The Stray Ferret has had a record breaking March, with more than two million page views and almost 300,000 unique users.
The Harrogate district news service, which is now three years old, has seen consistent growth in readership.
The figures quoted have all been verified by Google Analytics.
More than 30,000 people follow Stray Ferret posts on the various social media channels.
The most read stories in March included hundreds of job losses due to the sudden close of telemarketing firm Amvoc in Harrogate, disruption across the district due to snow fall, Knaresborough tractor run and the closure of the fast food restaurant Leon.
Tamsin O’Brien, director of the Stray Ferret said:
“We set out to provide a service that we thought the residents of the Harrogate district wanted — well written news and information in an easy-to-read digital format. We constantly aim to be first with the news and be as local as possible. To have two million page views shows just how much people value this information and are engaged in where they live.
“Our readers tell us how much they like the fact our news content is free of annoying pop-ups or Google ads and we only allow local advertisers who also want to engage local residents — so the whole site is solely for the people and businesses of the district.”
This month also saw the Stray Ferret launch its annual Business Awards and establish a networking Business Club.
Thanks to all our readers and advertisers. Please keep us up to date with your news and views.
Read more:
- Andrew Jones to stand for election again in Harrogate and Knaresborough
- Headteacher of King James’s School in Knaresborough leaves after 15 years
Inquest opens into death of 29-year-old man in Harrogate
An inquest has opened into the death of a 29-year-old man in Harrogate.
Joseph Paul Aaron Morrison, of no fixed abode, died at Harrogate District Hospital on October 30, 2022.
Opening the inquest at Northallerton, Catherine Cundy, coroner for North Yorkshire, said Mr Morrison was “found unresponsive” at an address in Harrogate on the same date.
She said the provisional cause of death was drug related.
Mr Morrison was found with morphine and tramadol in his system.
Ms Cundy adjourned the inquest for a later date.
Read more:
- Inquest opens for Harrogate woman who went missing for two weeks
- Inquest opens into death of Seb Mitchell in Harrogate
Knaresborough to get new fish and chip shop
A new fish and chip shop is set to open in Knaresborough.
Fish-a-rama is expected to begin serving customers at around Easter on the site of a former Chinese takeaway on York Place.
Owner Aytach Sadik ran a fish and chip shop in London before moving to Harrogate 22 years ago.
Since then he was been involved with Chico’s and Bambino’s takeaways in Harrogate.
Mr Sadik said he had spent about £200,000 on the new family-run business, which he said will be a family business selling the best fish and chips around:
“We will only use fresh fish. The quality isn’t there with frozen fish. We will also serve grilled sea bass and bream on a barbecue.”
“Everything is brand new – from the electricity and gas to the fittings. We knocked it back to the bare walls.”
The family-run business is preparing to open.
Mr Sadik said the business intended to apply for planning permission to open an outdoor seating area with a retractable roof on the large forecourt outside.
In the meantime, customers will be able to take their orders and eat them at tables on the patio at the front.
Mr Sadik, who is 67, is coming out of retirement for the venture. He said:
“I did retire two years ago but it’s just not for me. How many days can you play golf?”
Read more:
Two men arrested in Harrogate after car break-ins
Two men have been arrested after reports of cars being broken into in Harrogate.
The men, both from Bradford and aged in their 50s, were arrested in the early hours of this morning.
North Yorkshire Police acted after a resident in Bilton saw a man trying car door handles on their doorbell camera.
As a result, officers arrested two men on suspicion of vehicle interference and going equipped for theft.
Both are currently being questioned in custody.
Meanwhile, in a separate incident, a 34-year-old man was arrested and charged with theft from a vehicle following an incident on Yew Tree Lane on March 26.
He was due to appear before York Magistrates Court today.
Read more:
- Harrogate woman jailed for 10 weeks
- Harrogate crime hotspot gets £6,000 railings to prevent loitering
Harrogate chamber chief executive David Simister seriously ill in hospital
David Simister, chief executive of Harrogate District Chamber of Commerce, is seriously ill in hospital.
The business organisation said on its website yesterday Mr Simister had suffered a “serious medical episode”.
It added:
“I am sure all our members, and friends in the wider business community of Harrogate will join us in wishing him and his family our thoughts and prayers for a positive outcome and want him to know that we will all be with him on his road to recovery.
“We are deeply saddened by the news and greatly miss David’s infectious enthusiasm and dedication.”
The message added the chamber’s management team led by president Sue Kramer and vice-presidents, Martin Mann, Sam Oakes and Jackie Snape would continue to support and represent chamber members.
Former journalist Mr Simister is well known in Harrogate. He co-founded the Harrogate communications firm Different PR and is a former councillor.
The Stray Ferret sends our best wishes to Mr Simister and hope for his speedy recovery.
Read more:
Harrogate’s planning committee approves sole council house in final act
Harrogate Borough Council’s planning committee last act yesterday was to approve a new council house in Huby.
The committee of councillors has met about once a month to decide on some of the largest and most controversial developments in the district.
But in its final meeting it was asked to approve a two-bedroom council home on the Kingsway estate in Huby.
