This week, we spoke to Lee Bellwood, owner of Major Tom’s Social in Harrogate.
Tell us in fewer than 30 words what your firm does.
We make fresh pizza and source some of the best beer you can get in the UK and abroad. We do cocktails as well, and in the next couple of weeks we’ll be starting to do lunches and brunches.
What does it take to be successful in business?
You need a good team behind you, consistency, and a USP (unique selling point). Ours is that we’re a ‘youth club for grown-ups’. We wanted to create somewhere to go where we felt comfortable, and where you could bring your kids. That’s the ‘social’ side of Major Tom’s Social.
What drives you to do what you do every day?
Basically, I just want to be in a business where I can enjoy work and not have to answer to anyone else. I like food and I like drink, so this is something I really love doing.
What has been the toughest issue your company has had to deal with over the last 12 months?
My business partner, Toby Smith, left the business to do something else, so I’ve taken it over from him. Before, I was more hands-on, but now I’m a lot more involved with payroll and VAT returns.
I’ve just opened a new bar in Otley, the Curious Hop Bière Café. It’s a bit tricky at times – it’s going well, but I just have to balance my time between the two.
Which other local firms do you most admire, and why?
I admire any independent business that can keep its head above water after covid. It was such a difficult time.
Baltzersen’s brought out its bakery just as covid was hitting and did very well out of that.
Stuzzi have done well with their gins, and opening a new site in Leeds.
Paradise Tap & Taco is doing very well too – owners Josh and Ellie were both my old managers for about five years.
Lee Bellwood, owner of Major Tom’s Social in Harrogate.
Who are the most inspiring local leaders?
I don’t really admire any local leaders, to be honest. I struggle to answer that question.
Anyone, locally or further afield, who works to combat racism and climate change, I take my hat off to.
What could be done locally to boost business?
Any time there’s a big event going on, I find it difficult to find out about it. I normally find out at the last minute. For example, if there’s a craft fair in the Valley Gardens, I may only find out about it the day before, but businesses like mine need plenty of notice about these things.
There needs to be a really good social media group – on Facebook or Instagram – to share information about these events so we can plan ahead.
Best and worst things about running a business from Harrogate?
That’s quite hard! The people we get in here are really nice and friendly – our customer base is great. We also get a lot of visitors to the town, which helps us, and it’s also great to work above Steve [Elvidge] in Space [the vintage and retro shop on The Ginnel].
The sense of community between all the independents in Harrogate is really nice: Starling, Paradise, Cold Bath Brewing Co, and Thug Sandwich Company. If I run out of pizza boxes, I can always borrow a load from one of the others, and we all have our staff do’s in each other’s places.
The worst? The parking fees. Also, the amount of licences the council gives out to premises nearby. Since we’ve been here, there have been eight or nine places given alcohol licences within 100 yards of here.
What are your business plans for the future?
We hope to introduce slightly longer opening hours over the weekends, with brunches and lunches, and we want to use the space as more of an events centre. We already have pop-up painting on Sundays, but I’d like to see more exhibitions and talks as well, giving it a real community feel. I want it to be open to everyone too, so it’ll be quite inclusive.
What do you like to do in your time off?
I love hiking, paddleboarding, travelling, hanging out with my family – and not eating pizza!
Recently I went paddleboarding on Coniston and that evening we saw the Northern Lights. It was almost like a religious experience: the best day ever!
Best place to eat and drink locally?
Obviously here. Apart from us, though, Paradise is nice, Stuzzi is good, and Baltzersen’s is good for coffee and cakes.
But my favourite is the Wild Plum Café on Hookstone Road. I go there with my mum and mother-in-law. The food is always interesting, with lots of foraged ingredients, and it’s all tasty and inventive.
This is the latest in a regular series of weekly Business Q&A features. If you’d like to suggest someone in business in the Harrogate district for this feature, drop us a line at contact@thestrayferret.co.uk.
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Suds With Buds celebrates world’s brewers, street food and live music
This story is sponsored by Rooster’s Brewing Co.
Brewers from across the UK and the United States have been invited to bring their finest beers to Harrogate for Rooster’s Brewing Co’s first ever Suds With Buds festival of beer, street food and music.
