Oliver Bonas set to open store in Harrogate

Oliver Bonas looks set to be unveiled as the latest big name addition to Harrogate’s high street.

The clothing and homeware store is advertising for a store manager and deputy store manager to run a shop in Harrogate.

The Stray Ferret understands it has identified the former Next store on James Street as its home.

There are also rumours that German fashion giant Hugo Boss and USA clothes retailer Anthropologie are considering opening outlets in Harrogate.

The company’s website says:

“We have an amazing opportunity for a store manager to join Team Oliver Bonas in our Harrogate store.”

The salary is described as ‘competitive with benefits’. The website also advertises a deputy store manager vacancy.

Read more:

The Stray Ferret has approached Oliver Bonas for further details.

Tom Limbert, director of property consultants Central Retail, said:

“We are very close to letting the former Next store on James Street to a very exciting national lifestyle retailer who will be another great addition to the street.”

Oliver Bonas, which was founded by Oliver Tress, opened its first store in London in 1993. It now has 75 outlets in the UK and the Republic of Ireland.

The closest ones to Harrogate are currently in Ilkley, Leeds and York.

New bus service to link Harrogate and Knaresborough with Yorkshire Dales

Improved bus links from Harrogate and Knaresborough to the Yorkshire Dales will begin this weekend.

A new service, DalesBus 74, will run every Saturday from Knaresborough and Harrogate to Ilkley, Bolton Abbey and Grassington. 

The Reliance bus leaves from Knaresborough Bus Station (stand C) at 9.10am and Harrogate Bus Station (stand 2) at 9.25am. It returns from Grassington at 5pm and Bolton Abbey at 5.25pm.

There are also minor changes to DalesBus 59, running between Harrogate and Skipton on Saturdays, from this weekend.  All journeys will return from Skipton five minutes later, and the bus will no longer call at Millstones.

Read more:

From July 3, a service called Eastern DalesBus 825 will run on Sundays and Bank Holidays from Harrogate to Brimham Rocks, Fountains Abbey, Masham, Leyburn and Richmond.

These services are managed by Dales and Bowland Community Interest Company, which aims to improve sustainable access to the Yorkshire Dales National Park and Nidderdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. 

Dales Rover day tickets are £10 for adults and £18 for any group of up to two adults and three children.  Concessionary bus passes for the elderly and disabled are valid for free travel on DalesBus 59 and DalesBus 74.

Tickets are available from the driver.

RHS Harlow Carr to convert bungalow into staff offices

RHS Harlow Carr is to covert a bungalow on its site into staff offices and welfare accommodation.

Harrogate Borough Council has approved the conversion of the bungalow on Crag Lane, which falls within the Harlow Carr estate.

The building had previously been used for residential purposes. It will now be converted for commercial use.

Last month the RHS submitted details about how it plans to convert the former Harrogate Arms pub, also on Crag Lane, into a cafe.

The horticultural charity bought the building in 2014 and received planning permission in 2019 to create a ground floor cafe and kitchen facilities.

Last month the horticultural charity had plans for a new footbridge at the gardens approved.

The Thaliana Bridge crosses the Queen Mother’s Lake at the south end of the gardens to improve access and provide new routes for visitors.

Read more:

 

Unison Harrogate canvasses election candidates over ‘shameful’ council pay

Unison in Harrogate is to write to next month’s local election candidates to find out their stance on local government pay.

Davie Houlgate, secretary of the Harrogate local government branch, said the union was looking to lodge a pay claim for the 2022/23 financial year.

The move comes after Unison’s attempt to call a strike in January over a 1.75% pay offer in the previous year failed because not enough members turned out to vote.

The trade union had branded the pay offer ‘derisory’.

The offer followed a national consultation by the Local Government Association, which is the national membership body for local authorities, over a pay increase.

Read more:

Mr Houlgate said the union was now considering another pay claim because the cost of living crisis is “squeezing” workers’ pay packets.

He added that officials will be writing to candidates ahead of the election in North Yorkshire on May 5 to find out their stance on the issue.

Mr Houlgate said:

“Local government pay must be increased to match the cost of living squeeze our members are now experiencing on the back of year-on-year below inflation pay increases.

“Without a decent above-inflation pay rise to help workers meet soaring costs, vital council services will struggle to hang on to skilled staff which could put some services at risk. Indeed this is already happening.

“Council workers need an above inflation pay rise, simply to try to catch-up with what they have lost in real terms over the past decade – a 25% pay cut. But it is more imperative than ever as a result of the cost-of living crisis we are now in.

“The situation is unsustainable and cannot go on.”

He added:

“We need to know if candidates have any idea of the enormity of the problems faced by council staff.  

