Harrogate is to get its own chocolate factory cafe this summer staffed by people promised to be more talented than Willy Wonka.

The Harrogate Chocolate Factory cafe is due to open at the end of May in the former Big Red Bike Company building, near the Odeon cinema.

Learning disability charity Harrogate Skills 4 Living Centre (HS4LC), which is behind the initiative, has spent £100,000 renovating the building.

The charity, which was set up in 2010, helps adults with learning disabilities and autism.

Many of the people it supports have been unable to get work experience during the pandemic.

As a result, HS4LC set up its own business making chocolate in the kitchen of its offices on North Park Road, Harrogate.

Demand grew quickly and the charity sold 500 chocolate hampers before Christmas.

This encouraged it to set up a cafe as a social enterprise, selling chocolate made in the chocolate ‘factory’ beneath its offices.

Currently the Harrogate Chocolate Factory only sells a 70% dark chocolate bar made from Peruvian cocoa beans but a vegan milk chocolate bar is in the works.

Michael Horn, enterprise manager for the chocolate project, told the Stray Ferret:

“There are a few reasons why you can feel good if you buy this chocolate. It supports charity, it’s sustainable and it doesn’t have any nasty allergens.

“Coronavirus has made it a tough year for everyone. We are still here to help young adults with learning difficulties.

“Our charity is there to be like the final step to help our clients get into the world of work. It gives them another choice.”

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Hadyn Moorby-Davies, chief executive of HS4LC, said:

“It will be fantastic to see the cafe when it opens, I am really chuffed with how it has been working so far.

“The students are also really excited about it. The Harrogate Chocolate Factory has been in planning for a couple of years.

“We know that York has a strong connection to chocolate but why can’t Harrogate have that as well? Maybe this could be the start.”

Every month the Stray Ferret tries to find out what our local MPs have been up to in their constituencies and in the House of Commons.

In February the vaccination programme galloped ahead and prime minister Boris Johnson announced the UK’s roadmap out of lockdown.

We asked the district’s Conservative MPs- Harrogate & Knaresborough’s Andrew Jones, Ripon’s Julian Smith, and Selby and Ainsty’s Nigel Adams if they would like to highlight anything in particular that they have been doing this month, but we did not receive a response from any of them.

Here is what we know after analysing their online presence.

Andrew Jones, Conservative Harrogate and Knaresborough MP.

In Harrogate and Knaresborough, here is what we found on Mr Jones:

• The MP published his annual report for 2020 which included facts and figures related to his last year in office. He wrote on his website that many copies had been emailed rather than posted as he “does not believe volunteer political leaflet delivery is an essential journey”.
• On February 2 Andrew Jones called for a debate in parliament about the conference industry after seeing the “real hardship” his constituents have faced.
• On February 12 Mr Jones wrote on his website that by that point 175,000 vaccinations had been delivered in North Yorkshire and York.
• Mr Jones chaired a Parliamentary Export Programme webinar, which included a talk from Greg Hatton from Harrogate Spring Water. ‘Exporting is fun!’, the MP told participants.
• On February 24, The MP voted down an amendment to the Fire Safety Bill which would have banned leaseholders from being forced to pay for cladding remediation works.
• Writing on his website on February 22, Mr Jones praised the government for the vaccination rollout. He wrote: “Although locked down with our everyday lives much restricted there is a palpable sense of relief in the air.”

Read more:

• Harrogate district MPs claim £536,000 in expenses last year
• MPs watch 2020: the year of coronavirus, Brexit and free school meals

Conservative Julian Smith, MP for Ripon and Skipton.

In Ripon, here is what we found on Mr Smith:

• At PMQs on February 10, Mr Smith asked prime minister Boris Johnson how the UK’s vaccine supply chain will cope if the virus mutates. In his response, Mr Johnson said the UK is going to have to get used to the idea of vaccinating and then revaccinating in the autumn as it faces new variants.
• 7 of Mr Smith’s 11 tweets in February were related to Northern Ireland. February 13 marks a year since he was sacked by the prime minister as Northern Ireland secretary.
• Mr Smith announced on Twitter that his father-in-law has gifted him and his wife an ‘aphrodisiac themed’ take away meal to be delivered on Valentine’s Day.
• The MP asked people in Ripon to contribute to a consultation on flood defences following Storm Cristophe.
• On his Facebook page, he said the £60m scheme to improve the Kex Gill section of the A59 was “brilliant news” for Skipton and Ripon.

Nigel Adams, Conservative MP for Selby and Ainsty which includes rural Harrogate.

