A Harrogate events company, which employed more than 30 people, is set to go into liquidation.

Andrew Manby, director of family events firm Joe Manby Ltd, had been vocal in calling for more government support for the beleaguered conference and exhibition industry.

The sector has been decimated since the pandemic in March. But Joe Manby Ltd, like many others, had been preparing for a safe and limited return in October until the government intervened.

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• Italian bar and restaurant closes in Harrogate

Mr Manby told the Stray Ferret “it was a heartbreaking decision” after 46 years in the business:

“We were ready to start business again this month. We had run trials and proved that we could hold events safely.

“But at the last minute Boris Johnson put the cat among the pigeons and said we were not allowed. It is particularly frustrating seeing UK-based businesses like ours running events abroad.”

Joe Manby Ltd organised more than 50 events a year. In May last year it secured a three-year contract to provide events services for the Harrogate Bridal Show.

Mr Manby, who is one of the founder’s sons, believes many businesses in the events industry are in a similar position.

He said the government’s job retention scheme had kept the business ticking over but it was difficult to survive without a clear date for return.

Coronavirus has hit Harrogate’s events industry particularly hard.

The town usually hosts a string of major events, conferences and exhibitions but the convention centre’s conversion into a Nightingale hospital changed this.

Major events could return to Harrogate Convention Centre in the autumn, according to the council, bringing a much-needed boost to the local economy.

The centre is currently occupied by the NHS Nightingale hospital, but with the current contract set to run out at the end of July, discussions are being held with event holders to enable visitors to be welcomed safely..

Harrogate Borough Council, which owns the convention centre, said it is awaiting confirmation from the NHS about whether the contract will continue, but in the meantime is working to ready itself for events to return when government guidance allows.

The convention centre is offering additional space for free, including its landmark auditorium, in order to enable social distancing. A spokesman for the council said:

“Much work will need to be done to return the convention centre back to normal from its role as a Nightingale hospital supporting the national response to the coronavirus pandemic.

“That will involve more than just cleaning.  We will be putting measures in place to ensure future events can go ahead safely and in line with social distancing rules.

“We look forward to welcoming back clients as soon as we are able to.”

Harrogate Convention Centre, currently home to a Nightingale hospital, could be opened for events from September

Sandra Doherty, Chief Executive of Harrogate District Chamber Commerce, said events returning to the convention centre would be “fantastic news for Harrogate’s hospitality industry and the town itself”. She added:

“Some accommodation providers had feared the convention centre and exhibition halls might have been out of commission until next spring, which would have been a disaster for many of them.

“Those who rely on the conference and exhibition trade can now look ahead to the rest of the year with a little more certainty. October and November are particular busy months, with the halls hosting a number of major shows, including Country Living and Knitting and Stitching.

“The creation of the Nightingale Hospital in the Convention Centre put Harrogate centre stage in the fight against Covid-19. Being able to host a 500-bed emergency hospital demonstrates its capabilities. We now need to capitalise on this and use it as a powerful selling tool to win new conferences, event and fairs.”

Among those preparing to go ahead are the Knitting & Stitching Show in November and the Country Living Christmas Fair in December, both run by Upper Street Events, which has been liaising with the convention centre. A spokesman said:

“The venue advised us some time back that they would be contracted with the NHS until the end of July. They then plan a deep clean and to complete some development work, they will be operational for ‘normal’ business from September.

“For this reason, we are continuing to plan the events. We are expecting some detail in the next few weeks on how the events industry should unlock and we will then be able to give guidance on visitor and exhibitors expectation, as you will have seen from other industries such as retail.”

Meanwhile, the Homebuilding and Renovating Show, has been postponed from November to February next year, with organisers also planning to return to their normal November dates at the end of 2021.

Comic convention Thought Bubble has also announced that this year’s event will be virtual and it plans to return to the convention centre in 2021.

With less than four weeks remaining in the contract between the NHS and Harrogate Convention Centre, both parties are remaining tight-lipped about the future of the Nightingale Hospital.

The initial agreement allowed the NHS to establish the emergency hospital across eight halls at Harrogate Convention Centre and was set to last until the end of June. No rent was payable to HCC – which, owned by Harrogate Borough Council, had to cover costs using taxpayers’ money.

Now, with the end of the contract looming, the council has refused to comment on whether any further agreement has been made.

However, with national government advisors speaking publicly about the likelihood of a second wave of Covid-19, it seems unlikely the NHS will take down the facility in the near future. England’s chief medical officer, Prof Chris Whitty, said this week:

“It may be that there’s a seasonal element and if so, for most respiratory viruses, they are more likely to be transmitted, there is a higher likelihood of transmission, in the winter.

“The winter is always worse than summer, spring and autumn for health services, and we need to think about this in terms of how we come out for the next phase.”

