Businesses in Knaresborough are preparing social distancing measures as some shops in the town gear up to reopen next month.

A range of measures designed to help shops in Knaresborough reopen safely are set be introduced following a Knaresborough Chamber of Trade initiative.

It comes as Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that non-essential shops, including clothes stores and electronic outlets, will be able to reopen from June 15.

The chamber has led a campaign called Knaresborough Unlocked which aims to keep the town open for business.

As part of the initiative, Knaresborough is set to introduce measures such as limited customers in shops at one time, bookings for those offering personal care, and some temporary road closures proposed by the chamber. Business owners are also encouraged to practise good hygiene in their stores.

Road closures

The chamber is in discussions with North Yorkshire County Council to close roads including Market Place, Castlegate and parts of Jockey Lane in order to help create space for people to queue outside businesses.

Bill Taylor, treasurer at Knaresborough Chamber of Trade, said the measures are designed to keep people safe:

“These are temporary measures until social distancing becomes a thing of the past. We are just trying to keep everyone safe.”

Kelly Teggin Hair and Beauty in Knaresborough, which is preparing measures to keep customers safe when it reopens.

Among the businesses that has put preparations in place is Kelly Teggin’s Hair and Beauty salon on Castlegate.

While the government has said salons will not reopen until July at the earliest, owner Kelly Teggin has started to prepare to reopen safely.

She has put in place social distancing measures in the salon, including personal protective equipment, a one-way system and staggering working hours to fit appointments in.

Customers will be told to turn up at their exact booking time in order for people to keep their distance and people will not be able to wait in the waiting area.

Kelly said the lockdown has given her time to prepare the business should it reopen next month.

“I would not have felt prepared if it was a June reopening. But now that it is coming up to July, I do think that by then we will be ready.”

Harrogate Borough Council has been given £141,177 from the government to help reopen high streets in town centres in the district safely.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced yesterday that non-essential shops, such as clothes stores and electronic outlets, will reopen from June 15 and urged people to spend money to help the economy “bounce back”.

Now, councils across the country have been handed money from a £50 million pot to help with measures to make shopping areas safe and will be able to spend the funding from June 1.

The money is designed to fund measures such as new signs, temporary barriers, street markings and marketing campaigns to reassure people that High Streets are safe.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson urged people to spend money to help the economy when non-essential stores reopen from June 15.

It comes as North Yorkshire County Council has already put out temporary bollards in town centres across the district to widen pavements to help social distancing. The authority’s highways chief was forced to defend the measures after criticism from some traders and on social media.

The funding is expected be among the last from the European Union Regional Development Fund which is allocated to the UK Government and handed to councils. The EU fund will finish at the end of this year.

High Streets Minister Simon Clarke MP said:

“As we begin to slowly return to normality, the re-opening our high streets will be key to kick-starting our economic recovery.

“Levelling up the regions and supporting our high streets has always been central to the mission of this government.

“Many businesses have already introduced creative ways of trading such as contactless collection or taking orders by instant messaging and shows that they are ready for the challenges ahead.

“That’s why we are providing an extra £50 million for councils to support a range of safety measures that will help get these businesses back on track and ensure that people can enjoy their time visiting their local high street safely again.”

Harrogate Borough Council has been approached for comment on what it intends to spend the funding on.

A Knaresborough boating company has reported a boom in trade after opening with extra safety measures in place.

The father and son duo behind Blenkhorn’s Boats said that there were a lot more customers than they expected on bank holiday Monday.

With more outdoor cafes and other attractions, including non-essential shops, preparing to re-open soon, they expect to see more visitors in the town soon.

Steven Kirkley, from Blenkhorn’s Boats, told The Stray Ferret that they had seen some negativity online but had lots of positive feedback from customers in person. He said:

“We have seen a lot more people from the local area than we normally get. With the toilets closed and not many attractions, we haven’t seen many visitors. We clean the boats between each use which slows us down a bit but the customers don’t mind waiting.”

They only allow people from the same household in each boat, clean each one before use, have socially-distant queues, and encourage contactless payments. Mr Kirkley said these measures make the boats safer than wooden benches around the town which are not cleaned between each use.

Blenkhorn’s has been open since May 16 and will continue to open daily.

A woman is in the hospital with serious injuries after she fell from a cliff in Knaresborough.

The woman, who is in her 30s, fell around 30 metres from a cliff near Abbey Road.