In rural south Harrogate, he is what we found on Mr Adams:

• The Minister for Asia twice summoned the Myanmar ambassador Kyaw Zwar Minn to his office following the country’s military coup earlier this month. On February 23 he tweeted: “The increasing use of violence & force against protesters by the security forces is completely reprehensible & must stop”.
• Mr Adams paid tribute to Captain Tom Moore following his death at the age of 100. He wrote: “RIP. A true British hero”.
• The MP praised the BBC for showing a film of the rock band Muse. “Fantastic”, he tweeted.
• In written ministerial answers, Mr Adams discussed foreign powers and fake news. He wrote: “We know that certain states routinely use disinformation as a foreign policy tool and we all have our doubts about the objectivity of the reporting of RT, including through their UK television channel, which remains a tool of propaganda for the Russian State.”

Your Harrogate is set to launch its online radio service tomorrow with familiar faces from Stray FM.

The show on Monday at 8am and promises to offer the “best of life in Harrogate.”

Currently Your Harrogate is only available online and people can listen on their phones through an app or through a smart speaker.

Your Harrogate will launch with an all-male lineup who are all former DJs on Stray FM, which closed last year.

Read more:

• How local is Stray FM’s replacement station?
• Stray FM broadcasts its final shows before national take-over

Nick Hancock will be on breakfast duty and promises to set listeners up for their day with local weather, travel and school news.

Pete Egerton will be on daytimes, Ricky Durkin on weekday afternoons, Alex Cann on weeknights, Will Smith on weekends and David Whittle on weekend afternoons.

Stray FM broadcast its final show at the end of August ahead of a merger with national station Greatest Hits Radio.

Bauer Media, the owners of Greatest Hits Radio, promised to keep the show as local but there have been complaints on social media that it has not delivered.

The full line up is as below:

Weekdays
6am Early Breakfast
7am Nick Hancock
10am Pete Egerton
2pm Ricky Durkin
6pm Alex Cann

Saturdays
7am Ricky Durkin
10am Will Smith
1pm David Whittle

Sundays
7am Alex Cann
10am Nick Hancock
1pm David Whittle

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. 

We need to focus on the economy and move on

I fail to see why on earth we need a public enquiry into the nightingale hospital.

Has Cllr Jim Clarke and others forgot when covid took momentum we had to be prepared for the worst surely?  It could have been overwhelming had the NHS not been able to cope and save peoples lives.  What cost can you put on this?

Let’s move forward, concentrate on getting the economy back on track, support people less fortunate than others and not waste money on inquires. I often wonder if councillors understand what their real role is .

Mike Fisher, Harrogate

Are councils trying to deter visitors to Harrogate?

Are North Yorkshire County Council and Harrogate Borough Council deliberately trying to drive away visitors and shoppers with the constant downgrading or lack of maintenance and repair of the West Park Stray area?

First we had derelict and much-loved shelters in need of repair. How long have they been an eyesore to visitors or through traffic, which probably wont want to return if this is the standard.

Now we have horrible timber planters blocking traffic on Beech Grove. Surely we are better than this in Harrogate.

Ken Richardson, Harrogate 

Vicious hedge pruning a mistake

This year’s vicious hedge pruning has had a secondary effect; drivers are able to drive over verges with no fear of bushes and trees damaging their vehicles’ paintwork.

Lanes are becoming wider, the verges turn to mud and when it rains the deep ruts turn into torrents, wearing away the road edges.

I have lived in Blubberhouses for 26 years and the pruning has been excessive this spring.

Deborah Power, Blubberhouses

Making Oatlands one-way would harm St Aidan’s students

I have attended St Aidan’s High School for over five years and am now in year 12 in the associated sixth form.

I live in Wetherby, which mean I am required to get a school bus every morning.

Implementing a new one-way system on Oatlands Drive could have a devastating effect on my education and the education of all pupils of both St Aidan’s and St John Fisher’s high schools who get school buses.

Wetherby Road is notoriously busy and as a result I am often late for school. However, If a new one-way system is implemented, this will mean remaining on Wetherby Road until the Empress roundabout, which will probably add 20 minutes to my journey.

I get to school at around 8:55am. Adding 20 minutes to this will mean missing the start of period one, which will severely reduce the amount of teaching I am getting and therefore affect my A-level grades. The first 5-10 minutes is when most of the instruction is given for the lesson – missing this will therefore mean having to wait until the teacher is finished then having to get them to explain again, wasting both my time and theirs.

I have already missed a large amount of learning due to lockdown restrictions.

While I understand the motivation behind the one-way system, there are already usable bike lanes on Oatlands Drive and two wide pavements for pedestrians.

If this one-way system is allowed, it will not only be a waste of public funds that could be used to improve Wetherby Road or to provide technology for online learning to those less fortunate than I am. It will also have a negative effect on my learning in a year that is pivotal for my future.

Tom Adamson, Wetherby. St Aidan’s and St John Fisher’s Associated Sixth Form

Amazing treatment at Harrogate hospital A&E 

My son broke his arm yesterday afternoon. We went to Harrogate hospital A&E. I would like to let everyone know that we were looked after fantastically, that the team were so helpful and that even on a Sunday evening at 10.30pm they operated on him. We had amazing aftercare in the Woodland children’s ward.