While having the NHS Nightingale on stand-by has been described by many as reassuring, concerns have been raised repeatedly about the potential impact on the local economy – especially as hospitality businesses prepare to reopen in early July.

Harrogate’s businesses are heavily reliant upon tourist and conference visitors to the centre, which says that it contributes around £60m to the local economy. Hotels, restaurants and bars have already spoken out about the need to fill the gap left by the conference trade.

Read more:

• Harrogate District Hospital had a fifth of its workforce off sick
• Why one leading hotelier believes the Nightingale hospital could cause problems for the town’s hospitality trade

Harrogate Borough Council refused to make any comment on the status of negotiations with the NHS over the future of the Nightingale hospital, saying the contract was confidential. Last month, HCC director Paula Lorimer told The Stray Ferret that the next events were scheduled for August and, in the meantime, she was doing all she could to reschedule events which could not be held.

This week, Harrogate District Chamber of Commerce’s chief executive, Sandra Doherty, told The Stray Ferret it was a “feather in Harrogate’s cap” to be chosen to host the NHS Nightingale for the region. However, she warned:

“The conference and exhibition industry is the life blood of Harrogate’s economy, and those businesses that rely on this vitally important trade need clarification as to when these venues will be handed back.

“Whilst the coronavirus lockdown has resulted in the cancellation and postponement of many events, organisers will now be looking to reschedule them for later in the year. Harrogate is blessed with a number of other superb conference facilities, and we need to do everything we can to encourage organisers to consider using them as an alternative.

“We must do everything in our power to keep new and existing business here.”

Two events at Harrogate Convention Centre have been called off because of coronavirus.

The Morrisons supplier conference on 24th March and the three-day IPIG medical conference in May have both been postponed because of the spread of the virus.

However, the AireCon gaming festival is taking place this weekend with 2,500 attendees and the Conservative Party Spring Forum is still currently scheduled for early April.

Kim Wilson, who chairs guesthouse group Accommodation Harrogate, said she believed the two postponed events were relatively small and did not bring significant contributions to the local economy. The Morrisons event would have been mostly day delegates, while those at the IPIG conference kept mostly to the venue itself. New dates have yet to be confirmed for either.

Discussing the growing impact of coronavirus, she said: “I think across town, and across the country generally, we need to hunker down a bit and do what we can to get through.

“There are big events cancelling elsewhere in the country but they are already rescheduling for September onwards. That would be a sensible thing for the Convention Centre to offer, to bring the event to Harrogate in a few months’ time.”

The threat of coronovirus and increasing prospect of restrictions on travel could have a major impact on the tourism industry in the Harrogate district. 

With the area’s economy heavily reliant on tourists and business visitors, anything which deters people from coming – or any cancellation of large events – could have serious repercussions. 

Kim Wilson, who is chair of guesthouse association Accommodation Harrogate and runs The Camberley and The Lodge with her partner, said although there had not been cancellations, occupancy rates had been below average for this time of year. 

“The hardest thing to quantify is reasons for not booking,” she said. “It has been one of the quietest periods we’ve had – we’re normally full every Saturday night, but in February we’ve been half- or three-quarters full.” 

Although several events around the UK, such as the London Book Fair, have been called off because of coronavirus, no conferences have yet been cancelled in Harrogate – including the Conservative Party Spring Forum, which is set to go ahead at Harrogate Convention Centre in early April.  

Meanwhile, other events are still expected to go ahead this month around the district, including Harrogate Charity Beer Festival this weekend and Springtime Live at the Great Yorkshire Showground at the end of March. 

Springtime Live is still going ahead as planned at the end of March

A spokesman for organisers the Yorkshire Agricultural Society said: “We continue to follow advice from the Government regarding Coronavirus and as such, there are no plans to cancel any events held here.   

“Appropriate measures have been put in place including stepping up hygiene messaging across the site and we are arranging for extra sanitizing gels. We will continue to monitor the situation.” 

Boost for ‘staycations’

Some hotels, meanwhile, are hoping to benefit from British people taking more holidays in the UK this year. 

Simon Cotton, managing director of HRH Group, which owns The Yorkshire Hotel and The White Hart in Harrogate, said: “I’ve heard quite a lot of people saying, ‘I was going to go abroad and now I’m thinking of just making a staycation of it’.” 

As vice-chair of the Harrogate Hospitality and Tourism Association, representing the larger hotels in the district, he said there did not yet seem to be any cause for alarm. 

“We’re preparing in case things get worse,” he said. “That’s sensible and the right thing to do, but in the hope that these are things we won’t need to do.” 

Measures being taken include stocking up on sanitising gel, carrying out additional cleaning of frequent touch-points such as door handles and lift buttons, and asking staff to report any signs of illness before coming to work. 

Mr Cotton said, in the event of a hotel being directly affected by a case of coronavirus in a guest or member of staff, the association would work together to support it and to honour other guests’ bookings so they could still visit Harrogate.