Council approves conversion of Harrogate strip club into flats

North Yorkshire Council has approved plans to convert the former Kings Club in Harrogate into 12 flats.

The proposal was submitted by Harrogate developer Forward Investments LLP last October.

The move will see the first and second floor of the building on Oxford Street, known as the Villa Mercedes, converted into residential use.

The Kings Club, which described itself as ‘Yorkshire premier gentleman’s club’, offered topless pole dancing, topless stage strip tease and full nudity lap dancing.

However, the club has since closed.

The proposal will see a mixture of one and two bedroom flats created at the site.

In documents submitted to the council, James Robinson, the planning agent representing the developer, said the conversion of the building would be a “significant improvement” for the area.

He said:

“The proposed conversion of the upper floors of 1 Oxford Street will have a significant net improvement to the surrounding area and economy over the existing strip club use.

“This is an important building, located in a very prominent town centre location, and its current use as adult entertainment is not fitting for the surrounding area.

“As mentioned the current use attracts anti-social behaviour, and the conversion to high quality flats is a much more appropriate and viable use for the building.”

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Harrogate’s Great Yorkshire Show director to stand down

Next year’s Great Yorkshire Show in Harrogate will be the final one for director Charles Mills.

The Yorkshire Agricultural Society, the farming charity that runs the event, announced today it was seeking a successor to Mr Mills, whose tenure will end in 2024.

The show, from Tuesday, July 9 to Friday, July 12 will be his ninth as director.

Since taking over the role in 2016, Mr Mills has been part of the team behind changing the structure of the show, which moved from three days to four days due to covid in 2021.

Tickets are now sold in advance only with visitor numbers capped at 140,000 equating to 35,000 people a day to prevent overcrowding.

Recalling the decision to stage the show in 2021, he said:

“We were one of the only agricultural shows to go ahead that year and it was such a pleasure to host King Charles III and Queen Camilla who supported us at that show and spent a whole day meeting exhibitors, stewards and public.

“I have also thoroughly enjoyed hosting members of the Royal family including Princess Anne who visited twice during my tenure and is very highly respected among the farming community.”

Talking to the Duke of Gloucester at this year’s show.

Mr Mills looks forward to spending more time with wife Jill and family and supporting son James in running the family business of hosting weddings at their farm in Appleton Roebuck in Selby.

He said:

“When I was a young boy in short corduroy trousers sitting in the grandstand, never in my wildest dreams did I think I would get the honour of one day becoming the show director of the Great Yorkshire Show.

“It is a wonderful organisation and getting the opportunity to meet and work with so many dedicated people will stay with me for the rest of my life.”

Allister Nixon, chief executive of the society, said:

“Charles has been a fantastic ambassador for the Great Yorkshire Show and we can’t thank him enough for his amazing contribution over the years and for his passion, commitment and leadership.”

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Business Breakfast: Harrogate education companies to host schools conference

Three Harrogate district education companies are set to host a conference for the school sector.

BlueCow Education and Pobble, both from Harrogate, and Ripon-based Picture News have organised the event, which will see more than 100 school leaders from across the UK “inspire, innovate and improve” as the latest challenges in education come under the spotlight.

Among those taking part in panel discussions will be the Harrogate Grammar School head Neil Renton, who will also be signing copies of his new book New School Leader: What Now? at the conference.

Other speakers include Dave McPartlin – the head famous for taking his school onto TV’s Britain’s Got Talent programme; the world-leading authority on artificial intelligence in education, Dan Fitzpatrick; and Simon Hunt, the BBC Bitesize teacher.

Simon Blower, co-founder and director of Pobble, said:

“As a company with strong Harrogate roots, working closely with North Yorkshire schools, it has long been an ambition to bring a high-quality event to our home town.

 

“These leading experts-in-their-field will help those attending to think about new ways to innovate, inspire and improve pupil outcomes, whilst reflecting on today’s challenging climate for current and aspiring leaders.”

The event will take place at the Crowne Plaza in Harrogate on Friday, October 13, from 9.30am until 3.30pm.

For more information visit the Blue Cow Education website here.

Harrogate company agrees deal to expand into Africa

A Harrogate telecommunications company has agreed a deal to expand its presence into Africa.

Mobile Tornado, which is based at Cardale Park, has reached the agreement with communications company Instacom which extends its partnership until 2026.

Instacom, which has headquarters in South Africa, provides critical communications solutions to government agencies and private enterprises on the continent.

