Cosy Club in Harrogate will serve its last customers on Monday next week.
The Cambridge Street bar and restaurant will close its doors permanently at 5pm on April 1 after the site did not perform as well as expected.
The first Cosy Club opened in 2010 and the Harrogate venue only opened two years ago.
The Cosy Club brand is run by Loungers Ltd, which also operates the Claro Lounge in Ripon. The chain describes itself on its website as a place for “relaxed dining, drinking and lounging in a fabulous, welcoming setting”.
Cosy Club in Harrogate
Aaron Webb, manager of Cosy Club Harrogate said:
“Our last day will be April 1. The site is too large to make any money and head office told us we are closing. It was poor planning for the location and there are no plans to relocate in Harrogate. It is not ideal.”
The Cosy Club restaurants in York and Leeds will remain open.
Read more:
Harrogate bar offers free coronation cocktail to anyone called Charles, Camilla or King
Cosy Club in Harrogate is to offer a free cocktail to anyone named Charles, Camilla or with the surname King over the coronation weekend.
The bar, which is on Cambridge Street, is to release two limited cocktails for the celebrations which start on Friday, May 5, and run until Monday, May 8.
The drinks will be called Victoria Sponge and Coronation Cup.
Those who can provide ID to show they are called Charles, Camilla or have the surname King will receive one of the limited edition cocktails free of charge.
Enya Gill, head of brand at Cosy Club, said:
“Three cheers for King Charles III! We’re famed for our opulent surroundings and grand décor so I can think no better place to celebrate this historic event.
“We’re all looking forward to a long weekend full of fun, fabulous food and a drinks and cocktail selection even Buckingham Palace would be hard pushed to beat.”
Cosy Club in Harrogate.
The Victoria Sponge is a teacup cocktail with Hendrick’s gin, Pimm’s strawberry, vanilla and lemon served with a mini Victoria sponge on the side.
The Coronation Cup is a teacup cocktail with Hendrick’s gin, elderflower, lemon, coconut and orange served with a mini cucumber sandwich on the side.
The drinks will be on general sale for £6.95 each.
Read more:
- Knaresborough to host free big screen broadcast of coronation
- Coronation events: where to celebrate across the Harrogate district
Harrogate Restaurant Week: keep your tummy and bank balance happy
On Monday 5 February, Harrogate Restaurant Week will begin. Restaurants in and around Harrogate are taking part in a promotional week, serving up some tasty discounts and helping us enjoy the luxury of dining out for less.
Restaurant Week is running from Monday 6 – Friday 10 February.
To help you save your pennies, we have curated a list of six participating restaurants and their Restaurant Week offers.
The Fat Badger
The Fat Badger is offering a homemade pie with a pint of bitter for just £10 during the promotional week.
Customers can enjoy a hearty steak, mushroom and ale pie, washed down with Tetley’s Best.
For more information on the restaurant, visit here.
The West Park Hotel
The West Park Hotel is offering two courses for £15, or three courses for £20 during Restaurant Week.
Customers can choose their courses from the new Restaurant Week menu.
Click to find more information on The West Park Hotel.
The West Park Hotel will have a specific Restaurant Week menu.
Cosy Club
Cosy Club is offering customers a main and dessert for £15.
The Restaurant Week menu includes buttermilk fried chicken with fries, coleslaw and smoked red pepper aioli, along with a vegan baked vanilla cheesecake with raspberries.
Read more:
William & Victoria
William & Victoria will also be partaking in Restaurant Week, offering customers two courses for £15, or three courses for £20.
Customers can expect to see dishes such as honey glazed goats cheese, fresh Moules Marinière and affogato on the promotional menu.
The menu will be available during both lunch service from 12pm – 2.30pm, and dinner service from 5pm – 9m.
Rudding Park Hotel
Rudding Park Hotel’s Clocktower Brasserie is offering two courses and a glass of Prosecco for £20 during Restaurant Week.
The offer will be available from 12pm – 5pm during the promotional week.