The event on Saturday, July 1 will see more than 20 breweries converge on Rooster’s Hornbeam Park home, spanning the brewery and yard, Taproom, beer garden and The Sample Room upstairs.
Tom Fozard, commercial director at Rooster’s, said:
“Suds With Buds is an event we’ve been wanting to put on for several years, but one thing or another has stopped initial ideas from becoming reality… until now! On the back of Rooster’s celebrating our 30th anniversary in 2023, we’re biting the bullet and making it happen.
“Some of the UK’s most respected and talked about breweries will be descending upon our little corner of the world, as well as a handful travelling from much further afield, creating a truly unique, combined line-up of over 100 beers.”
Brewers and food from across the world
Joining brewers from Britain, such as Burning Sky in Sussex and Cromarty Brewing Co in Scotland, will be Colorado brewers Odell Brewing Co and Crooked Stave, and Stiegl from Austria. Some brewers will even be flying in specially to pour their brews in person, including: Jeremy Grinkey, co-owner of California start-up Everywhere; Kevin Smith, head brewer at Bale Breaker Brewing Co in Yakima, Washington; Evan Price, owner of Green Cheek Brewing Co in California; and Jaakko Saivosalmi, managing director of Finnish cider company Brinkhall.
On top of the beers, some of the tastiest street-food the North has to offer will be served up by local legends Paradise Tap & Taco and Jack In A Box, as well as Knead Pitta and the Pizza Bus from further afield.
There will also be live music on a specially-built stage in the beer garden, featuring Sheffield two-piece Hot Soles, Ralph Pelleymounter, David Broad, Ramona Rose, The Silver Reserve and Trainer Trouble.
Tom said:
“To say this is the first event of its kind we’ve decided to put on, we can’t quite believe the quality of the musicians we’ve managed to secure! It really is just a ridiculous line-up.
“As with the previous annual open days we used to host back on our old site in Knaresborough, we’ll have Tony Safari spinning his ever eclectic collection of funky vinyl in The Sample Room throughout the day too.”
Suds With Buds will run from 2 to 8pm on Saturday, July 1. Tickets cost £25 and the price includes a souvenir Suds With Buds glass, as well as an event programme with full beer menu. The price of the tickets will also cover all of the associated costs of putting on the break-even event, including staffing, equipment, the provision of a wellness area, security, the musicians and additional facilities.
Find out more:
To secure your ticket for this unprecedented celebration of modern UK and US brewing and to sample some of the finest beers in the world, some of them never before served on this side of the Atlantic, just head to the Suds With Buds page of Rooster’s website.
Use code FERRET_10 at checkout and save 10%!
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.”
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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: Cheers! New Harrogate craft beer bar opens todayCraft beer lovers in Harrogate can rejoice as a new town centre bar is set to open today.
Husk Beer Emporium and Bar, which is situated on Station Square, will showcase local and UK wide beers.
Joint owners Danny Duckworth and Tom Gill opted for the venture as a natural progression from their shop on Kings Road.
Mr Duckworth told the Stray Ferret that the pair felt the time was right to move towards opening a bar.
He said:
“We have had the shop for three years and we like to think that has created the awareness of world beer in Harrogate.”
Food, drink and an ‘Aladdin’s cave’ of beers
The bar will sell food and drink, including a draught line with everything from German lager to hazy pale ales.
For Mr Duckworth, part of the reason for setting up to bar was to create a place which will also offer affordable, interesting beers.
Three of the draughts on sale will be under £5, enabling people who may not normally opt for a craft beer to be able to try them.
Those who are enthusiastic about their beers will also be to try the “Aladdin’s cave” of unique brews downstairs.
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Customers will be able to design their own grilled cheese sandwiches, while cocktail lovers can sample a range of drinks.
Dogs and children will also be welcome in Husk.
In the long-term, there is also an ambition to put live music on for those who like songs to go with their craft beer.
Crucially for Danny, the aim of the new bar is to create a place for everyone to drink – not just beer enthusiasts.
He said:
“We wanted to create a place where we would want to drink.”
Husk Beer Emporium and Bar will be open from midday today.
New Harrogate craft beer bar set to open next monthA new town centre craft beer run by the owners of Husk Beer Emporium could be open by the end of October.