North Yorkshire Police attended at about 9.40am yesterday before an ambulance took the woman for treatment.

We will report more details when they become available.

The number of jobless claims in the Harrogate district soared by around 150% at the start of the coronavirus lockdown.

ONS data shows that on March 12 there were 1,010 claims in Harrogate and Knaresborough and that increased to 2,570 by April 9. Ripon and Skipton saw a similar rise from 745 claims to 1,935.

In the UK, the claims rose at a record month-on-month rate by 69.1% to 2.1 million from March 12 to April 9, 2020.

That’s according to new data from the Office for National Statistics, which can be found here.

Both the Harrogate and Knaresborough as well as the Skipton and Ripon constituencies saw a much higher rise of 150% in claims than the UK average.

Harrogate and Knaresborough MP, Andrew Jones, warned on his website that the unemployment figures could rise as more data becomes available.

“It would be wrong to view these figures as a one-month phenomenon. As the effect of lockdown continues to run through our local economy, as furloughing ends and as lockdown eases we are likely to see more shocks in the unemployment figures.”

It comes as the number of people using Harrogate’s food bank more than doubled when the coronavirus lockdown was introduced.

Parking restrictions have been introduced across the Harrogate district, with signs suggesting they could be applied for more than four months.

James Street, Commercial Street and parts of Albert Street in Harrogate town centre have been roped off, along with parking bays on Knaresborough High Street. Pateley Bridge’s High Street and Ripon’s High Skellgate and Westgate have been reduced in width to a single lane.

North Yorkshire County Council’s signs say the restrictions are designed to enable social distancing and are in place until the end of September. However, the authority confirmed on Twitter the parking bays will be closed this weekend, with monitoring in place to determine how effective the measures are.

While shops, cafes, bars and restaurants are not currently allowed to open, the government has said the restrictions could be eased in the coming weeks. NYCC has not confirmed whether the weekend’s restrictions will be extended, though the signs suggest they could be in place until the end of September.

The notices on James Street suggest restrictions could be in place until the end of September

Richard Flinton, chief executive of NYCC, said in a message to residents:

“We are doing our best to limit crowds in those places where lack of space is particularly concerning such as Whitby, Filey, Scarborough and Harrogate.

“We are closing a number of streets, shutting certain car parks and suspending parking in a number of areas. We will also have highways crews looking out for any issues of concern over the weekend and ready to take the action open to us, to respond.”

If restrictions on town centre parking remain in place after shops are allowed to re-open, they are likely to cause concern for businesses already affected by declining footfall before lockdown began. Independent Harrogate, which represents small businesses in the town, has been campaigning for free parking to encourage more shoppers to visit and bolster the local economy.

Environmental campaigners argue the quiet roads and increase in cycling and walking over recent weeks should be part of the Harrogate district’s plans for the future. Zero Carbon Harrogate has said now is the ideal time to improve infrastructure for low-carbon transport and encourage people to choose options other than cars.

More visitors were seen in Harrogate’s Valley Gardens today

Visitor attractions

Fears had been raised that, over the first weekend since changes to lockdown advice from the government, crowds could descend on town centres and attractions, making it very difficult for people to keep their distance.

Harrogate’s Valley Gardens today appeared much busier than it has been over recent weeks, with no parking restrictions nearby. Organisations including Yorkshire Water and the Yorkshire Dales National Park issued advice against travelling to potentially busy places.

Mr Flinton added:

“We hope this is reassuring, but you all have a part to play in this, too. Of course, enjoy the outdoors; there is no finer place than our county in my, perhaps biased, view.

“But, please, access open countryside rather than paths, narrow lanes or town and village centres. If you can do so close to your home all the better, and be prepared to change your mind if where you are heading looks busy. Protect yourselves and your family by avoiding crowds and encourage anyone you know who is thinking of coming – to wait until we can offer them a real North Yorkshire welcome in the future.”

What are your experiences of the new restrictions and social distancing across the Harrogate district this weekend? Email us with your views.

A Knaresborough delivery company took a very special afternoon tea set to one of the town’s elderly residents after she recently lost her sister to coronavirus.

Mavis Bendelow says her sister Rose Hill went to Harrogate District Hospital with sepsis and pneumonia but died from COVID-19.

Claire Bendelow, Mavis’ daughter, got in touch with Knaresborough Delivers to see if they could do afternoon tea for one to raise her mum’s spirits.

When Ashleigh Lambert, from Knaresborough Delivers, heard what happened she took the delivery round herself for free and then later took a Sunday Roast to her as well.