“It’s shameful that people that make our towns and villages so attractive or do high skilled, essential and much-valued jobs on which everyone depends, don’t get paid enough to meet their basic costs.”

Pret A Manger set to open in Harrogate ‘very soon’

Pret A Manger has confirmed it will open a shop on Harrogate’s James Street “very soon”.

The Stray Ferret revealed in January the sandwich shop franchise planned to open in what was at the time Messums Yorkshire, a gallery curated by artist Johnny Messum. The gallery is now closed.

Pret has now confirmed a store, creating 15 jobs, is expected to welcome customers by late spring.

Pano Christou, chief executive of Pret, said:

“We’re excited to be expanding our footprint in Yorkshire as part of our wider ambition to bring Pret to more people.

“Harrogate is a beautiful and historic town, bustling with tourists and a thriving community. We look forward to welcoming locals and visitors alike into our new shop, very soon”.

Pret currently has more than 450 shops in the UK, with the majority in London.

This will be the first Pret in the Harrogate district. It will sell hot drinks, sandwich and grab and go menu.

Read more:

Pret will will become the latest in a significant number of new arrivals on James Street over the past few months.

Tom Limbert, director of property consultants Central Retail, which acted for the landlord, said:

“It’s great to finally bring Pret A Manger to Harrogate. They have looked at the town on and off for a number of years but it shows national occupiers still have belief in the town.”

In partnership with The Pret Foundation, the company is also looking for local charities to donate surplus food to at the end of each day. Those interested can contact the foundation on Pret.FoundationUK@pret.com.

 

Police warning after Land Rover thefts in Harrogate

Police have issued a warning to car owners after criminals have been targeting Land Rovers in Harrogate.

North Yorkshire Police has reported that 14 Land Rover Defenders have been stolen in the county in the last two weeks.

Officers said since the start of the year Harrogate, Richmondshire and Hambleton have seen a high number of thefts.

Seven of the stolen vehicles were taken from driveways of residential properties. Six of the thefts occurred overnight.

Read more:

Police have urged drivers to put in place extra security on their Land Rovers, such as tracking devices.

A North Yorkshire Police statement added:

“We know the loss of a Land Rover can have a major impact on daily life – on farms and other rural businesses in particular – so it’s important to put in place extra security measures to protect them.

“Trackers are invaluable, and can make all the difference in recovering your stolen vehicle and identifying suspects.

“Meanwhile, our officers will be proactively stopping and checking Land Rovers, and using ANPR technology to identify suspicious vehicles, to make life as difficult as possible for thieves.”

Stray Views: is this rewilding eyesore acceptable for Harrogate?

Stray Views is a weekly column giving you the chance to have your say on issues affecting the Harrogate district. It is an opinion column and does not reflect the views of the Stray Ferret. Send your views to letters@thestrayferret.co.uk.

Is this rewilding eyesore acceptable for our town?

I was interested to read in the Stray Ferret that Harrogate Borough Council has decided to repeat last years exercise of ‘wilding’ the Stray.

The article was accompanied by an attractive picture of wild flowers and grass gently bending in the breeze. It looks idyllic, and just the image that we want to project to encourage people to visit our town.

The grass verge directly in front of 8 West Park (Specialized & OKA) was ‘wilded’ last year and for weeks we had a miserable view of two-metre high weeds, and the odd dandelion amongst the sparse grass.

grass verge

This year, as my images illustrate, it’s going to be another eyesore. The kind of abandoned verge you wouldn’t be surprised to see on a motorway central reservation but not Harrogate, home of the RHS Harlow Carr and Valley Gardens.

This is on the main walking route into our town, passed by thousands of visitors each year and yet the council seem oblivious to this embarrassment of a ‘maintained’ verge. There were no spring crocuses bursting through. It’s pointless the council cutting the grass because there is as much bare earth as grass. Why has it been forgotten?

I broadly support the concept of ‘wilding’. if the preparation has been done it can look really attractive as it does in neighbouring towns.

I anticipate the council’s response i.e. ‘lack of resources due to covid’ and’ budget restraints’ etc but would it cost so much for a rotavator, some weed killer and grass seed? I would gladly pay for the wild flowers seeds!

Please take a stroll past this verge and ask yourself is this acceptable for our town.

Ian Latham, Harrogate

Sort out this traffic light mess!

I agree with Liz Carnell and the appalling situation with traffic congestion on Skipton Road.

The phasing on all the traffic lights from Bilton Lane right through to Claro Road is completely rubbish.

They all need to be adjusted to time and flow with emphasis on ensuring traffic turning into Skipton Road is not then impeded by red lights, which in turn cause log jams such as King’s Road and Woodfield Road into Skipton Road, both of which allow three cars to turn and immediately into red lights.

As always, local authority make changes at will without understanding the situation in the first place and almost always make the problems worse.

