Harrogate shoppers have responded generously to a plea to donate chocolate this Christmas for people struggling to make ends meet.

Commercial Street Retailers Group is working with Harrogate District Foodbank on the initiative, which runs until December 15.

People can drop-off chocolate at four shops on Commercial Street: Foxy Antiques and Interiors, the Harrogate Town shop, Lilly’s Bistro and Cafe and White Rose Sewing.

The food bank had said it was overwhelmed by demand for help this Christmas and although it had received many donations of staple products, such as tinned food, some chocolate would add a touch of luxury to seasonal food parcels.

Sue Kramer, of Crown Jewellers on Commercial Street and head of the retailers group, said a previous article on the Stray Ferret has generated a huge response.

“it’s going really well so far — Sue from Lilly’s has dropped off the first batch of chocolates and Harrogate Foodbank were both shocked and delighted with how much there was.

“It’s so heartwarming to know that even with everything everyone has been through with covid there is still genuine kindness and compassion in Harrogate for those less fortunate.

Read more:

• Foxy Antiques wins Harrogate Christmas Shop Window Competition
• Investigation into ‘sea of bubbles’ in Harrogate’s Hookstone Beck

Foxy Antiques & Interior has been named as the overall winner of the Harrogate Christmas Shop Window Competition

The shop, at the bottom of Commercial Street, beat 31 other entries.

Bettys, on Parliament Street, won the large shops category, The Yorkshire Soap Company, on James Street, won the medium shops category, and Foxy Antiques & Interiors was the winner in the small shops category

Judging took place on Thursday last week. The Rotary Club of Harrogate organised and carried out the judging, which involved 13 Rotarians, some with wives, two Soroptimists, and representatives from the Harrogate Business Improvement District, which supported the competition.

Graham Saunders, who organized the judging on behalf of the Rotary Club, said:

“The judges could see the effort that had gone into the window displays. Harrogate is lucky to have so many independent shops who enjoy taking part in the competition”.

Read more:

• Deep clean of Ripon alleyways to be first BID project
• Harrogate district churches urge people to light up their windows for Christmas

Sara Ferguson, chair of Harrogate BID, added:

“I’ve never seen Harrogate looking so festive, and a big part of this is down to the efforts of our town centre businesses.

“We hope that members of the public will want to view the winning and highly commended windows when they are next in town. To assist with this, we have created a Christmas Shop Window trail on our LoyalFree app.”

The presentation of certificates to the winning shops was carried out last night, Tuesday December 7, as part of a BID event in the Yorkshire Hotel.

Councillor Trevor Chapman, mayor of Harrogate. John Fordyce, president of the Rotary Club of Harrogate and Sara Ferguson, chair of the BID, handed out the certificates and congratulated the winning and highly commended shops.

Results

Retail Shops in Harrogate Town Centre

Overall Winner: Foxy Antiques & Interiors, 27 Commercial Street

Large Shop Winner: Bettys Café Tea Rooms, 1 Parliament Street

Highly Commended: Weetons Food Hall, 23/24 West Park

West Park Hotel, 19 West Park

Mama Doreen’s Emporium, 9 – 11 Station Square

Medium Shop Winner: The Yorkshire Soap Company, 1 James Street

Highly Commended: Helen James Flowers, 63 Station Parade

Montpellier Jewellers, 12 Monpellier Mews

Prey Four Ltd, 33 Swan Road

Small Shop Winner: Foxy Antiques & Interiors, 27 Commercial Street

Highly Commended: Sophie Likes, 36 Beulah Street

Susie Watson Designs, 2 Montpellier Gardens

Bijouled, 50 Parliament Street

A bit about me: I’m not a Stray Ferret staffer, I’m a consumer journalist who loves shopping and loves Harrogate. This month, I’m here to show you what’s caught my eye in Harrogate’s independent outlets. The high street is great. But alongside the big brands, what really makes a place special for shopping are the one-offs: local small businesses where you can really feel the love and passion for what they sell.  So give them a bit of love back and buy from them!.

The items I have picked are my personal choices – I have not been paid to feature them.  

EARRINGS, Boho Chic, West Park.  £35

Boho Chic has been sourcing clothes and accessories from across the globe since 2009.  It’s a small, friendly boutique and feels like a happy business. With a colourful range of spring, summer – and yes, even beach wear – it made me feel like summer might really happen.  And a big plus for me – they have lots of reasonably priced jewellery with pearly and other sparkly features.  These earrings caught my eye but I could have happily picked out plenty more.