The doctor who first saw Oliver was saying goodnight to his work colleagues. He took one look at my son and said ‘I’m not going anywhere’, assessed the damage, administered pain relief and got the X-ray sorted. He stayed for an extra hour and a half to ensure my son was looked after.

Just a fantastic service and I can’t thank them enough.

Simon Wade, Langthorpe, Boroughbridge

Got 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.

The Prime Minister has thanked the Harrogate family behind the global Christmas Eve Jingle in a letter.

Boris Johnson had promised to join in but he was too busy with Brexit to step out on the doorstep of Number 10 Downing Street.

So he has penned a letter to the Mary Beggs-Reid’s son Dexter to show his support. It reads:

“Dear Dexter, I am writing to thank you and your wonderful family for starting the Christmas Eve Jingle campaign.

“This heart-warming campaign gave us all a way to come together at a time when we were unable to do so in person. It captured the true meaning of Christmas and gave a sense of hope to so many.

“I would like to thank your marvellous mother Mary for her fantastic efforts to keep spirits up and make sure nobody was lonely over Christmas. I hope you are all keeping well and that you are looking forward to going back to school soon. I am sure all of your friends and teachers at St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School in Harrogate are very proud of you.”

Read more:

• Boris backs Harrogate Christmas Eve doorstep jingle
• Doorstep jingle founder Mary leads the ringing in Harrogate

Mary Beggs-Reid, the founder of the Christmas Eve Jingle, told the Stray Ferret that it was exciting to receive the letter out of the blue:

“Mr Johnson was busy on the day with Brexit but it was really nice of him to write this letter for us. Dexter hasn’t seen it yet but I am sure he will be very proud.

“The Christmas Eve Jingle went very well and we still have a lot of people in our Facebook group. It would have been mean to close it down when so many connect there.

“It may be a little early now but we are already thinking about the next Christmas Eve Jingle. There’s real demand for it to come back.

“And who knows? If it goes well this December it could then become a yearly tradition. It could be a positive way to mark 2020.”

Plans are being made to ensure Harrogate Christmas Market can return to the town centre in 2021.

The market, which first took place in 2012, had to be cancelled last year as changing covid restrictions made it impossible for organisers to plan a safe event without risk of last-minute cancellation.

However, following the government’s ‘road map’ out of lockdown which could see all restrictions lifted in June, the committee of organisers is preparing to meet for the first time to put firm plans in place for this year.

Organiser Brian Dunsby said:

“The aim is to review the market plans and agree changes needed – depending on the precautions required during November – if any!

“In the meantime we hope to start inviting applications from our established market traders based on the same layout and prices that were agreed for 2020 before it got cancelled.”

Read more:

• Birstwith Show set to return in July
• Theakston’s Crime Writing Festival will return to Harrogate in July

The market has been held at the bottom of Montpellier Hill in Harrogate since it was founded. After growing rapidly, for the last few years it has reached what organisers say is capacity, with around 200 traders and a focus on Yorkshire produce and products.

In previous year, the market has drawn crowds of up to 60,000 people across its four days. As well as their own traders, organisers say one of the key aims of the market is to drive footfall into the town centre to support local businesses in the run-up to Christmas.

This year’s event will be held from Thursday, November 18 to Sunday, November 21.

It is the latest event in the Harrogate calendar to confirm plans to proceed this year. This week, Harrogate International Festivals announced its crime writing festival would open in July, while Birstwith Show is also planning to go ahead.

A major programme of road repairs is set to cause delays in Harrogate from next week.

The closures will allow roads to be patched up ahead of surface dressing later in the year.

North Yorkshire County Council has separated the road repairs into three phases.

The first phase covers the Old Barber area in Bilton, the second will be in the area surrounding Franklin Road and the third will be on Leeds Road.

The county council has so far only released details of the first phase, which is scheduled to take place during the first two weeks of March:

• Old Trough Way – March 1 and will last two days, there will be a road closure between the hours of 07.30am and 6pm.
• Over Nidd / Spencers Way / Spencers Holt / Pecketts Way / Pecketts Holt – March 3 and will last for one day, there will be road closures between the hours of 7.30am and 6pm.
• Knox Lane – March 4 and will last for two days, there will be a road closure between the hours of 7.30am and 6pm.
• Bachelor Gardens / Bachelor Way / Bachelor Drive / Wainfleet Road – March 8 and will last for two days, there will be road closures between the hours of 7.30am and 6pm.
• Bachelor Road / Knox Close / Knox Road – March 10 and will last for two days, there will be road closures between the hours of 7.30am and 6pm.
• Knox Mill Lane – March 12 and will last for one day, there will be a road closure between the hours of 7.30am and 6pm.