Customers can choose their courses from the Restaurant Week menu.
For more information, click here.
The Clocktower Brasserie will be participating in Restaurant Week.
The Inn, South Stainley
The Inn, South Stainley between Harrogate and Ripon is also offering a starter and main course for £20.
The offer is available during lunch and dinner services.
The Restaurant Week menu includes a homemade soup and giant Yorkshire puddings.
High speeds and alcohol contributed to young Harrogate man’s fatal crash, inquest hearsA young Harrogate man died when his car left the A59 as he drove home after drinking heavily, an inquest has heard.
Samuel Ronald Gibson, known as Sam, was 24 when the fatal collision occurred in the early hours of March 13 last year.
His Peugeot 208 spun off the road, collided with a tree, lifted up and landed in a ditch close near Poppleton at around 3.30am, today’s inquest was told by a police investigator.
A toxicology report after his death found he had 201mg of alcohol in his blood, against the legal limit of 80mg.
A statement from his colleague and friend Sophie Rothwell was read at the inquest held at the Coroner’s Court in Northallerton this afternoon. She said:
“When Sam was sober, he knew drink driving was wrong. However, when he went out it was like there was no controlling or stopping him and it wasn’t possible to reason with him…
“I would describe [Sam] as an unsafe driver [even when sober]. He drove very fast, exceeding the speed limit and I didn’t feel safe as a passenger.”
The court heard a statement from Sam’s mother, Jennifer Perkins, who said he had “always had a strong work ethic”, beginning with a paper round in his teens. He later moved into hospitality, working at Revolucion de Cuba and then Sainsbury’s in Harrogate.
The former Rossett School student had been manager at the Cosy Club bar in York for three-and-a-half years before moving to the Ivy in early 2022.
After passing his driving test at 18, Sam lost his licence aged 20 when he was convicted of drink-driving. When he had his licence back, Ms Perkins said he was “always very careful and cautious about not driving when he knew he would be drinking”.
However, in the few months prior to his death, she said there had been a couple of occasions when he had driven home after drinking.
Friends also said Sam was known to drive after drinking. Some had tried to hide his car keys to prevent him doing so, and others had stopped socialising with him.
Read more:
- Rossett School pays tribute to ex-student Sam Gibson, 24
- Police plea to call out drink drivers amid increasing Harrogate district incidents
In statements, colleague Sophie Rothwell and her boyfriend Max Bradford said they had been out with Sam in York on the night he died.
They said he had drunk lager, prosecco, wine, beer and spirits between around 8pm on Saturday, March 12 and 1.30am the following day.
Ms Rothwell said:
“He was so drunk that, at one bar, he couldn’t stand up properly and kept falling down.”
Sam stayed out after his friends went home, and he went to a nearby food van for something to eat.
Sam’s car was discovered in a ditch by the A59 around 7am the next morning.
The inquest heard he had suffered a “catastrophic” brain and spinal cord injury, described by the doctor performing the post-mortem as “an entirely unsurvivable event” which would have killed him almost instantly.
Forensic collision investigator PC Richard Barker said Sam had been wearing a seatbelt but the airbags in the car had not deployed, showing signs that they had previously activated and not been properly repaired.
Although he could not say for certain how fast the car was travelling, PC Barker believed it was in excess of the maximum speed at which the car could navigate the bends of the road.
North Yorkshire coroner Jonathan Leach concluded Sam had died as a result of the collision, saying:
“It would appear that Sam was driving along the A59 at speed and, I suspect as a result of the alcohol he had drunk, his concentration and his ability to drive properly was impaired.
“I suspect he over-reacted, left the road and struck a tree, and died at the scene.”
‘Devastation’
In their statements, both Ms Rothwell and Mr Bradford described Sam as a reliable friend and a good colleague who was the “life and soul” of both his workplace and any party.
Ms Rothwell added:
“Sam was the most reliable friend you could have asked for. He was the person you could call at any time and losing him has left a massive hole in my heart.”
