Harrogate district tattoo artists get back to work

Have you been planning a tattoo design during lockdown?

Tattoo parlours across the district are now open, following similar safety guidelines to nail bars and beauty salons.

One Knaresborough artist has told The Stray Ferret that it’s great to open but that it’s been “frustrating” having to stay shut longer than hairdressers – especially since they have long been required to have measures in place to prevent cross-contamination.

However, they were not allowed to open on July 4 because of the amount of physical contact often for a long period of time.

Man giving a tattoo

James Mellors, Owner of Wild Style Tattoo Knaresborough

James Mellors, who co-owns Wild Style Tattoo in Knaresborough, had his first customer through the door yesterday, after four months of being closed. He said:

“My first customer is in all day today, it’s a lot of geometric patterns, so it’s quite mind-boggling after four months off, but I’ll manage.

“We were ready to open on July 4… so it has been very frustrating, tattoo artists felt like we were at the bottom of the pile really.

“We wear masks and gloves anyways so we understand how to operate in a Covid-secure way… but we’re open now which I’m very pleased about.”

Wild Style is only taking advance bookings and having one person in the studio at a time, so “you can’t walk off the street unannounced”.

Richard Suddaby, Owner of Fired Up Tattoo, Harrogate

Richard Suddaby, co-owner of Fired Up Tattoo Studio in Harrogate, has also welcomed his first customer back to the studio. He said:

“I have just done a design this morning for someone whose father passed away during lockdown so I have done a memorial tattoo for them.”

He added:

“The diary is filling up, but some people are cancelling as they still worried about the virus. I have only been here since the end of last year, so I felt I was just getting going then had to close, but we will get there.”

‘Impossible’ to enforce facemasks in Harrogate shops, says police federation

North Yorkshire’s Police (NYP) Federation has said that officers cannot force people to wear face coverings in shops.

The prime minister warned people yesterday that they could be fined up to £100 for failing to wear a covering or facemask from July 24.

Shopkeepers saw a visible increase in people wearing facemasks today following on from the announcement but worry that some may refuse.

If that happens it seems there may be problems with who will enforce the rules.

The Stray Ferret spoke to the local police federation and shopkeepers who said they will not be able to force people to wear face coverings.

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Rob Bowles, chair of the NYP Federation, said:

“I think it would be incredibly difficult for officers to police this. It is just impossible and impratical. North Yorkshire Police do not have the resources to make people wear face coverings in shops. When the lockdown fines came in place there was a lack of clarity back then. It just created tensions.”

Graham Jack, one of the owners at menswear shop G23, said:

“I can’t see it being an issue. If people come in the shop they will have to wear a face mask and if they don’t have one we will provide one. It will put some people off shopping, I am sure it will.”

Gavin Longreach, the manager at jewellers Hugh Rice, said:

“It’s interesting that it’s not for retail employees to enforce these measures. I don’t know why someone would come into the shop without a facemask when it’s there to protect you. We have lots of measures in place here to protect our customers and I think it gives them confidence.”

Clare Nelson, manager at menswear shop Porters, added:

“I would feel uncomfortable telling customers to wear a facecovering. If a big group of lads were to walk in without them I don’t think I would be able to tell them to wear one. It might put people off coming into the shop. I don’t think we would be able to enforce this.”

Harrogate Hospital reports no coronavirus deaths for a week

Harrogate District Hospital has not reported any new coronavirus deaths for a week, according to the latest NHS figures.

The death toll at the hospital from patients who tested positive for coronavirus remains at 81.

It comes as the latest Office for National Statistics figures show the number of deaths in Harrogate district care homes has passed 100.

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Nationally, a further 26 patients who tested positive for coronavirus have died in England’s hospitals. Of that number, three were in the North East and Yorkshire.

NHS England said the patients were aged between 49 and 94 years old. One patient aged 71 had no known underlying health conditions.

It takes the national death toll from coronavirus up to 29,103.

Harrogate beautician warns treatments could happen “underground”

A Harrogate beautician has told the Stray Ferret that she is seriously worried for the industry as people are being driven to go “underground” to be able to make a living.

Beauty salons now have the green light to reopen but therapists will not be able to perform many of the treatments that are their “bread and butter”, she said.

Treatments which involve work directly in front of the face are not allowed under government guidance.

Michelle Mohindra, owner of Coco Tan

Michelle Mohindra, owner of Coco Tan, which is a group of three salons in Harrogate, told us that she has some major concerns:

“We have been given green light to go ahead and then told we can’t do certain treatments. People are so desperate to do treatments and to earn money again that we are actually driving our reputations and our industry underground and I am very concerned that we are going to damage our industry.

“People feel they have no choice but to carry out treatments behind their front door and they shouldn’t be doing that, but I understand we have been forced into a very difficult place.”

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Michelle went on to say that despite a demand for other treatments, they have lost customers.