PICNIC SET, Foxy Antiques and Interiors, Commercial Street £65.

All power to Commercial Street which is fast carving out an identity for itself as the destination for independent foody shopping (more on that another month).  It also is home to interiors specialist Foxy, which only opened in December (in the middle of the pandemic – full marks for bottle!).  This is a properly whacky place for when you need some taxidermy, a fiberglass ET, original art or some retro commercial signage.  I bought a set of 60s frosted glass tumblers (only £24) – so sadly for you, those are no longer available. But I was also tempted by the romance of a balmy picnic with this hamper. It has everything you’d need from lovely crockery to cutlery and a salt and pepper set:  just fill up with choice items from the food stores up the road.

BLOUSE, Porters, St James St  £75

This recent arrival to St James Street – next to Coopers – is classy with affordable as well as some higher end labels.  In womenswear, upstairs, they carry Scotch and Soda (a favourite line of mine) as well as some less established ranges.  Broderie Anglaise is big this year (which is good because its lovely) and this blouse is smart and summery.  There’s also a shirt dress version for £95 that I think would look stunning.  Menswear has been selected with a clever eye, with plenty of unstructured casual jackets, including some from Universal Works – pricey but definitely dapper.  Fashion conscious friends of mine have had to search this label out online, but you lucky Harrogate shoppers can try them on in your local high street independent.

LITERARY TRAVEL MUGS. John Atkinson Books, Royal Parade £20

Editor’s choice: “Surely no one wants to add to landfill by buying takeaway coffee cups?” asks the editor as I sheepishly admit to forgetting my travel cup (again).  These literary  mugs could be the answer, and they also say to the world “I’m a learned, well read fun type”, which I like doing. They would make great presents – as might the first editions sold by this dealer in fine and rare books.  If you had fifteen grand or so to spare for, say, a first issue Conan Doyle.  Maybe just stick to the Sherlock mugs then?  Book prices do start at under £99 but anyway, I loved just looking at these historic editions, many with beautiful period covers. Artworks, in fact. Being in their presence was enough.

STORAGE BASKETS, Westmorland, Montpelier Parade £20 and £16.50

Sheepskin specialists are not just for winter..  There’s many a beautiful warm slipper to be found here, but they also sell boots, accessories, gorgeous leather aprons for kids doing crafts, and homewares.  I particularly liked these storage boxes which are native to Yorkshire: from a range produced by a mother and daughter team whose family members worked in the rag trade in Ossett, West Yorkshire, recycling woolen cloth. Now the pair work with local mills to source environmentally sustainable fabrics.

SCARF / SUMMER WRAP, Dizzy Duck, Albert Street £14

More cheerful summer clothes to choose from here, but experience tells us it is always wise to have a cardie or at least a warm wrap on hand. Of course you could always use it as a scarf too – its extremely soft and I loved the velvet contrast ribbon trim.  And there’s another version with a rainbow edging.  Very reasonably priced so it might be tempting to buy both…

More next month!  Keep shopping and keep Harrogate great.

A small antiques shop has opened at The Knox pub in Bilton as a Harrogate woman aims to follow a new path after lockdown.

Foxy Antiques and Interiors will sell a range of items, from retro furniture to vintage collectables. The small shop is occupying a former storage cupboard at the pub.

Alex Clarke, who previously worked in housekeeping, decided during lockdown that she needed a new challenge. Since November, she has been buying and selling antiques, and decided to expand from a small unit in a local antiques shop to the larger space at The Knox.

The shop will sell a range of items, from furniture to candles.

She told the Stray Ferret that her previous job was impacted by coronavirus so she decided to pursue a new venture, following something she has always been interested in. She said:

“It’s completely new to me. I’ve worked in housekeeping for nine years but my wages went down as a result of covid so I decided to look for something else. I needed something new and fresh that would challenge me.”

Katie Swannie, owner of The Knox pub, hopes that the new shop will be the start of something great. She told the Stray Ferret:

“We hope both businesses will benefit each other. It’s always something we’ve wanted to do. I want to create a little complex of quirky things that all complement each other, so this is the first step. We are hoping it will bring something for the local people in this area.”

As well as the launch of Foxy Antiques and Interiors, last weekend also saw the opening of a new beer garden at the back of the pub. As well as providing somewhere to enjoy the sun, it will help the pub to follow social distancing guidelines.

During lockdown the pub was re-decorated and has had a new beer garden built.