Tony Petrie, Woodfield Road, Harrogate

Do you have an opinion on the Harrogate district? Email us at letters@thestrayferret.co.uk. Please include your name and approximate location details. Limit your letters to 350 words. We reserve the right to edit letters.

English version of Bach masterpiece to be sung in Harrogate

A new English version of Bach’s St Matthew Passion will be performed during Holy Week at St Peter’s Church in Harrogate.

The oratorio will be sung on Wednesday by the choir of St Peter’s Church, Vocalis chamber choir and the professional Harrogate Bach Players.

John Longstaff, director of music and organist at St Peter’s Church, will direct the performance.

Mr Longstaff and Andrew Greenan, the internationally acclaimed soloist singing the bass arias, have translated the 400-year-old passion into English.

Christine Murphy, of Vocalis, said:

“This is an unmissable opportunity to hear Bach’s St. Matthew Passion complete in Holy Week, in a new English translation, which seeks to communicate the text as clearly as possible while respecting Bach’s natural speech rhythms.”

The other professional soloists are the tenors Joseph Doody and James Micklethwaite, who were both born locally, Philip Wilcox (bass),  Jenny Stafford (soprano, pictured) and Heather Lowe (mezzo-soprano).

Read more:

St Matthew Passion was first performed on Good Friday in 1727 and has become an Easter tradition.

Tickets cost £15 and are available by calling 07425 161425, via Eventbrite or on the door, subject to space.

Residents on Harrogate’s Duchy Road lose water after pipe bursts

People living on Harrogate’s Duchy Road were without water today after a pipe burst.

Yorkshire Water was carrying out planned work to repair a section of pipe.

But a Yorkshire Water spokeswoman explained things didn’t go entirely to plan. She said:

“During that repair, an unexpected burst happened nearby. This was then repaired live by the guys on site already there.

“It’s unclear how many houses were affected but I can tell you we had five calls from customers.

“This issue should now be resolved, customers may experience low pressure as their water comes back on.”

Read more:

 

#HG1 Apologies if you have no water due to work on #DuchyRoad. We will get supplies back on ASAP and will tweet when resolved. pic.twitter.com/WD9otVNaPE

— Yorkshire Water Help (@YWHelp) April 10, 2022

 

Stray Pets Rescue Club: Batman, Lux, and Cheeky Pekey are all looking for their forever homes. Can you help them?

The Stray Pets Rescue Club is our monthly profile of rescue animals in and around the Harrogate district, searching for their forever family home. This month, Batman, Lux, and Cheeky Pekey are three furry friends looking for someone to adopt them.

Batman

Age: 2 to 5 years

Batman’s Story: Batman is a lovely four-year-old Labrador, ready to find his forever home. He is very affectionate and lots of fun to be around. He loves his toys and has a lot of potential.

Temperament: Batman is very strong on the lead, so he is looking for owners who will be able to keep up with him! As well as being able to hold onto him, he’d really benefit from owners that can teach him how to walk on a loose lead using positive, reward-based training (the Dogs Trust can help you with this).

Ideal home: Batman has a history of guarding his blankets and bones, so he needs owners who are prepared to manage this and follow a training plan. He can be homed with people aged 16 years and older. He is dog social, but he’d prefer to be the only pet. An enclosed garden would be really beneficial to help Batman along with his training.

If you want to take Batman on adventures, contact The Dogs Trust. 

Lux

Age: 10 Weeks

Lux’s Story: This little sweetheart arrived in rescue this week after her owners were unable to look after her. She clearly wasn’t well and was rushed to Crab Lane Vets, where she is being treated.

Temperament: Lux is a little poorly at the moment and is underweight. She needs lots of love and attention to get back on track so she can feel like herself again.

Ideal home: Lux needs a quiet home where she can recover and get her strength back. Somewhere where routines can be followed so she gets the love and attention she deserves.

 

Got a heart big enough to look after little Lux? Get in touch with Harrogate Cat Rescue. 

Cheeky Pekey

Age: Cheeky is an elderly dog.

Cheeky’s Story: This is Cheeky Pekey, one of four tiny little ones rescued from Romania and now looking for long-term foster care.

Temperament: Cheeky lives up to her name, she is the most courageous, wilful character, very clever,  full of life and twice as naughty! Although Cheeky is an older dog, you really wouldn’t think so.

Ideal home: Cheeky Pekey could live with another resident small dog, as she loves to cuddle another dog, but since she is tiny, it would need to be a small, friendly companion. She could also live as an only dog with someone at home most of the day. Cheeky enjoys a carry–walk and loves to pad around the garden.

 

Who wouldn’t want this ball of personality to keep them company? Call Miss Millies Rescue to find out more about Cheeky Pekey.