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A spokesperson for the county council told the Stray Ferret:

“Please note the road closures above, but for access please consult with the staff on site who will be managing the access points, but it is recommended you find alternative parking during the period of the works.

“Advance warning signs are in place ahead of the start of these works.

“Details of phase two and three will be revealed in due course but if there any changes to dates or duration of road closures we will update the public.”

A row appears to have broken out between businesses and the two local councils on the first day of the Harrogate Station Gateway consultation.

North Yorkshire County Council and Harrogate Borough Council secured £7.8 million for the project in ring-fenced funding.

Plans include pedestrianising James Street, building cycle lanes on Station Parade and improving cycling facilities in the town centre.

However, business owners on Prince Albert Row have questioned how their stretch on Station Parade comes into the proposals, which they say are vague.

Prince Albert Row is the name the businesses have given themselves along this short stretch of Station Parade.

Read more:

• Harrogate business groups want Station Gateway cash spent elsewhere
• James Street pedestrianisation back on the cards in major town centre scheme

A spokesman on behalf of Rigby & Peller, Helen James and Woods of Harrogate said:

“We are being asked for our views, but until we know what is actually being proposed for the entire length of Station Parade, including Prince Albert Row, we can’t make a reasoned judgement.

“The plans are incredibly vague. We’re not sure if the parking bays outside our businesses will stay or go, and we don’t know if this section of road will remain as two lanes or be reduced to a single carriageway.

“And to add insult to injury, the ‘Zone Two’ survey only covers Station Square and James Street. Those who designed this questionnaire need to go back to the drawing board and include this section.

“Our livelihoods are dependent on ease of access. Our businesses occupy Listed building in a Conservation Area, and we have regular need for deliveries, from flowers to furniture and heavy linens to kitchen appliances, fittings, televisions and hi-fis. Loading and unloading takes places throughout the day.

“Our customers also rely on the parking spaces outside our shops, and if they disappear, I’m afraid our customers may well go the same way.”

“A vibrant town centre is what we all want, one that is welcoming and accessible for all. And as more than 70 per cent of visitors to Harrogate arrive by car, we mustn’t turn our back on them.”

It comes after Harrogate District Chamber of Commerce, Harrogate BID and Independent Harrogate questioned if the money could be better spent elsewhere.

The groups suggested East Parade and Cambridge Street as places they feel the money would be better spent.

However, Harrogate Borough Council has said the funding can only be spent improving the bus and train station area only and has to be focussed on transport-related activity.

The Lingerie Room in Harrogate is to close this year.

Owner Nicola Silcock moved the business from Settle to its current site on Tower Street five years ago.

But she says the changing retail landscape has led her to shut up shop for good in July.

Ms Silcock plans to reopen in April when lockdown restrictions ease but only to sell the last of her remaining stock.

She said that despite having a loyal customer base, a reduction in footfall in Harrogate made the shop less financially viable.

She said:

“People are too busy and ordering shopping online is so easy.”

Read more:

• ‘Hidden gem’ Harrogate shop more than a greengrocer
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The landlord of the building recently submitted a change of use application to Harrogate Borough Council to convert the shop into a home.

Ms Silcock was positive about the future of retail in Harrogate despite the ongoing challenges.

She added:

“I still believe Harrogate can sustain all the small businesses and you’ll always have smaller independent shops here. There’s entrepreneurial people out there.”

Harrogate District Diving Club is planning to resume training in April following this week’s government roadmap out of lockdown.

Outdoor pools and lidos can reopen from March 29.

Indoor pools can reopen for individual use or within household groups from April 12. Indoor children’s activities, including diving club sessions for under 18s, can also resume from this date.

But organised indoor adult sport, including diving, is not allowed to resume until May 17.

This means divers aged up to 18 will be jumping back into the pool from April 12.

Leanne Jalland, the club’s chair, said lockdown had highlighted the club’s mental health benefits and members were looking forward to returning.

She said:

“One of the most important things we have learnt from this pandemic as a club is how diving as a sport benefits both the mental and physical wellbeing of our divers.

“Therefore, we are keen to bring those benefits to others in our community and make diving accessible to all.”

The club hopes to introduce a disability diving squad in April.

It ran, in conjunction with Harrogate Borough Council, one of only two disability diving schemes in England but these haven’t taken place since March last year.

Read more:

• Roadmap announcement means more bookings for local campsites. 
• Birstwith Show set to return this summer. 

The diving club is working with Brimhams Active, which is the new company brought in by the council to run leisure facilities, to ensure diving has a future in the district.

Mark Tweedie managing director of Brimhams Active said:

“We are working with our clubs to produce a long term development plan for aquatics.

“This plan will ensure we make the most of the opportunity presented by the multimillion pound council investments to improve the district’s leisure centres over the next three years.”