Business Breakfast: road train on Knaresborough Chamber meeting agenda

The Stray Ferret Business Awards, sponsored by Prosperis, will be held on March 9 at the Pavilions of Harrogate. Early bird tickets are available until February 9. The event will celebrate success and business excellence across the Harrogate district. It’s a night not to be missed! There’ll be a fabulous prize draw for all attending and Richard Flinton, the incoming Chief Executive of North Yorkshire Council, is guest speaker. 

Members of Knaresborough’s Chamber of Commerce will discuss plans for a road train in the town at tonight’s monthly meeting.

On the agenda this evening is a discussion about vacant shops in the town, the changes to local government with the incoming unitary authority and the land train.

The train is likely to run from Conyngham Hall car park to York Place car park, which would also ease pressure on town centre parking.

In recent weeks the Knaresborough Chamber of Trade and Commerce and Knaresborough Town Council have agreed to work together to build a business case for a road train.

The meeting at the Mitre starts at 7pm.

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Review website award

Dacre, Son & Hartley estate agent has won Feefo’s prestigious Platinum Trusted Service Award for the second year running.

The award recognises exceptional customer service ratings and reviews posted on the Feefo review website. Feefo is the world’s largest provider of verified reviews.

Dacres, which has 20 offices across West and North Yorkshire including Harrogate, Wetherby, Knaresborough, and Pateley Bridge, secured Feefo’s highest platinum award for the first time last year, which followed the company winning gold awards for the three previous consecutive years.

Last year clients reviewed Dacres more than 250 times on Feefo, with an average rating of 4.9 out of 5, which was up from 4.8 in 2021.

Patrick McCutcheon, head of residential at Dacres said:

“Receiving this award, which crucially is based on genuine client reviews, and pushing our average rating up to 4.9 is a major achievement and speaks volumes about our exceptional standards of customer service and care.

“It also demonstrates the ability of our whole team to always respond to current market conditions and combine unrivalled marketing advice with a completely personal service, in order to deliver the best possible results for buyers and sellers alike.

his is one of the key reasons why we’ve been so successful in Yorkshire’s property market for more than 200 years and continually work with generations of the same families time and time again.”

 

Road train could transport people around hilly Knaresborough

Discussions are underway to purchase a road train to help people get around Knaresborough more easily.

The train would connect Waterside and Market Place and make it easier for tourists to visit the entire town.

Some Waterside visitors are deterred by the steep climb to the town centre and others don’t even realise there is a thriving town centre nearby.

Ways to connect the two areas have been a topic of debate for years, but following discussions between Knaresborough Chamber of Trade and local businessman Tony Bennett, the idea may become a reality.

The train would pick people up from various locations and transport them round the town.

It would be similar to the Candy Cane Express train that operated in Harrogate last Christmas but run on a commercial basis rather than for free.

Initial ideas would see the train run from Conyngham Hall, along the river then up the hill to Market Square and York Road — a similar route to the town’s bed race.

The Candy Cane Express road train that ran around Harrogate over Christmas.

At a chamber meeting this week, business owners said they often spoke to tourists who visited Waterside and the River Nidd without knowing there was a bustling high street just up the hill.

Knaresborough’s hilly terrain can make it difficult for some to climb up the castle steps so it is hoped the land train would make Knaresborough a more accessible destination for people.

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Knaresborough Chamber of Trade committee member, Peter Lacey, told members plans were still at the discussion stage but if it went ahead it would probably operate as a standalone commercial venture run by Mr Bennett.

Mr Lacey told last night’s meeting:

“We have spoken with a supplier who has been doing this for years and can help us source the train and with council permissions. We will support anyone who wishes to run the project as we see it being an asset to the town and its businesses.

“We don’t know for sure when it will be up and running but I’d be disappointed if it wasn’t by the summer.”

Plans for an electronic cliff lift have been put forward by Renaissance Knaresborough but the group said it hadn’t made much progress due to coronavirus.