Power cut leaves Harrogate businesses in the dark

A power cut on Beulah Street in Harrogate this morning has forced several businesses to close.

It is not known if the outage is related to Storm Arwen, which is still affecting electricity supply in the district.

Costa Coffee, British Red Cross, Aplifon Hearing Centre are all closed. At CEX the lights are not working but the tills and card reader are so they can still serve customers who must wait outside.

Power went off at about 8.30am and was still off at the time of publication. It is expected to return later today.

James Buckley, supervisor at CEX, said there are several different power lines on Beulah Street, so businesses on the other side of the road are open as normal.

He said:

“We are in darkness. It’s a health and safety issue, but we can still sell stuff but not let customers into the store.”

Connie Lancaster, assistant manager at the British Red Cross, decided to close completely until the power comes back on. She has been unable to get more information from Northern Powergrid due to telephone wait times of almost two hours.

She said:

“We’ve been very unlucky”.

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Many homes in the district are still without power following Friday night’s storm, according to a live map by Northern Powergrid, the company responsible for the electricity distribution network across the North East, Yorkshire and northern Lincolnshire.

One reader, who asked not to be named, said the rural area of Skelding, half a mile away from Grantley village, told us last night:

“We feel forgotten about. We were given a tiny bit of power on Saturday night at 7pm so 21 hours of nothing. However this wasn’t enough for most lights, boilers, washer or ovens. Then this afternoon came the good news that Grantley village and school are back on full power however the farms and houses in Skelding are now without anything

Another reader from Grantley said her family had booked into a hotel when temperatures in their house plunged to six degrees centigrade.

 

‘Mindless idiots’ vandalise planters in Harrogate

A Harrogate business organisation has criticised “mindless idiots” for vandalising planters on the town’s Beulah Street.

Business owners on the street arrived this morning to find the planters had been damaged overnight and they had to clear the mess up themselves.

The planters were put in place last year by Harrogate Business Improvement District in an effort to improve the look of the town centre.

Around 20 businesses were given floral displays as part of the project in October. The BID also installed 120 hanging baskets across the town, including Beulah Street.

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A spokesperson for Harrogate BID told the Stray Ferret that it was now in the process of replacing the planters and working with Harrogate Borough Council to look at CCTV from the street.

They added:

“We are very disappointed by this. This was some mindless idiots who do not care for the town centre. Our remit is to make the town centre good.

“We are not going to be put off by some idiots.”