She said: “For me it was lovely to be able to do that for Mavis. It’s awful what’s happened with her sister but it was nice to be able to put a smile on Mavis’ face.”

Ashleigh set up Knaresborough Delivers as a collaboration between local businesses in March after her pub Six Poor Folk was forced to close. They also launched a Harrogate version on Sunday and hope to keep it going even after the lockdown.

Mavis welcomed the afternoon tea delivery and said that “it’s a bit like wartime really.” She added: “But in wartime, you knew what you were fighting. You really don’t know what you’re fighting now. With my sister dying, she went into hospital she didn’t have coronavirus but that’s what she died of.”

Mavis Bendelow recently lost her sister to coronavirus.

Andrea the singing NHS nurse entertained her whole street in Knaresborough with a special wartime inspired performance.

She was due to perform in the town centre as part of a much larger display but coronavirus meant that it needed to be cancelled.

Florin Drive turned out in numbers and in high spirits to watch Andrea perform and clap for one minute for veterans at 4pm.

The Great Knaresborough Bed Race will go ahead this year in a virtual format after coronavirus forced organisers to cancel the spectacle.

Details are sparse at the moment but the ‘Bed Race 2020 Unplugged’ will take place on Saturday, June 13, 2020.

Over the coming weeks, the Knaresborough Lions Club will try to keep spirits high by getting the community involved in the bed race at a safe distance.

First up, the organisers have asked people to draw, paint, and make collages of beds to put up in their windows and send them into their Facebook page.

Amanda George, for the Knaresborough Lions, said today:

“We must not gather on the streets, so there will be nothing to go and see outside on the day – but people will be able to enjoy a virtual Bed Race experience from their homes. As ever, it will combine community spirit, joyful pageantry, gritty athleticism and downright quirkiness.”

A tough year lies ahead for charities in the Harrogate district after swathes of fundraising events were cancelled due to the coronavirus outbreak. 

From supporters taking part in the London Marathon to their own community activities, charities rely heavily on numerous events in their annual calendars. 

Now, with almost every event being cancelled because of the coronavirus crisis, many are left wondering how they will meet their costs. 

Stephen Tongue, director of fundraising at Henshaws, said:

“We have got all our usual costs and additional costs of getting back-up staffing and deep cleaning areas – that’s quite expensive.

“It’s a challenging time. We do have some money coming in, but there’s a huge question mark over so many events.”

The charity held an art auction in early March and, even then, attendance was only around half of what was expected. Meanwhile, several upcoming fundraisers have been cancelled, including Knaresborough Beer Festival in May. 

Stephen is hopeful two outdoor events – a golf day at Rudding Park and a Yorkshire Three Peaks walk – will be able to take place in June and July, depending on government advice at the time. Its corporate donations, however, may also dwindle over the coming weeks as SMEs in the Harrogate district – a key source of support to Henshaws – struggle to find spare cash. 

To make up the shortfall and meet the additional needs of its students during the crisis, Henshaws has launched a new fundraising appeal.

For Open Arms Malawi, which sends around £500,000 per year out to its projects in the African nation, the worries are just as severe. Founded by Harrogate couple Neville and Rosemarie Bevis in 2000, it still has strong links with the town and relies on local people to contribute to its work with orphaned children. 

Ashville College has been a long-term supporter of Open Arms Malawi, sending students to volunteer there last summer

Fundraising manager Claire Collins said: “We were having a really good year for fundraising and just starting to look at new and different activities. Everything has been cancelled – all the challenge events, runs, and activities in the schools which support us. 

“We have two corporate partners who do trips to Malawi to see how funds are helping and donate significant amounts to us. They still want to support us, but without the trips it’s very difficult: when people see the work, they become really big advocates for what we do.” 

The charity has two infant homes, 10 nursery schools and five family homes for older children, as well as an outreach programme supporting families in the community. As yet, there are no confirmed cases of coronavirus in Malawi but, with high numbers elsewhere in Africa, all the homes and schools are taking extra precautions with hand washing and cleaning procedures. 

“HIV is still a big problem in Malawi, along with malnutrition,” said Claire. “Coronavirus is a huge risk on top of that. They’re taking it very seriously.” 

Claire has set up a new page on the charity’s website to keep supporters informed about the situation in Malawi. They are hoping supporters will still feel able to contribute, despite the difficulties being faced by many families across the Harrogate district.