When the council was formed in 1974 it owned 7,000 council houses across the Harrogate district but this has fallen to 3,800 since the Conservative government introduced the Right to Buy scheme in the 1980s.
There are currently 2,199 households registered on the waiting list for council homes.
The two-storey home in Huby will include solar panels and an air source heat pump to provide future residents with renewable energy.
Read more:
- Plan approved to convert former Harrogate RAF club into flats
- Confirmed: second phase of Harrogate’s Otley Road cycle route scrapped
Harrogate Borough Council housing officer Emily Shephard told councillors the authority still owns 80% of council homes on the Huby estate, which is next to Weeton train station.
Objector Susan Durrant told councillors the site would increase traffic in Huby and the empty grassland should be used by the community instead.
She said:
“The highway is very difficult in that area for parking. You can only park on one side of the road. It’s hazardous. All the vehicles coming and going would create mayhem.
“The land could be used as common land for a play area for children. Why at this point in the day has it been decided to build upon there?”
The plans were approved by eight votes to four.
North Yorkshire Council will create new planning committees based on parliamentary constituency areas.
This means that from April 1, the Harrogate Borough Council area will be split into new committees for Harrogate and Knaresborough, Selby and Ainsty and Ripon and Skipton.
Plan approved to convert former Harrogate RAF club into flatsA plan to convert a former Royal Air Force club in Harrogate into flats has been approved.
The club on East Parade occupied the building between 1966 and 2022 and served to support ex-RAF servicemen and servicewomen throughout the Harrogate district.
Its members were part of the RAF Association, a registered charity that provides welfare support to the family of RAF members nationally.
Now, Harrogate Borough Council has approved a proposal by Mr Aaron Dean to convert the club into four flats following its closure last year.
The club closed after over 50 years in June 2022 due to a dwindling membership locally.
A statement from the club chairman last summer said the club was no longer viable and when sold, the proceeds would be given to the RAF Association.
Read more:
- Royal Air Force club in Harrogate to close after 56 years
- Malcolm Neesam History: Harrogate’s thriving working men’s clubs
- Government rejects Harrogate working men’s club flats plan
A closing party was held at the club where people made donations to obtain some of its remaining military memorabilia.
Despite closing the club, the Harrogate district branch of RAFA is continuing with its charitable endeavours and remaining members will still attend annual events such as the Battle of Britain commemorative parade at Stonefall Cemetery and Remembrance Sunday parades.
Aquarium store opens in Harrogate tomorrowA Knaresborough man has turned his passion into a career by opening an aquarium store in Harrogate.
Wave Aquariums will join the many independent retailers on Commercial Street when it welcomes its first customers tomorrow.
It specialises in saltwater coral reefs and marine life, such as venomous lionfish, clownfish, anemones and bamboo sharks.
Store manager Jonny Rhodes, who has kept fish tanks since he was 14, returned from 10 years in London as a website designer to pursue the venture.
He and dad Ken, who owns the business, and mum Irene have been transforming the unit that was previously a nail salon next to Harrogate Town’s club shop.
Besides tanks, accessories and equipment, it will also sell coral reefs and have a large e-commerce offering on its website.
Mr Rhodes, who studied marine biology at university at Cambridge, said:
“I’ve been debating whether to do it for years and finally decided to bite the bullet and go for it.”
He said there was a gap in the market for marine aquariums between Leeds and York.
Harrogate Aquatic, at Moorland Nurseries on Forest Moor Road in Knaresborough specialises in tropical fish and the two businesses would complement each other, he added.
Wave Aquariums is one of 80 official retailers of Red Sea Fish products in the UK and also stocks products by other aquatic companies, including Reef Factory, Ecotech Marine and D&D Aquarium Solution.
Clownfish in the store
Besides catering for specialists, Mr Rhodes said he hoped the shop would appeal to children and passers-by and was keen to offer advice to anyone interested in keeping fish or corals.
Harrogate and Knaresborough MP Andrew Jones will officially open the store on Saturday afternoon at 2pm.
Read more:
- Harrogate shops to feature in BBC programme hosted by Alan Carr
- Plan to convert former Cold Bath Road shop into bar and cafe
Albanian crime group ran huge cocaine racket in Harrogate, court hears
An Albanian organised crime group ran a cocaine and cannabis racket in Harrogate potentially worth millions, a court heard.
The mega-money conspiracy involved “kilo blocks” of cocaine and cannabis being transported between London and Harrogate where the drugs were sold on the street, a jury at Leeds Crown Court was told yesterday.
Prosecutor Katherine Robinson said the conspirators, mostly Albanian nationals, were also thought to be involved in a £1.5 million cannabis farm in Rochdale which was connected to the Harrogate operation.
Yesterday, Kole Lleshi, 54, of Hargrove Road, Harrogate, Gavin Woodley, 44, of Ashfield Road, Harrogate and Allaman Tatariku, 25, of Penhale Road, Portsmouth appeared for the first day of their trial after they each denied playing a part in the wider conspiracy.
