New Harrogate Beer Week raises glass to local pubs and breweries

Local pubs and breweries will be the focus of the first ever Harrogate Beer Week, which starts next month.

The beer week will run from September 20 to 26. During the week there will be a programme of special events across different venues in Harrogate.

There will also be an indie beer trail, live local music and a home brewing competition on the the cards. It will all culminate with a big beer weekend in the town centre.

If successful, the organiser hopes that she will be able to bring it back on an annual basis.

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Rachel Auty, who founded Women on Tap, is behind the new project. She said:

“This brand new event will be a spotlight on the very best of what’s on offer in Harrogate and will be created and delivered by people who actually live and work here.

“I would love it to become an annual flagship event that is proven to deliver direct benefit to the town centre, independent beer and food businesses.

“It’s been such an awful 15 months and I am determined to bring some beer-themed joy back to our indies and communities this autumn.”

She believes that, with five big breweries in the district, there is nothing to stop Harrogate from standing shoulder to shoulder with the likes of Leeds and Sheffield.

Harrogate BID is helping to finance Harrogate Beer Week. BID manager Matthew Chapman said:

“We’re really excited to be supporting September’s Harrogate Beer Week, particularly as it will involve a host of local bars and pubs.

“It will be a fantastic opportunity for beer lovers to have a pint or two in different venues, which as an organisation dedicated to driving footfall into all parts of the town centre appealed to us.

“And whilst it’s still a few weeks away, we are happy to raise a glass to its undoubted success, and say ‘cheers, Rachel’.”

Police arrest two men after damage to properties in Bilton

North Yorkshire Police arrested two men in Bilton last night following reports of damage to properties.

Officers were responding to reports from the Woodfield Road area of the Harrogate suburb last night.

The force’s Dutch Herder police dog, PD Bobby, was brought in to find the suspects.

The two men are currently in custody.

If you were involved in any of these incidents and have not yet reported this to the police, please call 101.

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Live: Harrogate district traffic and travel

Good morning and welcome back. It’s Connor with you this morning bringing you all your latest traffic and travel news.

The aim of these blogs, brought to you by The HACS Group, is to make sure your journey is as smooth as possible.

I’ll include all the latest roadworks, traffic hotspots and any delays to public transport.

If you spot anything or get stuck in a jam, give me a call on 01423 276197.

9am – Full Update 

Thank you for checking in with the traffic and travel blog this morning. We do hope you find the service useful. I am heading over to the news desk now but I will be back from 6.30am tomorrow.

Roads 

The roads are looking clear so far this morning except for a few spots around the Harrogate district:

Temporary traffic lights are in place here:

Trains

Buses

8.45am – Full Update 

Roads 

The roads are looking clear so far this morning except for a few spots around the Harrogate district:

Temporary traffic lights are in place here:

Trains

Buses

8.30am – Full Update 

Roads 

The roads are looking clear so far this morning except for a few spots around the Harrogate district:

Temporary traffic lights are in place here:

Trains

Buses

8.15am – Full Update 

Roads 

The roads are looking clear so far this morning except for a few spots around the Harrogate district:

Temporary traffic lights are in place here:

Trains

Buses

8am – Full Update 

Roads 

The roads are looking clear so far this morning except for a few spots around the Harrogate district:

Temporary traffic lights are in place here:

Trains

Buses

7.45am – Full Update 

Roads 

The roads are looking clear so far this morning except for a few spots around the Harrogate district:

Temporary traffic lights are in place here:

Trains

Buses

7.30am – Full Update 

Roads 

The roads are looking clear so far this morning, today’s traffic hotspots are likely to show up a little later. Keep checking in.

Temporary traffic lights are in place here:

Trains

Buses

7.15am – Full Update 

Roads 

The roads are looking clear so far this morning, today’s traffic hotspots are likely to show up a little later. Keep checking in.

Temporary traffic lights are in place here:

Trains

Buses

7am – Full Update 

Roads 

The roads are looking clear so far this morning, today’s traffic hotspots are likely to show up a little later. Keep checking in.

