up the separate Cosy Club brand to cater for larger sites.
New restaurant and bar to open on Harrogate’s King’s Road next week
Two Harrogate 26-year-olds are opening a new restaurant and bar on King’s Road next week.
Charlie Moorby and Tom Moxham hope Frog, which will begin serving customers on Wednesday, will bring a “neighbourhood hub” to the Harrogate street.
They hope it could help King’s Road follow Cold Bath Road by becoming more of a destination hub.
Mr Moorby said renovation work is nearly complete. The site, previously Ramus Seafood and What’s Cooking, has been completely refurbished.
The large restaurant will include outdoor seating to the side and front.
Frog has been in the pipeline since last summer.
The two men, former Harrogate Grammar School and Ashville College students, have worked in numerous Harrogate hospitality venues.
This is the first independent venture for Mr Moorby.
After being friends for over a decade, the pair felt they would work well as business partners. Mr Moorby has taken charge of the drinks side and Mr Moxham is overseeing the food and restaurant.
Mr Moorby said:
“We have aimed the whole thing at having a homely feel. We want people to feel like they’re at home or in their friend’s front room. We thought there was a bit of a gap in Harrogate for having high-quality food without the big price tag on it.”
Read more:
Speaking about the choice of location on King’s Road, Mr Moorby said they wanted the venue to be more of a community venture than a late-night establishment in the town centre:
“We used Cold Bath Road as an example. Five, six years ago there wasn’t much going on but now there’s so much going on. We felt like the same is happening on King’s Road, it’s becoming its own little suburb.”
About 40 people can be accommodated and enjoy the Asian and South American-inspired menu. About 10 members of staff will be employed.