Famous Harrogate fish and chip restaurant Graveley’s is to re-open under its new name Catch in a fortnight.

The business was sold two years ago to Harrogate-based Catch Seafood, which owns four other fish and chip restaurants in Yorkshire.

The site on Cheltenham Parade has undergone a £250,000 transformation during lockdown, and will open as a takeaway on April 19.

The restaurant is due to open in May in line with government restrictions.

A press release by Catch today said the kitchen had been upgraded and the menu would be broadened.

It added:

“A new bar area has also been incorporated into the refitted restaurant, which will serve a range of draught products, delicious cocktails and fantastic wines.

“Exclusive to Catch Harrogate is a champagne and oyster bar for diners to enjoy.”

Read more:

• Graveley’s fish and chip restaurant to be renamed Catch Harrogate
• Ripon’s Grantley Hall restaurant wins first Michelin star

Sarah Stuttle, managing director at Catch, said:

“Graveley’s has been a part of the local community for a long time, and we’re excited to welcome these loyal customers to Catch, as well as some new faces, when we reopen.”

The Catch group also has fish and chip restaurants in Holmfirth, West Vale, Headingley and Street Lane.

The company, which describes itself as ‘a casual seafood dining experience built on family values’, is owned by three Yorkshire-based entrepreneurs — Patrick Allen, Andrew Bartle and Philip Rushfirth.

Staff working on behalf of NHS England have dismantled large parts of the former Nightingale hospital in Harrogate, including the oxygen tanks that have loomed over the town for a year.

Construction workers started the job at 4am today, almost a year to the day since the temporary hospital started to take shape.

The stretch of Ripon Road immediately outside the Royal Hall and Harrogate Convention Centre was closed to traffic while cranes operated.

Read more:

• Investigation launched into Harrogate Nightingale hospital
• NHS confirms Harrogate Nightingale to close

We understand the CT scanners will also be removed later today.

The NHS confirmed last month it will dismantle all seven of the Nightingale hospitals across the country.

NHS Nightingale Hospital Yorkshire and the Humber, which was the Harrogate Nightingale’s full name, which never treated any coronavirus patients.

But it was used to provide CT scans to non-coronavirus patients.

Cranes are now in place ready to remove the oxygen tanks from the former Nightingale hospital in Harrogate.

Workers arrived at around 4am this morning to prepare the site and started by removing the concrete blocks.

Ripon Road immediately outside the Royal Hall and Harrogate Convention Centre is now closed to traffic heading towards the town centre. Crescent Road is being used as a diversion.

Construction workers have told the Stray Ferret that the oxygen tanks are set to be removed at around 7am to 8am this morning.

Read more:

• Investigation launched into Harrogate Nightingale hospital
• NHS confirms Harrogate Nightingale to close

We also understand that the CT scanners will also be removed from the former Nightingale hospital later today.

The NHS confirmed last month that it will dismantle all seven of the Nightingale hospitals across the country.

NHS Nightingale Hospital Yorkshire and the Humber never treated coronavirus patients. Staff did use it to provide CT scans to none coronavirus patients.

The NHS will remove the oxygen tanks from the former Nightingale hospital in Harrogate tomorrow. It will be an historic moment for the town. The tanks have loomed over Harrogate and overshadowed the Royal Hall for a year.

The Nightingale hospital never treated coronavirus patients. Staff did use it to provide CT scans to none coronavirus patients.

The NHS confirmed last month that it will dismantle all seven of the Nightingale hospitals across the country.

A small section of Ripon Road, immediately outside the Royal Hall, will close at 4am to allow for a crane to remove the tanks. It is unclear how long it will take.

Read more:

• Investigation launched into Harrogate Nightingale hospital
• NHS confirms Harrogate Nightingale to close

Meanwhile, local councillors from the West Yorkshire Joint Health Scrutiny Committee are investigating whether lessons could be learned from Harrogate’s Nightingale hospital.

The committee will look into how the hospital would have been staffed and what services would have been affected if it had been needed.

When the oxygen tanks went up last year.

Councillors agreed to start the investigation at the next meeting of the health scrutiny committee on June 22. They will call in NHS officials to give evidence.

The Harrogate Nightingale cost £27 million to set up and served the entire Yorkshire and Humber region,

The 10-day International Gilbert & Sullivan Festival is returning to Harrogate this year, in a major boost for the town’s economy.

Harrogate hosted the event annually from 2014 until last year, when it was cancelled due to covid.

The festival, which will take place from August 8 to August 18 at the Royal Hall, attracts thousands of visitors from around the world.

Covid restrictions require the productions to be adapted to ensure the safety of performers, audience and backstage staff.

Janet Smith, festival director, said:

“After the horrible year we have all endured, we cannot wait to get back into the theatre.

“Our seating plan in the theatre is socially distanced, and only 40% of the usual Royal Hall seats are available, so we expect tickets to sell out quickly.

“We will have to wait to hear the government announcements about easing restrictions on June 21, when hopefully we will be allowed to open up more seats.”

