A 90-minute programme of archive footage of the Harrogate district has once again packed out the Odeon.

Two extra screenings were fully booked yesterday after tickets for September’s original viewings were also snapped up.

It means almost 1,000 people have watched the curated footage now.

The programme, which features clips held at the Yorkshire Film Archive in York, was commissioned by Harrogate’s Civic Society and FIlm Society.

It shows Harrogate and Knaresborough celebrating coronations in 1937 and 1953, the opening of the Odeon Cinema and Dustin Hoffman in Harrogate during filming of the 1979 film Agatha.

1970s fashion, Harrogate style

It also features the Harrogate Spa in 1930s, local railways in 1962, including the Ripon line that closed six years later, Knaresborough’s zoo and aquarium in 1968, the Knaresborough bed race in 1977, Disability Action Yorkshire, the Harrogate flower show and the Great Yorkshire Show, including a visit by the Queen in 1957.

Some of the highlights are available through the Yorkshire Film Archive website.

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Films showing archived footage of Harrogate and Knaresborough are set to be screened for the public next month.

Yorkshire Film Archive will show the specially curated films at the Odeon cinema in Harrogate on September 19.

It will feature clips showing Harrogate in the 1930s, the Knaresborough bed race in the 1970s and rare footage of the Odeon being opened.

The collection of amateur, professional and television clips will also show the area’s film heritage, including news footage of the filming of Agatha starring Dustin Hoffman in the late 1970s.

Graham Relton, Yorkshire Film Archive manager, said: 

“YFA hold such an amazing collection of Harrogate and Knaresborough films, meaning that – as always – my biggest curation challenge has been what to leave out! I’m looking forward to sharing old favourites and previously unseen footage from our vaults.

“I believe the screening will really connect with audiences and the icing on the cake would be for someone to recognise themselves on screen as we reveal old footage and new perspectives on these beautiful spa towns.”

A still of Knaresborough Bed Race in the 1970s. Picture: Yorkshire Film Archive.

The screenings have been commissioned by Harrogate Civic Society and Harrogate Film Society.

Screenings of the 90-minute films will take place at the cinema on East Parade in Harrogate at 2.30pm and 7.30pm.

Paula Stott, from Harrogate Film Society, said: 

“During lockdown, the film society hugely enjoyed a series of online film screenings presented by YFA and, together with Harrogate Civic Society, we are delighted to finally welcome them back in person with a new selection of footage that will appeal to anyone interested in the history and changing face of our town.”

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Stuart Holland, chair of Harrogate Civic Society, added:

“It fits in so well with the civic society strap line of ‘celebrating the past, enhancing the present and shaping the future’. 

“We can learn so much from the past and that helps us shape the future. There is so much passion shown by residents of both Harrogate and Knaresborough to learn more about our history, and I know this screening will not disappoint.”

You can purchase tickets for the screenings at the Harrogate Film Society website.

Paranormal investigators are to visit Harrogate’s Odeon cinema next month to try to find out if the building is haunted.

There have been rumours of ghostly apparitions at the cavernous Grade II listed building, which dates back to 1936.

Now a company called Spiritus Paranormal has hired the venue on August 6. People who buy tickets costing £40 can go along and be part of the investigation.

Wayne Williams, who founded the company, said:

“We will try to find out if it is haunted. We have a lot of equipment that can help to identify paranormal activity.”

The company’s equipment includes items such as electromagnetic field detectors, infrared cameras and Ouija boards.

Participants will split into groups with investigators and carry out paranormal checks in different parts of the building.

Asked if he genuinely believed in paranormal activity, Mr Williams said:

“I’ve seen too much not to. But I also err on the side of caution. If nothing happens so be it. We will not make things happen just to put bums on seats.

The company’s website says of the Odeon:

“This place has never been investigated, staff have reported paranormal activity, this venue has so much history.”

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The councils behind the Harrogate Station Gateway said it was time for the town to “seize the opportunity” today, as new details of the project emerged.

A media briefing was held in Harrogate today before a third phase of consultation on the latest proposals begins on Wednesday.

Key elements of the scheme, including the part-pedestrianisation of James Street and some of Station Parade being reduced to single lane, remain in place and are non-negotiable, councillors said.

But the briefing did reveal some changes:

• Two approaches to the Odeon roundabout will be reduced to single lane to make it safer for cyclists. But it won’t be a Dutch-style roundabout giving priority to pedestrians and cyclists.
• Nine trees will be felled as part of the scheme. Twenty-four new ones will be planted.
• The project is predicted to extend the average journey time around town by 73 seconds at peak times.
• Two taxi bays on Station Parade will be lost but new bays will be introduced elsewhere.
• North Yorkshire County Council, the lead partner, has pledged to “robustly defend” any legal challenge after a Harrogate property owner said he was considering a judicial review.
• Inflation and the cost of living crisis are prompting concerns about whether the scheme can be delivered in full. Some cheaper materials could be used.
• North Yorkshire County Council and Harrogate Borough Council have pledged £300,000 between them to bring the value of the scheme up to £11.2 million.
• The start time has been pushed back again until late spring or summer next year and is due to complete by March 2024.

The Odeon roundabout

Conservative councillor Keane Duncan, the executive member for access and transportation at the county council, told the briefing it was time to “crack on”.

He said:

“We want to continue with this scheme. It’s an exciting opportunity for Harrogate. We are at the stage where we either seize the opportunity or lose it.

“We need to take this scheme forward. If we didn’t it would be a travesty for Harrogate.”