Ms Perkins’ statement said Sam was a “nice young man” who had looked after her when she lost her sight and had taken gifts to an elderly neighbour who had moved into a care home. She added:
“While Sam made bad judgements and mistakes in relation to driving, this is the kind of loving, caring person Sam was and how I wish for him to be remembered.”
She added:
River Island to close in Harrogate as landlord plans apartments“I can’t express in words just how much devastation losing Sam has left behind. The whole family are suffering as a result. I can’t believe he has gone.”
A town centre shop in Harrogate is set to close in just over three weeks’ time.
River Island is holding a closing down sale as it prepares to close its doors on Cambridge Street for the last time on February 4.
A spokesperson for River Island said:
“The closure is due to change of use of the building by the landlord.”
Plans were approved in summer 2020 to refurbish the ground floor of the building and convert the first floor, as well as adding a roof extension, to create 14 apartments. Work would need to begin on the building by June this year to comply with the terms of the planning permission.
The building is owned by a Santander pension fund.
Read more:
- Plan approved to create five flats above Cambridge Street shops
- Sneak peek at Harrogate’s new Cosy Club
Last summer, Cosy Club opened in the same stretch of units, becoming the first bar along the street. Sainsbury’s Local and Skipton Building Society also opened branches earlier in the year.
Further east on the same street, plans were approved last February to convert the upper floors of some retail units into flats.
Today, York-based property company Grantside announced it had acquired the 10,000 sq ft building and was intending to use the flats as holiday lets.
Steve Davis, chief executive of Grantside, said:
Business Breakfast: Cost-saving expert is on hand to help Ripon businesses“This is a great opportunity and a brilliant location – in the heart of Harrogate town centre.
“Our vision for the building is to bring it back into full use through the conversion of the upper floors into apartments, which will be used as holiday accommodation and help the town’s economy.”
Business Breakfast is sponsored by Harrogate law firm Truth Legal.
Ripon Business Improvement District is urging businesses who are looking for help or advice with navigating the ever-changing business cost market to get in touch.
Appointments with the BID’s cost-saving expert, Rishi Sood of Place Support Partnership (PSP) were originally planned for September 19, but have re-scheduled to October 20, following the Queen’s death.
BID manager Lilla Bathurst (pictured) said:
“Our aim is to deliver on issues that are important to our member businesses and cost saving in the current economic climate is considered high priority.
“In response to business needs, PSP were commissioned by Ripon BID to support local businesses through our Place Saving Programme focussing on business critical spend areas including energy, telecoms, merchant services and water.”
Appointments can be made via info@riponbid.co.uk or by calling call 01765 530 910.
The new units on Cambridge Street.
Project to bring Harrogate retail unit back into use complete
A project to bring a vacant Harrogate retail unit back into use has been completed.
The boarded-up shop on Cambridge Street was purchased by Broadland Properties in 2020 and the 25,000 sq ft former Topshop store has now been reconfigured into a mixed-use retail and leisure development.
It now includes Cosy Club, Sainsbury’s Local and Skipton Building Society.
Matt Harriman, associate direct at GV&Co which project managed the scheme, said:
“It’s great to see this scheme come to such a successful conclusion, with an impressive line-up of new retail and leisure tenants taking their place on this busy Harrogate high street.
“The unit had been vacant since 2017 and we managed the extensive enabling works to divide the property into separate units, with new services and several structural changes to suit the revised layouts, as well as external refurbishments over three phases. These included new windows, stone cleaning, and stonework repairs.
“Now fully let and brought back to life with Sainsbury’s, Cosy Club and Skipton Building Society all in place, we have thoroughly enjoyed working with a big project team that included engineers, GGP, architects, DLA, RGP building control specialists, Ball and Berry letting agent, Robinson Webster managing agent, Ryden, Brentwood Consulting Engineers, and contractor JP Wild for Broadland Properties.”
Read More:
- Business Breakfast: district’s pubs decide whether to open for The Queen’s funeral
- Business Breakfast: Harrogate business announces first Chinese Board of Directors
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