Plans have been lodged to divide a former Harrogate events company base into five industrial units.

The proposal for the Joe Manby Ltd site at Hookstone Park would see the 3,355 square metre unit partially demolished and divided up.

Meanwhile, the number of car parking spaces would be increased from 12 to 40.

Harrogate Borough Council will make a decision on the proposal at a later date.

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Joe Manby Ltd folded last October after 46 years in business. The company employed 30 people and organised more than 50 events a year.

Andrew Manby, director of the firm, had been vocal in calling for more government support for the beleaguered conference and exhibition industry.

Mr Manby told the Stray Ferret “it was a heartbreaking decision” to close the company down.

At the time, he said the government’s job retention scheme had kept the business ticking over but it was difficult to survive without a clear date for return

A Harrogate events company, which employed more than 30 people, is set to go into liquidation.

Andrew Manby, director of family events firm Joe Manby Ltd, had been vocal in calling for more government support for the beleaguered conference and exhibition industry.

The sector has been decimated since the pandemic in March. But Joe Manby Ltd, like many others, had been preparing for a safe and limited return in October until the government intervened.

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Mr Manby told the Stray Ferret “it was a heartbreaking decision” after 46 years in the business:

“We were ready to start business again this month. We had run trials and proved that we could hold events safely.

“But at the last minute Boris Johnson put the cat among the pigeons and said we were not allowed. It is particularly frustrating seeing UK-based businesses like ours running events abroad.”

Joe Manby Ltd organised more than 50 events a year. In May last year it secured a three-year contract to provide events services for the Harrogate Bridal Show.

Mr Manby, who is one of the founder’s sons, believes many businesses in the events industry are in a similar position.

He said the government’s job retention scheme had kept the business ticking over but it was difficult to survive without a clear date for return.

Coronavirus has hit Harrogate’s events industry particularly hard.

The town usually hosts a string of major events, conferences and exhibitions but the convention centre’s conversion into a Nightingale hospital changed this.

Just nine days remain until the end of the contract for the Nightingale hospital in Harrogate – and there is still no confirmation of its future.

Although the Prime Minister announced on Friday that £3bn of funding was being given to the NHS to fund Nightingale hospitals through the winter if needed, the future of the Harrogate facility has not been confirmed.

Both Harrogate Borough Council, which owns the centre and the NHS have said no decision has been made on whether the contract for the venue will be extended after the end of July.

The venue has been home to the field hospital since late March, when it was set up in just three weeks by NHS staff and the armed forces. The initial contract ran until the end of June, before being extended to the end of July.

Now, with conferences and events across the country able to resume from October 1, businesses are calling for clarity on HCC’s future so they can plan for their recovery from lockdown.

Andrew Manby, a director of family events firm Joe Manby Ltd, which was founded 46 years ago, said the future of the town’s economy is in the balance. He asked the NHS to announce a decision soon:

“No decision is equally damaging as the wrong decision. If they do keep the Nightingale, I understand those needs and people’s health is paramount, but it puts Harrogate into a very difficult position.

“This is potentially a game-changing time. What will be left of the events and meetings industry in Harrogate if this thing goes on through to the middle of next year?”

Andrew Manby is calling for more support for local businesses

This week, the NEC in Birmingham confirmed it would be reopening in full as its Nightingale hospital was decommissioned, leaving a small non-Covid stand-by facility in place until March. With 20 halls, however, only a fraction of its space was taken up by the Nightingale, whereas almost all of HCC has been occupied.

Meanwhile, Manchester’s Nightingale hospital has been placed on stand-by ready for future cases, after treating Covid patients earlier this year. If Harrogate’s Nightingale were to close, Manchester would be the closest alternative for patients from across Yorkshire and the Humber, along with Washington, Tyne and Wear.

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A spokesperson for the NHS Nightingale Hospital Yorkshire and the Humber said:

“We welcome the news that more funding is being made available to fight the Covid pandemic. We’d like to take this opportunity to thank the people of Harrogate for their invaluable support to date. We continue to work closely with our colleagues at NHS England and Harrogate Borough Council to agree the next steps for our regional temporary hospital at HCC.”

Harrogate Convention Centre has been set up as a field hospital since April, but no Covid patients have been treated there

For Harrogate, the question is not just whether the Nightingale will remain in place, but what happens to the local economy if it does.

HCC says it brings £35m into the area through trade and public events during a normal year. Hotels, bars, restaurants and cafes all benefit from HCC visitors and have previously raised concerns about how they will survive without that trade over the coming months.

Even if the Nightingale hospital is removed, Mr Manby said organisers will be making difficult decisions about whether their events can go ahead safely – and if they are viable with fewer visitors.

Working across the UK, he said his fears were for the local, independent hospitality businesses that make Harrogate unique, and for the resulting impact on the town’s future prospects.

“When HCC come back, as they will, what facilities are going to be left that we can promote the town with?

“It’s the smaller independents that make Harrogate the unique facility it is. If they aren’t going to survive, that’s the unique offering Harrogate has. It’s going to change the whole shape and form of the town – forever, possibly.

“It will be the serious demise of Harrogate as an event and exhibition facility, which has been built up over 50-plus years. It could be gone.

“We will work hard to make sure that doesn’t happen.”