A new cafe in Harrogate is set to have family at its heart – in more ways than one.
Brood Coffee House will open next month at the bottom of Commercial Street, in a unit previously occupied by Foxy Vintage and Interiors.
It is being converted by Hannah and Frank Pinder to offer space for children to play and enjoy classes, while parents can also enjoy a coffee or light lunch.
Hannah told the Stray Ferret:
“My husband’s passion is coffee. I’m more on the baby development side.
“I run multi-sensory and baby development classes all over the place. This gives me a bit more of a base.
“I’ll be doing a couple of days here, and then renting the space out to other class providers during the week.”
The ground floor coffee shop will be open from 8.30am to 4pm, Monday to Friday, and 9am to 1pm on Saturdays.
As well as café seating, it has toys for youngsters to play with – all selected by Hannah using her expertise.
Dark Woods will be supplying the coffee, pastries will be provided by Manna Bakery, and Hannah is currently speaking to cake suppliers to fill the counter with sweet treats.
Sandwiches will be made in-house by her mum, who has been part of the family effort to get the business ready to open.
Hannah’s dad – an artist and designer who runs classes for students at Henshaws in Knaresborough – came up with the name and branding, and has been hard at work on the DIY with Frank.
He has also designed some colouring sheets for young visitors to use at the tables.
Since setting up the cafe’s website and Instagram account, Hannah said she has been “inundated” with interest from people hoping to use the newly-converted basement to run classes and activities.
If they all sign up, she’s hoping to offer everything from baby yoga and drama classes to pre- and post-natal sessions and a breastfeeding café.
As a class leader herself, Hannah said she has experienced how hard it can be to find a high-quality venue.
“Running my classes in Leeds, I was done with the cold, horrible church halls and mums having to use nasty toilets with nowhere to change their babies.
“A couple of things started popping up that were really nice spaces, but there was nothing in Harrogate like that.
“I’m from a group of six girlfriends with children of similar age and we really struggled with where to go. You can meet at the Valley Gardens for an hour, but where can you go after that’s child-friendly and also a nice place?
“There’s such a lovely mum culture of people wanting to meet friends with children and hang out and do thing for the kids, but also for them.”
While the space will be used every week during term time for regular classes, Hannah is also hoping to run special events during the school holidays.
Her mum is already signed up to run storytime sessions, and there will be crafts and other activities on offer.
The studio is also going to be available for private bookings, mostly on Sundays, to host birthday parties, baby showers, christening celebrations and more.
Hannah and Frank will be test-running the space as a party venue for their own son, Reg, who turns two this month – and has also been in the shop daily checking out the toys in time for the planned launch events on Saturday, September 2.
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Ripon Theatre Festival looks to build on success of inaugural year
The Ripon Theatre festival is set to return in 2023 after a successful first year.
The event will run for five nights and four days between June 7 and 11 and will feature both indoor and outdoor performances at venues across the city.
Festival director Katie Scott, told the Stray Ferret:
“We are aiming to build on the incredible first year response, which saw audiences of more than 2,500 people across four days.
“Another key aim is to make the festival as affordable and accessible as possible with a wide range of free entertainment popping up at locations across the city centre. Pop-up venues include the Market Place, Cathedral, Little Ripon Bookshop and Curzon Cinema as well as walkabout acts touring the streets of the city.”
Street performances proved popular at the 2022 festival
New this year is a dedicated family day in Ripon Spa Gardens on Sunday June 11, where everything will be free to watch. Events will include puppet shows, open-air theatre, community performances and hands-on activities.
Ms Scott, pointed out:
“As well as the weekend of pop up theatre and street entertainment, there will be a host of ticketed events at the wonderful studio space at Ripon Arts Hub, and a swashbuckling Robin Hood coming to Fountains Abbey with his merry men, courtesy of Illyria.
Fountains Abbey will provide a dramatic setting for Illyria’s performance of Robin Hood.
“The opening night, Wednesday June 7, will see young people leading the way as the festival works with the YMCA in promoting up-and-coming local theatre company Forget about the Dog with their intriguing show Happy Place.”
She added:
“The festival is also working with charity Ripon Dementia Forward to provide a sensory theatre show brought directly to two local and friendly community spaces.”
“Community performers are key to the weekend once again. Rehearsals start soon for the community cabaret event and Festival organisers also encourage any theatre groups, dance troupes, comedy acts or storytellers to get in touch if they’d like to take part in the pop-up events across the weekend.”
The festival is being supported by businesses who are sponsoring and helping keep the it affordable. The main sponsor is Wolseley UK and other corporate sponsors include Specsavers, Elstob & Elstob, Econ Engineering, Valentino’s Ristorante and The Arcade Ripon.
Event details are available at www.ripontheatrefestival.org or follow on Facebook @ripontheatrefestival
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Ripon to host another weekend of free family entertainment
As the school summer holidays draw to a close, families can look forward to another free weekend of entertainment on Ripon Market Square.
The August Bank Holiday weekend, will see the return of fairground rounds for young children and a climbing wall for those a little older.
The event-staged by Ripon City Council on Saturday 28 and Sunday 29 August, follows the Yorkshire Day weekend, that brought hundreds of people to the city centre.
The fairground rides and the climbing wall will be in place from 2pm until 8pm on the Saturday and 10am until 4pm on the Sunday.
All the fun of the fairground – for free
Following the same pattern as the Yorkshire Day Weekend, there will be musical entertainment from 7pm on Bank Holiday Saturday.
This will feature three tribute acts, singing a selection of chart-topping hits from the best-known boy bands, Paloma Faith and ABBA.
On Bank Holiday Sunday, in addition to the fairground rides, Market Square will host another Little Bird Artisan Market.
Open from 10am until 3pm, it will again include stalls selling goods ranging from food to home furnishings, produced by local and Yorkshire-based traders.
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In addition, to activities in the city centre, two temporary toilets have been installed by the city council for families visiting the Borrage Green Lane paddling pool.
These will remain in place until the end of the summer holidays.