The National Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company will open proceedings with HMS Pinafore.

Other highlights include Simon Butteriss directing and starring in The Mikado. The opera company will also bring along a brand-new production of Patience.

Read more:

• Harrogate bed and breakfast diversifies to survive coronavirus
• Jimmy Carr first confirmed show at Royal Hall

Charles Court Opera will present its production of Iolanthe and Charles Court Opera also give two performances of its new G&S Express.

Forbear! Theatre, directed by Rachel Middle, will bring two productions of The Pirates of Penzance and The Yeomen of the Guard.

For something completely different, on August 6, Simon Butteriss will premiere The Diary of a Nobody comedy.

There will be an additional fringe programme of morning talks, masterclasses and afternoon concerts.

Tickets go on open sale from May 5 and can be ordered on 01422 323252 or online at www.gsfestivals.org.

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’s Army Foundation College saves young people

Network Rail has questions to answer about tree felling

Your journalist reports that ‘some trees have been felled’ at Hornbeam Park. As a Harrogate resident living on Tewit Well Road, I want to report that all the trees have been felled. Tell it as it is, please.

We now have a situation where residents are having to prevent some of the young people of Harrogate putting themselves at risk and using this newly cleared area for their own purposes. When the line had mature trees, we may have the occasional leaf on the line, but we certainly didn’t have youngsters jumping over to sunbath, party etc.

I’m afraid Network Rail has a lot to answer for here. A poor ecological management decision has left local residents policing an area that was once a mature habitat for local wildlife.

Who was the ecologist who advised Network Rail? Are they not accountable for the habitat decimation that we have been left with? How can they say anything other than recovery will take years? Is Network Rail pleased with the result?’

Not impressed.

Charlie McCarthy
Local resident

Questions that need answering about Beech Grove

As a resident and local business owner of 11 years, I and many others strongly believe the Low Traffic Neighbourhood experiment on Beech Grove creates more congestion, longer car journey times and increased carbon emissions on surrounding roads.

Otley Road currently has major road works and the planned 20-week cycle lane construction will cause further disruption and congestion.

There are many unanswered questions for North Yorkshire County Council:

1. What is the overall aim of this Low Traffic Neighbourhood?
2. In the latest council meeting we were told that the cycling groups are being consulted to make these decisions. Why are the cycling groups being consulted and the residents and businesses, who pay taxes and rates, not consulted?
3. How do you measure success or failure?
4. What data are you collecting and where from?
5. Which company are you using to analyse this?
6. Did you count how many cyclists and motorists use the roads, before you closed them?
7. Is information collected during the same months of the year, so you can directly compare activity in all seasons and weather?
8. Is it the best time to do this during a lockdown?
9. Why did NYCC approve all the housing developments, each with 2-3 cars, when 84% of people expressed that Harrogate was congested in the 2019 survey?
10.  What’s the projection of people who will swap their cars for bikes and what is this based on?
11. Far more people walk than cycle and yet the pavements are shocking, they are left for months after the Autumn leaves fall without being cleared and go untreated in ice and snow. How does this encourage people to walk?
12. Where is the evidence that there is an appetite for more cycling?

I have spoken to many residents and businesses and cars are critical for the school run, appointments, visiting relatives, holidays, tourism but, most importantly, to access businesses.

Cars are the lifeblood of many businesses and thousands of jobs depend on them. Banning them cannot be the only solution.

Lucy Gardiner, Harrogate Residents Association

Why is government spending so much on roads?

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.

A covid-delayed project to refurbish a former Harrogate Borough Council office has taken a step forward after the approval of a £500,000 construction contract.

The council vacated Springfield House, at Harrogate Convention Centre, when it moved all of its operations to its new £13m civic centre at Knapping Mount in 2017.

The office has since been let out to businesses.

A planned refurbishment of the upper floors was due to start last year but hit delays as access was restricted during the convention centre’s use as an NHS Nightingale hospital.

At a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, councillor Graham Swift, deputy leader and cabinet member for resources, enterprise and economic development at the council, said he had been “thwarted and frustrated” by the setbacks.

He added that he welcomed the awarding of the £501,815 contract to York-based Lindum Group Limited after a competitive tender process.

The works will include new office spaces, a refurbished space for convention centre staff and a business incubator scheme which provides mentoring and support services for entrepreneurs starting out in business.

The ‘digital incubator hub’ will be funded through £540,000 through the Leeds City Region Local Enterprise Partnership and is expected to make the council around £49,000 a year.

This is according to a report which also said the other office spaces would generate around £40,000 a year when fully let.

Speaking about the Springfield House plans, councillor Swift said:

“I have been thwarted and frustrated with this project which we would have liked to have implemented over 12 months ago but as the project was up-and-running when then found ourselves in a covid environment.

“This is an essential project for the district and the sort of project other people are investing in too. I know Crescent Gardens is gathering momentum and other developers in town are keen to take advantage of what is going to a fluid but important space in the market for small start-up businesses to grow.”