Friends Danny Duckworth and Tom Gill have had a shop on King’s Road for the last couple of years.
It’s become a haven for craft beer lovers, selling a wide range of beers with idiosyncratic branding and flavours.
They will soon be creating their first bar in a former restaurant on Station Square and will keep the Husk name.
The friends received the keys from the landlord this week and are now busy refurbishing the premises ahead of opening, which Mr Gill said is likely to be late October or early November.
The bar will be in a unit previously home to Souvlaki restaurant on Station Square
The ground floor bar will have 10 craft beer lines as well as a selection of bottles and cans. It will also serve tea and coffee as well as cakes and cheeseboards.
The shop will move from King’s Road to downstairs below the bar.
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Mr Gill said it was “exciting but also nerve-wracking” to be opening.
Rising energy bills are on the mind of every business owner at the moment and he hopes the new Chancellor will cap bills for businesses in next week’s emergency budget.
He said:
“Some bars in Leeds have seen 200% to 400% increases on their energy bills. That’s pretty scary.”
Over the last decade, Harrogate has welcomed many new craft beer bars including North Bar, the Disappearing Chin and the Harrogate Tap.
Handily, the bars all follow a trail for drinkers, which Husk will be part of.
They also hope to apply for a pavement licence so drinkers can sit outside. Mr Gill said he believed his business will benefit from the proposed Station Gateway scheme that is set to transform the area and pedestrianise James Street.
He added:
“I can quite easily see the negatives [of the Station Gateway] but for us it will help increase footfall and help to create a ‘cafe culture’ around Station Square.”
To find out more about Husk Beer Emporium visit its website.
Cheers! Knaresborough and Harrogate to host beer festivalsBeer lovers in the Harrogate district will be spoiled for choice with two festivals taking place in Knaresborough and Harrogate.
This weekend, Knaresborough Lions will stage their annual beer festival during the FEVA arts festival. It gets underway tonight (Friday) at Knaresborough House from 7pm where there will also be live music on offer for revellers.
Entry is free and there will be a large selection of beers, ciders, lagers, wine, soft drinks and food available.
On Saturday, the festival runs from 12pm until 11pm and will coincide with FEVA’s Picnic in the Park, which is also being held at Knaresborough House.
On Sunday, the festival starts from 12pm until the beer runs out.
Harrogate Beer Week
Harrogate is gearing up for the return of its beer week following its debut event in 2021.
Running from September 19-25, Harrogate Beer Week will celebrate the town’s craft beer scene, brewing heritage and beer in the community.
There will be events hosted at bars, brewery taps, and other venues across Harrogate such as beer and food pairings, blind beer tasting quizzes, bottle shares, home brew competitions, talks and brewery tours exploring the making of beer.
Other features on the programme will include an ‘Indie Beer Trail’ and live local music and a special local beer has been brewed for the occasion. The programme will be announced on August 24.
The event is being sponsored by Harrogate Business Improvement District, Cold Bath Brewing Co, Daleside Brewery, Harrogate Brewing Co, Roosters Brewing Co, and Turning Point brew Co and Black Sheep Brewery.
Harrogate Beer Week was created by Harrogate-based Rachel Auty. She said:
“This event is a spotlight on the very best of what’s on offer in Harrogate and is created and delivered by people who actually live and work here, and know the town.
“The north of England is a superb destination for great craft beer and I’m incredibly proud of the beer scene we have in Harrogate — we boast some of the UK’s leading innovators in brewing and a truly unique portfolio of indie bars and taprooms.”
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Plan approved to convert former Harrogate restaurant into craft bar
Plans have been approved to convert a former restaurant in Harrogate into a craft pub.
Husk Beer Emporium, which has a shop on King’s Road, lodged the proposal to change the unit on Station Square into a bar.
The vacant unit was previously home to Greek restaurant Souvlaki and is opposite the Queen Victoria monument.
Now, Harrogate Borough Council has approved the plans.
Danny Duckworth and Tom Gill, who own the Husk Beer Emporium, told the Stray Ferret previously that the aim of the bar will be to showcase the best craft beers from across the UK and abroad.
Husk Beer Emporium owners Danny Duckworth and Tom Gill.
It would also offer live music, meet the brewery nights, food, outdoor seating and an ‘Aladdin’s cave’ of unique beers.