The agreement will see the company extend its resell contract of Mobile Tornado’s push-to-talk over cellular technologies.

It will also see the Harrogate company act as exclusive UK reseller for Instacom’s PTX personnel management platform.

Luke Wilkinson of Mobile Tornado, said: 

“We have been working with Instacom since 2010 and are thrilled to be taking our relationship to the next level. 

We are looking forward to working more closely and sharing our mutual knowledge and expertise. 

“We are already discussing a number of exciting ideas and can’t wait to start implementing them. 

“The continued growth of mobile network coverage across Africa is creating big opportunities for government agencies and private enterprises to increase safety, reduce costs, boost productivity and improve efficiency among their remote workforces.”

Princess Anne makes three visits in Harrogate before flying south

Harrogate was favoured with a rare royal visit today, when Princess Anne made three separate appearances in the town. 

As patron of the UK’s two Police Treatment Centres, the Princess Royal visited the new clinical services wing at St Andrews PTC on Harlow Moor Road.

The PTCs treat injured and ill police members through its physiotherapy and psychological wellbeing programmes, and the new facility was created to meet the increased demand for psychological wellbeing support.

Patrick Cairns, chief executive of the PTC, said:

“For Her Royal Highness to convey her support for the police treatment centres by becoming our patron is a tremendous honour for our charity and it is clear that the Princess Royal understands the challenges that the police service are currently under and the work that we do in treating ill and injured police officers for a range of physical and mental health injuries.”

Credit: Tim Hardy.

The princess then headed to Starbeck charity Claro Enterprises, whose commercial workshops enable people with long-term mental health conditions to function in a real work environment. 

It was the princess’s second visit to Claro Enterprises; her first visit 30 years ago prompted several changes at the charity, including the development of ongoing revenue streams via partnerships with some of the region’s best-known companies, such as Betty’s, Farrah’s and Robert Thompson’s Craftsmen, maker of Mouseman furniture. 

Claro Enterprises general manager Owen Jones said: 

“It was a real privilege to receive a second visit from Princess Anne today. We had about 40 people here to meet her and they loved it.

“She was great – from the moment she got out of the car, she was relaxed and very personable, talking to everybody and taking a real interest in what they do. It was fantastic.” 

Finally, she headed up Station Parade and dropped in on Woods Fine Linen, the long-established family business which has supplied royal households since it was founded in 1895.  

Photo of the Princess Royal meeting William Woods and staff at Woods of Harrogate.

William Woods and his daughter, interior design director Sarah Woods (second left), greet the Princess Royal as crowds look on.

William Woods, chief executive of Woods Fine Linen, told the Princess Royal: 

“Words cannot adequately describe our gratitude and appreciation of your visit today. It means a huge amount to us all and encourages us to maintain our family values of quality, high standards and sustainability in everything we do. We have never been part of the throwaway society.” 

Mr Woods presented the princess with a selection of products, including one of his company’s famous linen dishcloths and a luxury pillow wrapped in brown paper and string — as has been the tradition at Woods for over 125 years.

He also gave her the two volumes of Wells and Swells: The Golden Age of Harrogate Spa, 1842–1923, by his good friend and local historian, the late Malcolm Neesam. 

Photo of the royal helicopter that landed on the Stray and then took Princess Anne to West Yorkshire.

The royal helicopter landed on the Stray and then took Princess Anne to West Yorkshire. Photo: Lucy Arundel.

Mr Woods added: 

“Her Royal Highness was delightful. She’s a very knowledgeable lady, and she’d clearly done her homework.”

The Princess Royal, 73, has long been regarded as one of the hardest-working royals – last year, she attended 214 engagements – and following her three stops in Harrogate, her helicopter took off from the Stray to take her to further engagements in West Yorkshire.

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Harrogate Grammar School head says 20mph zone should include Otley Road

The headteacher of Harrogate Grammar School has said a section of Otley Road should be reduced to 20mph to improve safety for schoolchildren.

North Yorkshire Council announced last week speed limits will be introduced outside seven schools in Harrogate under plans for a “landmark” 20mph zone across Pannal Ash and Oatlands.

The move followed repeated calls from headteachers and parents to introduce lower speed limits around schools following high-profile collisions involving vehicles and pedestrians. This included an incident this year that left two schoolchildren in hospital.

The seven schools Harrogate Grammar School (HGS), Rossett Acre Primary School, Rossett School, Ashville College, St Aidan’s Church of England High School, Oatlands Junior School and Oatlands Infants School.