Read more:

• What have our local MPs been up to this month?
• Knaresborough free parking extension comes to an end this month. 

It comes as plans to transform the council’s former Crescent Gardens headquarters into offices and a roof garden restaurant have been formally submitted.

Harrogate-based property company Impala Estates bought the site in January last year for £4m. Its plans also include creating a gym, as well as turning the former council chamber and mayor’s parlour into meeting rooms.

The Harrogate International Youth Festival will have a new look this year as it heads online tonight.

The festival’s ‘Big Night In’ will take place at 7.30pm.

It is the longest running International Youth Music and Performing Arts Festival in the UK holding an event each Easter weekend since 1973.

The official festival has been postponed until next year, when international travel resumes. The organisers couldn’t let the weekend go ahead without some form of celebration – so instead they arranged the virtual concert.

The festival organisers will bring regular participants together on Zoom to watch key moments of previous festivals.

Micheal Newby, former Harrogate Mayor, will be hosting the online show and introducing a variety of video footage of recent concerts involving local and international artists.

Mr Newby said:

“This really will be a jammed packed evening! We simply could not put everything in that we wanted to – but I think we’ve got a really good selection that we know our audiences will love to see.

“We can’t wait to be together again and perform at these amazing venues in our community – but until then, we wanted to celebrate these amazing schools, groups and colleges that have performed with us over the years and really look forward to a fantastic Festival year next year.”

Read more:

• Hollywood director to start in this year’s Harrogate Film Festival. 
• First ever four-day Great Yorkshire Show confirmed for this July. 

In previous years, the six night festival would start with marching bands parading through the Harrogate town centre. Shows would run in big venues such as the Royal Hall and Ripon Cathedral.

The festival aims to bring, primarily youth, choirs, orchestras and bands together from across the world to perform in Harrogate.

A picnic bench in Irongate Field near the Pinewoods in Harrogate went up in flames last night.

Firefighters from Harrogate attended the blaze at 9.30pm last night and used two backpack sprayers to dampen down the area.

North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue has now confirmed it believes the fire was set deliberately.

The person who found the fire said that he found beer bottles around the bench.

A spokesperson for North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue said:

“A crew from Harrogate attended a fire in the open, this turned out to be a fire to a picnic bench.

“They used two knapsack sprayers and dampened down the area. The cause is believed deliberate.”

Read more:

• Wildfire fears over Easter weekend
• Nidderdale eco-business plants 50,000th tree

Four culture organisations in the Harrogate district have been awarded further funding as part of the government’s culture recovery fund.

Arts Council England granted the funding as part of a further £300 million worth of financial support for culture and art organisations.

The government announced a £1.57 billion fund last year which aimed to support cultural and heritage sectors from the economic impact of covid.

Read more: 

• Ripon cultural organisations receive £170,000 lifeline
• Harewood House awarded funding boost
• Harrogate Theatre awarded £250,000 survival boost

Among those to be awarded a grant is Cause UK, which has secured £35,000 in funding.

The agency hosted Ken Loach and Brian Blessed in Harrogate on behalf of the Harrogate Film Festival, as well as family events at the Royal Hall with Steve Backshall and Chris Packham

Clair Challenor-Chadwick, managing director of Cause UK, said:

“As a vibrant agency for 10 years, Cause UK had strong growth pre-covid, thanks to our growing cultural portfolio. Obviously, that was all put on hold with covid.

“A significant part of our work is also as a support agency to arts, public sector and charities. We’ve supported organisations as diverse as Besbrode Pianos, Ilkley Literature Festival, The Barnsley Civic, Harrogate Convention Centre, the Wesley Centre in Malton and the Himalayan Sculpture Park.

“We’re proud our work has had significant impact, helping clients to win awards, increase visitor and audience reach, engage sponsors, and attract investment.”

Harrogate Theatre with stands empty in the town centre.

Meanwhile, Harrogate International Festivals has been awarded £80,000 and Harrogate Theatre secured £91,078.

Ripon Museum Trust has also been granted £69,350.

The chief executive of Harrogate Theatre Trust, David Bown, gave his reaction to the grant:

“We are thrilled to receive this funding from the Cultural Recovery Fund. It will allow us to move forward with increasing confidence as we launch our Raise the Roof season by bringing drama, comedy and music to community venues throughout the district in what will be challenging times as restrictions are relaxed.”

The cultural recovery fund is targeted at organisations which work in music, theatre, dance, combined arts, visual arts, museums or literature.

The funding has been awarded by Arts Council England, Historic England, National Lottery Heritage Fund and the British Film Institute

Oliver Dowden, culture secretary, said: 

“Our record-breaking Culture Recovery Fund has already helped thousands of culture and heritage organisations across the country survive the biggest crisis they’ve ever faced. 

“Now we’re staying by their side as they prepare to welcome the public back through their doors – helping our cultural gems plan for reopening and thrive in the better times ahead.”