Temporary traffic lights are in place here:

Trains

Buses

6.45am – Full Update 

Roads 

The roads are looking clear so far this morning, today’s traffic hotspots are likely to show up a little later. Keep checking in.

Temporary traffic lights are in place here:

Trains

Buses

6.30am – Full Update 

Roads 

The roads are looking clear so far this morning, today’s traffic hotspots are likely to show up a little later. Keep checking in.

Temporary traffic lights are in place here:

Trains

Buses

Second tap terminal in Harrogate to help homeless people

Harrogate District Street Aid has launched a second contactless tap terminal to help homeless people.

The second terminal is at the Victoria Shopping Centre and follows in the footsteps of the first at Marks and Spencers on Oxford Street.

With each tap of a bank card, £3 goes to Harrogate District Street Aid. Since the launch in October 2019, people have donated more than £14,000 to the project.

Harrogate Borough Council is behind the project which provides financial support for those in need. Homeless people can apply for grants up to £500.

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To date the Harrogate District Street Aid has given out 16 grants for training courses, clothing for job interviews and wellbeing support.

Cllr Mike Chambers, Harrogate Borough Council’s cabinet member for housing and safer communities, said:

“Harrogate District Street Aid is about making a real change to people who find themselves on the street and I am delighted that we have been able to provide a second tap terminal in Harrogate town centre.

“Some people assume that giving a few pounds to a beggar is helping them. Sadly, in some instances it may actually keep them on the street.

“Through Harrogate District Street Aid, we can work with our partner organisations to make best use of the money that has been kindly donated, work with homeless people and make a real difference to their lives.”

Firefighters rescue teens from Harrogate school roof

Firefighters rescued four teenagers who had climbed onto the roof of a school in Harrogate.

North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service took a call for help at a building on Wetherby Road just after 6pm yesterday.

The group had made their way up to the roof of the school but when it came to climbing back down, the teenagers got into some difficulty.

When the crews arrived they used a ladder to get them to safety.

A spokesperson for North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue said after the incident:

“Crews assisted four teenagers that had climbed onto the roof of a school and then were unable to get down. Crew used a ladder.”

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Daily Harrogate district covid infections lowest since June

Just 45 covid infections have been recorded in the Harrogate district — the lowest 24-hour figure since June 26.

Today’s data, from Public Health England, reduces the district’s seven-day average rate of infection to 260 per 100,000 people.

The rate peaked at 534 on July 18 and has more than halved in the fortnight since.

The current rates for England and North Yorkshire are 291 and 260 respectively.

Harrogate West and Pannal has had the most infections in the district in the last seven days, with 42, followed by Ripon South and East with 35.

At the other end of the scale Pateley Bridge and Nidd Valley has had just 12 cases.

There has not been a covid-related death at Harrogate District Hospital for almost four months now.

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Stray Views: Starbeck is worse than Bradford and Birmingham

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. See below for details on how to contribute.

Harrogate is in trouble and needs to wake up

I can only say what I see. I am originally from Birmingham and still have my business there. We lived in Cottingley, near Bradford for 11 years before moving to Starbeck in 2018 to be near our daughter and grandkids.

Since living here, I don’t see any difference between Harrogate, Bradford or Birmingham. In fact, Starbeck is a lot worse. It’s certainly the worst place we have lived in for over 40 years and most of that time was around Birmingham, including Erdington, Longbridge and Bournville — where my business is.

The drug problem here is horrific (like everywhere), and almost everywhere I can smell pot smoking. Harrogate is overcrowded, and the roads into the town are ridiculously busy, as bad as the big cities, mainly due to the poor planning of the town over the decades.

I lived in Redditch in 1989-1990 and Harrogate compares to that time, but probably worse. Prospect Road area is now renowned for drugs, antisocial behaviour, supermarket trolleys everywhere daily, and broken glass and litter strewn everywhere, and if it is cleared up it’s back the same within days.

Harrogate town centre is just like any other which is struggling, and no one is doing anything about it other than seemingly making things worse with wrong decision after wrong decision. Don’t get me wrong, it is still nice, but the spiral is seemingly downwards and it needs radical common sense thinking to turn the town around.