“We have had lots of clients that wanted to book in, but because we can’t do any work to the face we have lost the appointment. Sometimes it doesn’t make sense to us that we can wax from the neck down without any issue at all but we can’t touch anyone’s face. This means no eyebrow waxing, no threading and no lashes, and people are desperate to have these done.”

With the cost of PPE rising, this creates another challenge for salons.

“There’s a lot of financial concern because of the cost of PPE. We used to purchase a box of face masks for £3.99 – the price of this just quadrupled overnight, so we have had to budget very, very carefully to staff the salons with the budget we have.”

It comes as questions are being asked by the beauty industry about why barbers can offer a beard trim but a beautician can’t offer treatments such as eyebrow waxing.

Harrogate district care homes pass 100 coronavirus deaths

Care homes in the Harrogate district have now reported more than 100 coronavirus deaths among their residents. It is a grim milestone for the local care sector.

The latest ONS data, which only accounts for deaths up to July 3, revealed that there have been 104 deaths. That number is where coronavirus is mentioned on the death certificate.

It is different from the NHS England data from hospitals where the deaths are only added to the tally when coronavirus is deemed to be the cause of death.

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Currently, Harrogate District Hospital has recorded 81 coronavirus deaths. That is according to NHS England data from yesterday.

This new ONS data revealed that there have been four extra deaths at the hospital. That difference is where coronavirus is on the death certificate but not necessarily the cause of death.

It also revealed that there have been five deaths at homes, one death at hospices, and two more deaths at “other communal establishments.”

Harrogate Christmas Market 2020 waiting for green light

Organisers of the Harrogate Christmas Market are planning to go ahead with the event this year with social distancing measures in place.

Currently, the event is still on for November 12 to 15, 2020 on St Mary’s Walk and Montpellier Hill.

They will ask all traders and visitors to bring a mask or face covering in all parts of the market and to observe the rules of the day.

There will be hand sanitiser stations at every entrance, a one way system around the craft and gift marquee and no food and drink marquee.

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Around 180 stalls have already signed up for the event but the organisers will not take any fees until they get the green light – something they hope to get in the next month.

One of the concerns for the organisers is the coach travel industry. They fear for the 9000 people that use coaches to get to the event if coaches cannot carry more people.

Brian Dunsby OBE, Harrogate Christmas Market, told The Stray Ferret:

“We are hopeful that we will get the approval from the authorities. We normally get around 80,000 people but we are not expecting anything like that this time. I think that Harrogate needs this market to go ahead, the retailers would definitely miss it.”

Unlike other Christmas markets around the country, the Harrogate Christmas Market focuses on Yorkshire traders. It bucks the trend of French and German markets elsewhere in the UK.

No coronavirus deaths reported in Harrogate for six days

Harrogate District Hospital has not reported any new coronavirus deaths for the last six days.

The last time the hospital recorded a death was on July 7. That came after more than two weeks without any deaths.

It means that Harrogate District Hospital remains on 81 deaths and 139 patient discharges after treatment for coronavirus.

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England’s hospitals reported that a further 11 people had died with coronavirus in today’s NHS figures.

Patients were aged between 72 and 95 years old. All patients had known underlying health conditions.

No further coronavirus deaths at Harrogate Hospital

Harrogate District Hospital has recorded no further coronavirus deaths, according to latest NHS figures.

It means the death toll from coronavirus at the hospital remains at 81.

Meanwhile, a further 15 people who tested positive for covid-19 have died in England’s hospitals.

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Of that number, one patient died in North East and Yorkshire.

NHS England said the patients were aged between 72 and 96 years old. One patient, aged 96 years, had no known underlying health conditions.

It takes the death toll nationally up to 29,066.

Harrogate District Hospital reports no new coronavirus deaths

Harrogate District Hospital recorded no further deaths from patients who tested positive for coronavirus, according to today’s NHS figures.

It means the death toll from coronavirus at the hospital remains at 81.

The hospital had not reported any deaths for 16 days before the latest death on July 3.

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Meanwhile, 38 more people have died in England’s hospitals after testing positive for coronavirus.

Of that number, one was reported in the North East and Yorkshire.

NHS England said the patients were aged between 40 and 98 years old. Three patients, aged 65 to 86 years, had no known underlying health conditions.

It takes the death toll across the nation’s hospitals to 29,051.

Harrogate Hospital records no further coronavirus deaths

No further coronavirus deaths have been reported at Harrogate District Hospital, according to today’s NHS figures.

It means the number of deaths at the hospital remains at 81.

Meanwhile, yesterday the hospital reported that the number of patients who had tested positive for coronavirus and been discharged had increased to 139.

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Nationally, a further 22 people who were confirmed with covid-19 have died in hospital. Of that number, two were in North East and Yorkshire.

NHS England said the patients were between 52 and 99 years old and all had known underlying health conditions.

It takes the death toll from coronavirus in England’s hospitals up to 29,013.