The 20mph zone by HGS will be introduced on Arthurs Avenue and its surrounding side roads.

But the headteacher of Harrogate’s largest secondary school Neil Renton said the zone should be extended to include the busy B6162 Otley Road, which is a key route in-and-out of town and currently has a limit of 30mph.

A statement was read out on behalf of Mr Renton at a meeting of councillors on the council’s Harrogate and Knaresborough area constituency committee on Thursday.

He said:

“I absolutely support the landmark scheme put forward and hope this pioneering initiative will also include Otley Road. A large number of students leaving the site at start and end of school would make it entirely sensible to reduce the speed limit on Otley Road.

“Our staff see the need for this daily when supervising children. As a school we fully support reducing the speed limit for the safety of children in our community and hope you will also include Otley Road.”

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Officers published a report ahead of the meeting that said due to national and council policy as well as “the volume of traffic” on Otley Road it would not be possible to introduce a 20mph speed limit.

Liberal Democrat councillor for Bilton Grange and New Park, Monika Slater, asked the council’s chief highways officer Melisa Burnham if she was aware of how other cities had “circumvented” national guidelines to introduce 20mph limits on A or B roads.

Ms Burnham said: 

“We do look at examples in best cases across the country, so yeah, the team certainly have the knowledge but whether it’s something we can look at for the specifics here I’m not sure. 

“We do have that policy in place for a reason and we do have to adhere to it. It’s about that consistency across not just Harrogate but across the county as well.”

Harrogate set to host three-day music weekender

Harrogate Business Improvement District is preparing to host the town’s first three-day music weekend.

Harrogate Music Weekender will include live performances, street entertainers and special offers to drive footfall to the town’s hospitality venues.

The weekender, from Friday, October 13 to Sunday, October 15, will begin with an Ibiza-themed event at The Yorkshire Hotel, followed by singo bingo — a mixture of bingo and music — at The Crown Hotel the following night.

With more acts to be revealed, visitors can also expect live performances from local musicians and artists at The Den, Piccolino, and Revolucion de Cuba.

A walking DJ booth and immersive street performances will also be on offer over the weekend.

The BID, which is funded by a levy paid by town centre businesses, organises initiatives that boost the town centre.

BID members in the hospitality industry told the organisation trade dips between summer and Christmas – leaving them with a gap ahead of the festive season.

It hopes the event will combat this by encouraging locals and tourists to spend more time in the town centre.

The weekend will be soundtracked by a range of music from rock and acoustic to live DJs and throwback hits.

Bethany Allen, business and marketing executive at Harrogate BID, said:

“A number of our BID members fed back to us that October can sometimes be a bit of a challenging gap between the summer and Christmas.

“With the confidence of a new five-year term, the BID team set about launching a new fun and exciting campaign that will showcase Harrogate in a different light.

“We are very excited to launch the first ever Harrogate Music Weekender and, with around 30 venues showing interest in being involved, it should be a weekend to remember.”

Bobs Cormack, manager at The Den, added:

“It’s awesome to see our town rallying behind musicians, especially the venues that are taking on the challenge of hosting live music for the first time.

“I’ll, of course, be busy down in The Den – I’m very jealous of everyone who gets to explore the town centre, catching the fantastic acts along the way. It’s going to be an incredible weekend.”

The two opening events are ticketed and bookings can be made online.

The rest of the events are free to attend.

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No date for Harrogate horticultural nursery move

North Yorkshire Council has said it does not know when a planned relocation of Harlow Nurseries will take place.

The site on Nursery Lane is where the council grows flowers for its displays across the district. It also sells plants to members of the public to bring in revenue.

However, the land it’s on is allocated for housing in the council’s Local Plan and a 62-home scheme is planned.

Harrogate Borough Council, in one of its last acts before being abolished to make way for the new unitary authority, proposed buying land to the north-east of Harrogate to relocate the nursery.

But since North Yorkshire Council took over in April, there has been no public comments on the move.

North Yorkshire Council has now confirmed the sale did go through.

But it added that a review of horticulture across North Yorkshire is underway and the move can not progress until that review is completed.

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A Harrogate Borough Council report did not disclose its specific location, citing a confidentiality exemption, but did say the land is in the former Killinghall and Hampsthwaite ward and is valued above £250,000.