Is Harrogate in decline? It seems it’s been in decline for a long time, and the town needs to wake up because as an outsider if this is my experience of it then the town is already in trouble.

Martin Morris, Starbeck

Harrogate is clean, tidy and beautiful

I read some of the comments about “is Harrogate in decline”? I recently moved to Harrogate after spending over 20 years living and working in Northampton. To me Harrogate is a lovely place to live.

It is clean, tidy, mostly well organised and has beautiful buildings and parklands. The hospitality industry is excellent. I am so happy I moved here and the locals are genuinely so friendly.

A note of caution: I went back recently to Northampton for a few days. They are one of the towns / cities trialling e-scooter hire schemes. They should be avoided at all costs until proper well informed regulations are in place and enforced. Scooter riders are a law unto themselves, riding on pavements with no helmets and multiple riders. They are then just abandoned on pavements until they’re next hired, causing blockages and generally look a mess and tacky.

I hope Harrogate resists such schemes until proper regulations are in place and enforced. You have a lovely town and i am very happy to be part of it now.

Peter Hannon, Harrogate

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Devolution will lead to more waste and incompetence

Any councillors expressing regret over the government’s decision to choose to have a super-council for North Yorkshire should focus instead on their own faults for backing the present arrangements, which have never worked very well anyway.

Now we have a proposed local authority, which will be even more unaccountable to the public and which will only consult on its own terms.

Experience shows that there are no savings with large unitary bodies, only more waste and incompetence in handling larger revenues. You only have to listen to the regular facts uncovered by the TaxPayers’ Alliance and similar to see what we are in for now.

Robert Jenrick, the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, has overruled many public concerns and is going the wrong way here too. It’s up to councillors and MPs to make him realise there are no advantages to Joe Public — only poor control of costs

John Holder, Harrogate

 

Harrogate Christmas market organisers call for urgent talks to save event

The organisers of Harrogate Christmas market have said they were “staggered” by the decision not to grant a licence for this year’s event and called for urgent talks to save it.

Event organisers Brian and Beryl Dunsby, and Steve Scarre, the chairman of Harrogate Christmas Market Ltd, issued a statement this afternoon in the latest development in the saga.

The statement said the organisers had “bent over backwards” to fulfil safety measures and that Harrogate Borough Council had acted prematurely “without any discussion with the organisers over the outstanding issues”.

The council said on Thursday it had refused to grant a licence for the event because the organisers had not addressed concerns about safety and terrorism.

But today’s statement by the organisers said:

“At no point has there been any opportunity to meet the council officers and other key experts to discuss their outstanding concerns.

“We expected to be invited to a safety advisory group meeting to discuss the event plan and the supplementary information but we have not been given that opportunity.

“We have bent over backwards to fulfil all the recommended security and safety measures around the site. In contrast to all their criticisms, we have not had the opportunity to talk about the benefits which the market brings to town centre businesses. These appear not to have been considered by them.”

Mr Dunsby was unaware of the news until he was informed by the Stray Ferret on Thursday night.

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The statement added:

“We regret that the council has acted prematurely in refusing to grant a licence for the market in 2021 without any discussion with the organisers over the outstanding issues.

“We appeal for a proper consultation meeting with the relevant council officers and experts as soon as possible.

A total of 170 traders and 53 coaches had booked to attend the market on Montpellier Hill from November 18 to 21. It was expected to attract 85,000 people to the town, boosting its economy by £2.5 million.

The statement said the event had “strong support from over 20 local trade and voluntary groups based in the town centre”.

‘Little choice but to refuse’

Council leader Richard Cooper said yesterday the event organisers had ignored concerns, leaving the council with “little choice”.

He also warned them “not to think that trying to galvanise public opinion to put pressure on the council will change the decision”.

He said the council had suggested alternative locations to Montpellier Hill for several years but the organisers had refused.

However, today’s statement refers to a council-commissioned 2016 report by consultant Malcolm Veigas that concluded to the Stray was the best location.

The statement said:

“The network of tarmac paths surrounded by grass enables the mix of many visitors and the erection of marquees and canvas stalls on the same site, whatever the weather holds for us all in November. So we do need a large and versatile site.

