A former Harrogate Chinese restaurant is to be converted into a house.
The proposal submitted by John Tang will see the former Kwun Wah on Strawberry Dale changed into a four-bedroom home.
Harrogate Borough Council has approved the plans.
The Kwun Wah restaurant has been closed since 2006.
Planning permission was granted back in 2011 to convert the former restaurant into a home, but has since expired.
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Sneak Peek: Royal Baths Chinese Restaurant reopens
The Royal Baths Chinese Restaurant in Harrogate re-opened last night.
The restaurant, set in the Grade II listed Royal Baths, is one of the most historic and opulent places to dine in Harrogate.
It has been closed since the end of 2020 and was also shut for most of 2020 due to lockdowns.
But after extensive repair work due mainly to damp, people once again have the chance of a unique eating experience.
The building, which has a central dome and pillars down the side, was built between 1894 and 1897 and for many years was Europe’s premier destination for spa treatments. It is now owned by North Yorkshire County Council.
The restaurant has served traditional Chinese food for about 13 years and will continue to do so.
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A restaurant spokesman said the 100-seat venue would be similar to how customers remembered it, with the VIP room and terrace bar and dining area back in operation. However, the party room is currently unavailable.
He added:
“We have a new team of staff starting and ask people to be patient when we first re-open.
“But it’s very much the same Royal Baths Chinese Restaurant. We have been here for 13 or 14 years now and look forward to welcoming customers back.”
The owners opened the Royal Baths Express takeaway in Pateley Bridge in February.
They also continue to operate Haks Little Royal Baths Chinese Restaurant, on Harrogate’s Station Parade.
More pictures from The Royal Baths Chinese Restaurant
The bar, which leads to the outside terrace.
The terrace area.
The Grade II listed building was built from 1894 to 1897.
Inside the main dining area.
Refurbishment of a former Chinese takeaway on Leeds Road, Harrogate, has unveiled a “ghost sign” of a tiny library that closed around 50 years ago.
Liberty Library was a subscription library where readers paid a nominal fee to rent books. It’s believed it was there from the 1930s until the early 1970s.
Subscription libraries were popular alternatives to larger public libraries in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Harrogate’s Boots chemist also offered a subscription library service in the town at the time.
Pannal and Harrogate historian, Anne Smith, said she remembers visiting Liberty Library in the early 1960s.
She said the books were not “highfalutin” and catered mainly to the female reader. It also sold toys, sweets, stationery, stamps and newspapers.
Ms Smith said:
“It was very useful. There was a big table the back with all different books on it. The books were tremendous.”
The sign was made by a business called Wilson Signs
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Leeds Road
Liberty Library also sold annuals for children such as School Friend, Dandy, Beano, Knock Out and Film Fun. Children would save up their pocket money throughout the year and come before Christmas to pick up the end-of-year editions.
Ms Smith said the section of Leeds Road looked different in those days. Some of the buildings that are shops today were houses and had gardens where there are now usually parked cars.
Other notable Leeds Road businesses at the time included Paul’s Bakery, Padgett’s greengrocers and Scott’s.
Leeds Road in 1955, with Liberty Library on the left. Photo credit: unknown.
Liberty Library closed in the early 1970s as subscription libraries went out of fashion.
Two people on social media shared their memories of Liberty Library with the Stray Ferret.
Brian Skinner said:
“I remember visiting it and borrowing books before I joined the children’s library in town. It must have been in the late 40s. We also ordered our Christmas annuals, paying for them over a period before Christmas. Happy days.”
John Carr said:
“I remember the Liberty Library from growing up in the area in the 50s & 60s. I used to buy my matchbox cars and other toys from it.”
Mr Carr has a directory of businesses from 1948 that lists Mrs E Worfolk as the proprietress of Liberty Library.
He added:
“I recall an elderly (weren’t they all when we were little?) man who ran it but didn’t know his name.”
The sign was spotted by Ghost Signs, a website and social media account that is dedicated to the fading remains of hand-painted advertising.
Anyone else spotted this find from @speccy2?
Would love to know more about the library, and what the tiny lettering bottom right is, likely a signwriter's signature…#ghostsigns #ghostsign #libertylibrary #harrogate #shopfront https://t.co/9ixNCusoLv
— Ghostsigns (Sam Roberts) (@ghostsigns) March 8, 2022