North Yorkshire Council’s assistant director for highways and transportation, Barrie Mason, said this week: 

“While the purchase of land in the former Killinghall and Hampsthwaite ward was completed earlier this year by the former Harrogate Borough Council, there is currently no date for the nurseries to move.

“This is due to a review of horticultural provision across North Yorkshire following local government reorganisation.

“The nurseries remain located at Harlow Hill which, in accordance with the Local Plan, is allocated for housing.”

No resolution in sight for rough sleeping den in Harrogate’s Crescent Gardens

The occupation of the pavilion in Harrogate‘s Crescent Gardens by a group of rough sleepers shows no sign of ending.

The rough sleepers, who have refused offers of accommodation, have been living in the pavilion for 12 days.

The Stray Ferret first reported concerns about anti-social behaviour last week.

Nearby residents continue to express frustration while police and council officers say resolving the situation is complex.

North Yorkshire Council told the Stray Ferret last week the people in the pavilion had been “offered accommodation daily”.

In an update yesterday, Andrew Rowe, the council’s assistant director for housing, said:

“We continue to work with our partners to tackle this complicated issue.”

A spokesperson for North Yorkshire Police, which had not previously commented, said:

“Local officers and PCSOs have attended the location regularly and will continue to engage with the individuals going forward.

“Homelessness is a complex issue that requires the input of a number of local partners to resolve.

“We are committed to working jointly with partners, local businesses, and residents to find a solution for everyone involved.”

Nearby residents remain frustrated by the apparent stalemate.

Kirk Wilber-Moran, who wrote a letter to us expressing his concern last weekend, said this morning:

“Whilst the amount of people there has reduced the armoury of belongings and/or rubbish has doubled, if not tripled, since the weekend.

“We still have people using the bandstand as a hangout base to congregate and drink and are there into the late evening. Still lots of noise and yesterday a woman aggressively shouting at people walking through the gardens.

“Nothing seems to be happening and no one seems to care as it’s not on their doorstep.”

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New head begins at Harrogate school

A new head teacher has started at a Harrogate school.

Phil Soutar has taken the helm at Ashville Prep School, a fee paying school for children in years one to six.

The school also announced today it has become a member of the Independent Schools Association, which represents the heads of about 650 independent schools.

Mr Soutar, who is national chair of the ISA, said:

“I look forward to leading the prep school on the next phase of its development journey, and sharing my vision for the year ahead when our focus will centre on optimising creativity, excellence and opportunity for every pupil.

“Becoming a member of the ISA will help us deliver these aims by opening up a greater range of activities and creative experiences for our children.”

Mr Soutar was previously head at Rosemead Prep School and Nursery in Dulwich, South London.

Being part of the ISA enables pupils to take part in regional and national events for sport, art, music and drama and gives teachers access to courses and continuous professional development.

Ashville Prep School is part of Ashville College, which is an independent day and boarding school for boys and girls aged two to 18.

It consists of Ashville Acorns pre-prep, and Ashville’s prep school, senior school and sixth form.

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Business Breakfast: Care recruitment event to be held in Harrogate

A recruitment event for the care sector will be held in Harrogate.

Yorkshire Care Alliance, a charity which was launched to help recruit staff, is set to host a workshop on September 26.

The event will take place at Pavilions in Harrogate from 10am until 11.30am.

Facilitated by Nick Bramley from Impactus Group, the workshop will focus on the challenges care companies face both recruiting and retaining staff.

Nick Swash, chief executive of Yorkshire Care Alliance, said: 

“There are so many challenges facing not only care companies, but unpaid carers and the whole industry.

“No one organisation exists to take on these challenges and look for solutions. We have set up the Yorkshire Care Alliance to fill this void and bring together people from across the whole sector to help address the problems.

“It is all about working together, positivity and finding solutions together. This is why we launched with six free sessions across the region, each covering different topics such as CQC inspections, insurance and recruitment.”

Harrogate independent nursery makes new appointments

A Harrogate independent nursery has appointed new senior staff.

Magic Tree Nursery, part of independent Harrogate prep school Belmont Grosvenor, has appointed a new head and deputy head of early years to lead the nursery.

Mother-of-two Hayley Thompson, 37, and Sarah Birt, 27, have been appointed to the roles.

The pair will be tasked with leading a new ‘curiosity approach’ to early-years learning and development.

Nathan Sadler, headmaster at Belmont Grosvenor School, said:

“There have already been a number of changes in our early years department over the summer, and we are excited about the future as we help build strong foundations for our children to thrive in an ever-changing world.”

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