“We still believe that the totally open nature of this location with free access in all directions provides a safe location for the event whilst being as close as possible to the town centre shops, hotels, restaurants and cafes.

“The action we have already taken to close Montpellier Hill during the Market to through traffic and the hill-top concrete blocks mitigate against the risk of a terrorist attack.

 

 

Letter: ‘Empty homes are in places where people don’t want to live’

This letter was sent to the Stray Ferret by Russell Davidson, a well-known Harrogate lawyer and former board member of Bradford and Northern Housing Association, in response to an article by Alex Goldstein in the Stray Ferret on empty homes last weekend. 

 

Dear Editor,

Having read Alex Goldstein’s article some facts need correcting. The majority of empty homes in the UK are substandard and in places where people simply do not want to live. A small number are high value homes owned by overseas investors which are rarely occupied yet unaffordable to most people.

I used to sit on the board of one of the largest housing associations.  We had empty homes that we had to get rid of because they were situated in areas where there were poor job opportunities or, simply, decaying inner cities. In one area, we built a brand new housing estate on local authority land. Unfortunately the local authority insisted on tenant nomination rights and decanted its worst council house tenants into that brand-new estate. Six families made life hell for everybody else, and so everybody else moved away. We ended up demolishing the entire new estate.

As far as Harrogate is concerned, it is misleading to point to over 2000 empty houses in the area (many of which are high value) and make a case that somehow dealing with that is going to solve the pressure to live in Harrogate, much of that pressure being directed towards less valuable three bedroom houses anyway. It would involve the council starting proceedings to compulsorily purchase those homes, a process which the council simply could not afford. Moreover, a large number of those houses are empty for a reason, such as pending probate issues.

As well as too many empty homes being in the ‘wrong’ areas, another issue is the structural tilt of the development market towards the 12 largest construction companies, some of which outbid the small builders on residential development sites. That tilt is getting worse because of the huge rise in the cost of building materials and labour shortages.

The government agency in charge of this issue, Homes England, needs to be a lot more radical in its thinking.

Regards

Russell Davidson

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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.

Crime commissioner pledges extra police for Harrogate’s Mayfield Grove

The North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner has pledged to push for increased policing in the Mayfield Grove area of Harrogate.

Philip Allott visited the area yesterday to hear concerns about crime and anti-social behaviour on Mayfield Grove and nearby streets, such as Mayfield Terrace and Nydd Vale Terrace.

He was invited by Paul Ivison, who has set up a residents group for people worried about drug dealing, car crime, speeding and anti-social behaviour, particularly in some houses in multiple occupation let by landlords, .

Mr Allott said:

“I will ask the police to step up neighbourhood policing in this area. I will ask them to target the drug dealers and make it hard for the supply chain to operate.”

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He also urged Harrogate Borough Council to take a tougher line against landlords that didn’t do enough to prevent crime and anti-social behaviour on their premises.

“The council possibly needs to be a little more active and realise this is a serious issue. I don’t think the district council has quite latched on to that.

“I will be asking Harrogate Borough Council to be more proactive and serve further closure notices against landlords where relevant.”

North Yorkshire Police and Harrogate Borough Council issued a three-month closure order on 38 Mayfield Grove in March. The two organisations can apply to a court for a closure order if they have concerns about antisocial behaviour and criminal behaviour on premises.

‘Abused by beggars’

Mr Ivison told the commissioner many town centre street beggars stayed in bedsits in the area and said the police should issue more Public Spaces Protection Orders to prevent begging in town, as many of those doing it weren’t genuine rough sleepers, were taking advantage of people and making a mess.

Mr Allott agreed the “town centre was being abused by beggars” who took advantage of “kindly, well disposed people who think they are helping”, adding:

“It’s patently clear a lot of these characters in the town centre are not what they present themselves to be.

“But I do recognise that there are a minority of people who through no fault of their own find themselves in a destitute position.”

Mr Allott said he supported the use of Public Spaces Protection Orders “where it is proportionate and necessary but not as a blanket measure”.