Mr Gill told the Stray Ferret in March that he hopes Husk bar can be part of a Harrogate craft beer trail, boosted by the Station Gateway scheme that would see the outside area at the end of James Street pedestrianised to allow for al-fresco summer drinking.
He said:
“More and more people are seeking places like this out.”
Mr Duckworth added:
“The craft beer scene in Harrogate is buzzing for us to open, we hope they can support us.”
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New Harrogate bar for craft beer lovers could be coming soon
The owners of Husk Beer Emporium in Harrogate hope to open a bar this summer that showcases the best craft beers from the UK and abroad.
Danny Duckworth and Tom Gill, both 33, opened the shop on King’s Road just before the first covid lockdown. It sells a wide array of craft beers with idiosyncratic branding and flavours.
They said the next step is opening their own bar and they recently submitted plans to Harrogate Borough Council to do this.
The bar would be in a unit that was previously home to Greek restaurant Souvlaki on Station Square, opposite the Queen Victoria monument.
If all goes to plan, they said the venture could open by May. It will offer live music, meet the brewery nights, food, outdoor seating and an ‘Aladdin’s cave’ of unique beers.
The bar would open in this empty unit on Station Square
‘Weird and wonderful’ beers
The friends met as students at St Aidan’s Church of England High School and are excited by the prospect of moving into a more prominent location in the town.
Mr Duckworth believes craft beer can offer a more immersive experience for drinkers than traditional real ale, due to its taste combinations and flavours.
He said variety was the key to what they offer.
“We pride ourselves on weird and wonderful beers”
As well as selling more traditionally brewed craft beers, Husk also has a well-stocked range of alcohol-free and gluten-free options.
Mr Duckworth said:
“People come here on a Friday and buy eight bottles of beer and they will all taste different.”
Inside Husk Beer Emporium
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Craft beer trail
Craft beer muscled its way onto the drinking scene several years ago and the trend has proved that it has staying power.
Harrogate was once not known for alternative, DIY-style bars, but Mr Duckworth said Major Tom’s Social opened the door for places like the Disappearing Chin, North Bar and themselves.
Mr Gill said he hopes Husk bar can be part of a Harrogate craft beer trail, boosted by the Station Gateway scheme that would see the outside area at the end of James Street pedestrianised to allow for al-fresco summer drinking.
He said:
“More and more people are seeking places like this out.”
Mr Duckworth added:
There’s something in the water as Harrogate brews up for Beer Week“The craft beer scene in Harrogate is buzzing for us to open, we hope they can support us.”
As the craft beer explosion continues in the UK, Harrogate is set to launch its first ever Beer Week. The town is firmly at the forefront of the industry, boasting five breweries in the HG postcode alone.
So what makes Harrogate beer so special? There’s definitely something in the water..
Harrogate is undeniably famous for its water. Its development as a prosperous and flourishing spa town dates back to the 16th century.
William Slingsby discovered the first spring in 1571 in the area now known as High Harrogate. It was named the Tewit Well Spring and the water was found to be medicinal. People, rich and poor, began to flock to the town to test the curative powers of the waters.
Perhaps it is therefore unsurprising to learn that the district’s water – and Yorkshire water as a whole – is perfect for brewing some of the best craft beers in the country.
More breweries have been opening in Yorkshire than anywhere else in the UK, including London.
And Harrogate now boasts five breweries within the HG postcode – internationally-renowned Roosters; rising star Harrogate Brewing; Turning Point, which chose Knaresborough for its expansion two years ago; Daleside, the town’s longest-standing local brewery; and Cold Bath Brewing, which is making waves across the town with its beers, bar and clubhouse space.
The brewery at Roosters Brewing Co.
To celebrate the town’s growing brewing culture, as well as the bars, pubs and restaurants which support the breweries, this month Harrogate is launching its first ever Beer Week from September 20 to 26.
Harrogate beer communications specialist Rachel Auty, who founded Women on Tap and has secured backing from Harrogate BID to help bring the idea to fruition, said:
“I have been told by breweries that Yorkshire is a key place for brewing because of the water. Harrogate is known for its water so it’s a nice link. It is known for its water history and heritage and it is now attracting breweries to the area.