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The scheme aims to encourage cycling and walking and make the town centre a more pleasant place to visit.

But business groups fear the loss of parking spaces and potential congestion could deter shoppers.

Cllr Duncan said the council didn’t want a “war” with businesses, which have expressed major doubts about the initiative.

He said the gateway would attract more people into the town centre and be good for business.

‘First major investment in Harrogate for 30 years’

Councillor Phil Ireland, Harrogate Borough Council’s cabinet member for carbon reduction and sustainability, said the scheme was a “fantastic regeneration project and the first major investment in Harrogate in 30 years”.

Cllr Ireland added that if it didn’t succeed, after months of wrangling, it could “affect how Harrogate is looked upon when future funding is available”.

He said the average car journey in the Harrogate district was less than 2km and this scheme would encourage more people in the town centre vicinity to walk or cycle. Those who didn’t, he added, still had 6,000 parking spaces, many of which are free.

The Harrogate scheme is one of three in North Yorkshire, and 39 nationally, being funded by the Department for Transport’s Transforming Cities Fund.

Tania Weston, Transforming Cities Fund programme manager at the county council, hailed the public realm benefits, such as completely revamping Station Square to include a water feature and new seats.

Ms Weston added empirical evidence suggested there was widespread misconception about the impact of active travel schemes on businesses, with them usually having a “positive or neutral” impact.

One Arch

She said there would also be a focus on making One Arch “pleasanter” by improving the landscaping and introducing lights with a “shimmering” effect inside the tunnel.

Drop-in sessions will be held from 9am to 5pm at the Victoria Shopping Centre on August 4, 5 and 6 as part of the consultation. An online event will be held on August 10 at 6pm.

Harrogate’s historic Odeon cinema building has been put up for sale for £7m.

The art-deco cinema was built in 1936 and has been home to the Odeon ever since.

The building is currently leased to Odeon on a 25-year term, with over eight years left of the current deal, which means it will be remaining as a cinema.

The 5-screen cinema has 892 seats and was refurbished in 2008. The sale is for the freehold of the building and is being marketed by property firm CBRE.

Alfie Stephenson, CBRE’s operational real estate team, said:

“This iconic building has prospered under the operation of Odeon since it opened and is a firm fixture on the Harrogate leisure scene.

“The long-income investment opportunity enables a keen investor to acquire the freehold interest on a cinema leased to the UK’s largest operator on a term that benefits from annual RPI-linked rent reviews.

“Our research shows that the cinema sector is set to have a strong 2022 with attendances anticipated to return to 100% of 2019 levels which makes this a timely opportunity.”

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Last year, Harrogate historian Malcolm Neesam wrote about the history of Harrogate’s cinemas for the Stray Ferret.

On the Odeon, Ms Neesam wrote:

“On 17^th June 1935, the Council approved plans from Odeon Theatres ltd for a new Cinema on East Parade which was initially publicised as having 1,800 seats. A flutter of excitement passed through the town’s many cinema enthusiasts, who realised that this was to be the first new cinema built in the town that was designed with “talking pictures” in mind, rather than an updated relic from the days of “silent” films.

“Named the “Odeon”, the new cinema had been designed by the famed architect Harry W. Weedon for Odeon Theatres Ltd whose Managing Director, Oscar Deutsch, was rumoured not to like cinema organs. Whatever the truth of this, the new Odeon had no organ, but was furnished with the latest sound reproduction equipment manufactured by the British Thomson-Houston Company.”

“Externally, the strikingly handsome art deco design was faced with cream and black tiles, highlighted with neon lighting strips in orange. Internally, perfect screen viewing was available from every one of the ground floor’s 1,000 and the balcony’s 600 seats, due to there being no pillars, and the décor was predominantly gold and silver, countered by carpets and upholstery in blue and green.”

A partially sighted Harrogate man has said it’s ‘shameful’ that many pedestrian crossings in Harrogate town centre do not make a beeping noise to let blind or visually impaired people know it is safe to cross.

John Raho, 80, relies on the noise to help him cross the road safely when vehicles stop and the green man appears.

But from the top of Cheltenham Parade up Station Parade and to the Victoria Avenue junction, 9 out of 10 crossings did not make any noise at all when the Stray Ferret tested them yesterday.

Similarly, the crossing by the Odeon cinema does not make a beeping noise.

Mr Raho said:

“I rely on the beep as a reassurance but I noticed that so many of them are not working.

“They are an essential bit of kit. It’s not big science.”

This crossing on Station Parade does not currently make a beeping noise.

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North Yorkshire County Council, which is in charge of highways in the district, is not legally obliged to add beeping noises to pedestrian crossings.

To avoid confusion, it might not have two machines beeping that are close together.

Some crossings may also have a small plastic or metal cone that can be touched. It turns when the green man lights up to indicate it is safe to cross.

This pelican crossing is the only one that beeps on Station Parade.

‘A reassurance’

However, Mr Raho said the beeping noise should be essential to improve town centre access for visually impaired people.

He said:

“It’s a reassurance for me, for others with worse eyesight it’s absolutely essential. You have to be careful.”

Mr Raho said he can just about make out a blurry green man on the other side of the road, but without a sound to guide him, he tries to take his cue from other people.

“It’s alright if other people are crossing, but people do rush across the road. 

“If someone gets knocked down, then it is bad news.”

A North Yorkshire County Council spokesperson asked Mr Raho to report any machines that are not working correctly via its website. They added that until he did so it was unable to comment.