The gang’s ringleader, former Harrogate restaurant worker Ermal Biba, 38, had already admitted his part in the lucrative drug plot, along with Kladji Lleshi, 23, of Kinloss Court, London, Dritan Lleshaj, 53, formerly of Spring Mount, Harrogate, and Adam Sarkowski, 41, formerly of Wedderburn Close, Harrogate.
Biba, of Trafalgar Court, Harrogate, admitted conspiring to supply cocaine and cannabis between June 2019 and May 2022.
Ms Robinson said Biba was the lynchpin between two distinct conspiracies in which, after his first foot soldiers were arrested, he recruited three others, namely Kladji Lleshi, Tatariku, Woodley and Sarkowski.
She said the first conspiracy involved Biba, Kole Lleshi and Dritan Lleshaj, who had also admitted, and been jailed for, possession with intent to supply cocaine and cannabis. Lleshaj was deported to his homeland.
‘Dealer lines’
Biba was released under investigation following his initial arrest in May 2020 for the first conspiracy but then recruited another group of conspirators and continued operating “dealer lines” in Harrogate run by an “organised-crime group”, added the prosecuting barrister.
Kole Lleshi was arrested and admitted his part in the drug operation by transporting a kilo of cocaine from London to Harrogate in September 2019. However, he denied being involved in the wider conspiracy.
Ms Robinson said police surveillance officers had been tracking Biba, Lleshaj and Kole Lleshi during the first conspiracy in 2019.
They recorded Biba and Lleshaj “meeting regularly” and were monitoring their whereabouts when, in September 2019, Biba arranged a “drug run” which involved Kole Lleshi driving to London and bringing back Class A drugs to Harrogate.
Read more:
- Harrogate woman jailed for 10 weeks
- Harrogate crime hotspot gets £6,000 railings to prevent loitering
Biba was in contact with an unknown man in London from whom Lleshi was ostensibly to collect the drugs, added Ms Robinson.
A few weeks later, Biba sent Kole Lleshi a text message saying: “We go tomorrow.”
The following day, Lleshi set off for London again in a Kia vehicle, ostensibly for a drug pick-up, and returned to Yorkshire where he was stopped by police on the A1 near Doncaster. During a search of his car, officers found a kilo block of high-purity cocaine in a plastic bag wrapped in a sock. The drugs had a “wholesale” value of £25,000.
The following day, Lleshaj was arrested after meeting Biba in a Harrogate restaurant. Lleshaj was found with £419 in cash and five wraps of cocaine.
He told police he was homeless, but they found the keys to his house in Spring Mount and searched it. They found “various quantities” of cocaine and about £2,000 cash.
High-purity cocaine
She said Woodley played the role of “facilitator” in the conspiracy by allowing the gang to supply drugs from his rented house in Ashfield Road, where they found 264g of high-purity cocaine and two large “vacuum packages” of cannabis worth up to £11,000.
Biba, Lleshaj, Tatariku and Kladji Leshi were said to be regular visitors to this property where police also found “debt lists”, cash, digital weighing scales and hydroponic equipment for growing cannabis.
Woodley was subsequently arrested at his then home in Fairfax Avenue, Harrogate, where police found a small amount of cocaine and cannabis and a torch-like stun gun.
Ms Robinson said Greater Manchester Police raided an industrial unit in Rochdale in March last year when they arrested two Albanian men after they found a large cannabis grow on an “industrial” scale.
Those two men admitted cultivating cannabis at the factory which had an estimated harvest of 144 kilos with an estimated “street value” of £1.5 million. Ms Robinson added:
“(Police) surveillance had been carried out and members of the organised crime group in Harrogate regularly visited this industrial estate in Rochdale.
“ANPR (cameras) showed Mr Biba’s vehicle travelling in that direction and Kladji Lleshi and Allaman Tatariku’s phones showed they travelled down the M62 from Harrogate to Rochdale.”
Woodley’s red Transit van also made journeys to Rochdale, said Ms Robinson.
Biba, Kladji Lleshi and Sarkowski all admitted their part in that cannabis conspiracy. Tatariku said he was involved in the supply of cocaine and cannabis but that he was not involved in a conspiracy with other people.
Woodley said although he was the tenant at the Ashfield Road property, he “couldn’t remember” the name of the landlord and “knew nothing” about the drugs found there. He denied playing any part in drug supply but said he knew Biba, with whom he worked in Harrogate restaurants.
The trial continues.
Harrogate woman jailed for 10 weeksA woman from Harrogate has been jailed for 10 weeks for failing to comply with a community order.
Claire Read, 28, of Fairfax Avenue, admitted the offence when she appeared at Harrogate Magistrates Court on Friday.
Read received a suspended sentence, which included a community order, on September 23 last year.
As part of this, she was required to attend an appointment on February 15 but failed to do so.
Court documents say Read was jailed for ‘wilful and persistent failure to comply with the requirements of a community order’.
The documents added her guilty plea was taken into account when the sentence was imposed.
Read more:
- Ripon man jailed for assaulting woman while on bail
- Knaresborough man jailed for ‘flagrant disregard for court orders’