It [Beer Week] is something we have wanted to do for quite a few years now. We were hoping to get it off the ground las year, but Covid put a stop to holding any events.
“I have seen the beer scene in the town explode over the last seven or eight years. It has got really interesting. We have really exciting beer here actually being brewed.”
With special beer weeks being held in places like Leeds, Manchester and Sheffield, Rachel, who is delivering the event under her specialist food and drink brand TASTE, said Harrogate’s beer scene was strong enough to rival the cities. It’s thought Harrogate is the only town in the country set to host such an event.
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A programme of special events and initiatives will be hosted at bars, brewery taps, and eateries across Harrogate. The event will culminate in a big beer weekend in the town centre. Other features on the programme will include an ‘Indie Beer Trail’, live local music, and a home brewing competition, with some big names in UK beer heading to Harrogate to host a range of talks and tastings.
Guest headliners include award-winning beer writer Pete Brown presenting ‘Craft: An Argument’ at Cold Bath Clubhouse, a beer tasting and reading with author Matthew Curtis at Roosters taproom, a Conversation on Harrogate Beer with award-winning writer Melissa Cole and Discovering Harrogate Beer with beer sommelier Annabel Smith also at the Cold Bath Clubhouse.
And for those who have ever imagined beer and donuts as the perfect combination, there will even be a chance to try sour and stout-filled doughnuts at The Tap on Tower Street, which has commissioned Harrogate business Doe to create the unique flavour especially for the event.
A collaboration between all the local breweries will also see a special beer produced for Beer Week – a West Coast IPA brewed at Turning Point.
Co-owner of the Cold Bath Brewing Co Jim Mossman, who also sits on the board of Harrogate BID, said:
“I have been very receptive to the idea of putting something positive together with regards to an event in Harrogate, promoting not only breweries in the town, but all the local great independent bars and restaurants as well.
Harrogate is internationally famous for the quality of its water, so it’s by no coincidence you see some great breweries and gin distilleries in this geographical area. They are using it to make quality beer and gins.
We are hosting a series of events in Cold Bath Club House and we are really looking forward to a number of things, from just generating community spirit and bringing venues together, which is great after 15 months of the pandemic – from live music events, to some really credible industry speakers coming to town to do beer tastings and talks.”
Jim said the Harrogate brewing scene was mainly about craft beer, which has seen an explosion in the UK, including lager, pilsner, pale ale and West Coast IPA, but said it was impossible to choose a favourite due to the vast amount of different brewing processes and flavours.
However, he said Cold Bath Brewery was in the process of launching new barrel-aged beers. These are beers that have been aged in oak barrels, allowing the wood to impart extra flavour.
He said:
“We have launched a barrel-aged process in terms of flavours you can create, for example we are using old bourbon barrels.”
Cold Bath Brewing Co.
Pubs, bars and eateries taking part in Harrogate Beer Week include:
Turning Point Brewery and Taproom
Starbeck set to get new micropubDrinkers in Starbeck could soon be spoilt for choice with the opening of a new micropub called The Office Ale House.
IT consultant Kevin Jones, who has had experience running pubs in the past, said he hopes to get the venue on 67d High Street up and running by May, subject to planning permission and covid rules.
It would be another addition to Starbeck’s high street after plans were unveiled last week for a bar at the former Greenalls carpet shop at the high street’s junction with Spa Lane.
Kevin told the Stray Ferret that The Office Ale House will be in the vein of smaller hostelries such as Blind Jack’s in Knaresborough which specialises in cask ale, bottled craft beer, and the best from local breweries.
He said:
“I believe Starbeck needs it and covid has made us all desperate for human interaction.”
Kevin Jones.
Kevin says he is confident that Starbeck is big enough for the two new venues, and thinks covid has highlighted how important pubs are for local communities.
He added:
“I’m not worried about covid. I think it’s shown us we have to get out and socialise. I want somewhere where people can get off the train, have a couple of pints and a chat.”
Read more:
If approved by Harrogate Borough Council, the pub will be open seven days a week from 12pm to 9pm. It will also be dog friendly.
Starbeck is currently served by one pub, the Prince of Wales, plus two clubs.
The Henry Peacock closed in 2012 and has now been demolished and replaced with retail units.