Ripon pub set for refurbishmentRipon’s Trespass store to close for refurbishmentFairfax Wellbeing Hub set for £278,000 upgrade

Fairfax Wellbeing Hub in Harrogate is in line for a major upgrade.

North Yorkshire Council has approved awarding a contract worth £278,397 to Nottingham firm Universal Civils & Build Ltd to refurbish the building.

The hub is run by council-controlled leisure company Brimhams Active. Its main hall is used for sports such as basketball, netball, indoor tennis and badminton.

The venue on Fairfax Avenue also hosts exercise classes.

Stuart Wilmslow, head of operations at Brimhams, said:

“The improvement work will partially remodel the interior of this community centre to provide a new exercise area, accessible toilet, improved reception and office.

“The remodel will allow the centre to increase opportunities for our community. Working with partners, including the NHS, we will be able to increase our delivery of specialist programmes for people living with long term health conditions, in a space that is local, welcoming, and accessible.”

The main hall

Mr Wilmslow added the centre has been running at capacity for several years, adding:

“So the introduction of an additional exercise space will allow us to impact more people, allowing them to manage their condition, living well for longer.”

According to the council’s website,  the scheme work on site is expected to begin next month and last three months but Mr Wilmslow said:

“We are waiting for a start date on site.”

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£300,000 upgrade of The Woodlands in Harrogate to begin next week

Building work on a £300,000 upgrade of The Woodlands pub in Harrogate is due to begin next week.

Work will start on Monday (January 8) and the pub on Wetherby Road is due to re-open at the end of February with a new food and drinks offer.

Heineken-owned Star Pubs & Bars said in a statement today it planned to “transform it into the best family-friendly community and sports pub in the area”.

It added:

“Funds are being spent on a top-to-toe redecoration of the interior of The Woodlands to include new hard flooring, carpets and furniture to give the pub a brighter, smarter more contemporary look and feel.

“A new sports area will be created with a pool table, traditional darts board and TV showing Sky Sports and TNT Sports.  A kitchen upgrade is also taking place to enable the pub to extend its traditional pub favourites and cater for the increased numbers the operators expect to attract.

“The pub’s exterior is to be given a complete makeover, repainted in a smart grey-blue and white with new signage, lighting and in warmer months, hanging baskets. To the front there will be a beer garden with new tables and chairs and behind a sheltered beer garden, that’s a real sun trap.”

The Woodlands on Wetherby Road

An artist’s impression of how it will look.

Star Pubs and Bars first unveiled plans to give the pub a facelift in December 2020. At the time it also announced plans to give the pub a controversial new name, West Riding Harrogate, but this was dropped when it didn’t go down well with some local residents.

The company today said the refurbishment has taken time to begin because it initially planned to recruit a licensee who would have also invested in the pub, but it had now decided to run The Woodlands as one of its managed operator pubs and is doing the whole investment itself.

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It announced Paul Caunt and Matthew Carr would take on the management of the venue. Both previously worked for Mr Carr’s father who had the lease of the pub for many years.

Mr Caunt said:

“Matthew’s father decided to retire last year when his lease came to an end.  We had thought we would have to leave the pub but were delighted when we found out that it was going to benefit from a major investment and that there was an opportunity to manage it.  We were both ready to run our own pub so it’s a dream come true.  We make a great team as Matthew is responsible for the kitchen, and I’m front of house.

“We were both brought up in Harrogate and both live nearby so know what locals want and the area needs.  We get on well with the regulars and there’s a fantastic community spirit.”

The partners plans for The Woodland include continuing to host twice weekly pub quizzes and show live sports on TV and if there’s interest they will look to host live music. They are also looking for pool and darts teams.

Paul Caunt(left) and Matthew Carr toast the pub’s success.

The drinks will include a selection of wines, spirits, and beers as well as cocktails, cask and craft ales and Heineken 0.0.  Beers will include Birra Moretti and Beavertown as well as Theakstons and Timothy Taylor’s.

Andy Moore, Star Pubs & Bars investment manager, said:

“The Woodlands is in a prominent position on a busy crossroads near to the Yorkshire show showground and near the newly promoted Harrogate Town Football Club.  It’s tired looking at the moment, a bit of an eyesore, but with this major investment it will be somewhere that locals can be proud of.

“The immediate area has plenty of top-quality food pubs, but no real top quality community local offering sport.  With Matthew and Paul at the helm, a new look and feel and new food and drinks menus, I’m confident it will deliver what is needed locally.  People will have the type of pub on their doorstep that previously they had to travel to enjoy.”

The vast majority of Star Pubs & Bars’ 2,400 pubs are leased to small businesses and entrepreneurs.

 

Starbeck library celebrates £6,000 refurbishment of children’s area

Starbeck Community Library celebrated a £6,000 refurbishment of the children’s section on Saturday.

The building faced closure in 2017 when North Yorkshire County Council withdrew funding from smaller libraries.

Thanks to the support of volunteers, it has continued to operate but needed to find new revenue streams to upgrade facilities.

This year the library secured a £6,000 grant from the National Lottery Community Fund’s Awards for All programme. Starbeck Post Office boosted the total by £500.

The income enabled Starbeck-based Amara Jane Furnishing to refurbish the children’s area.

The refurbished children’s area.

Tina Harper, a volunteer who looks after the children’s area, said local people had indicated the “faded and jaded” area was most in need of improvement.

The funding has paid for a new rug, sofa and shelving and enabled the section to be brightened up.

Julia Moseley, one of the volunteers that helped save the library when it faced closure, cut a ribbon to mark the refurbishment at Saturday’s celebration.

You can find out more about the library here.

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Visual of Harrogate’s first mosque released as £50,000 appeal launched

Harrogate Islamic Association has launched a £50,000 fundraising appeal for the next phase of its scheme to create the district’s first mosque.

It has also published a visual showing how the building on the corner of Tower Street and Belford Road will look once the makeover is completed.

The association bought the dilapidated former Home Guard building in April last year.

It has already undergone extensive repairs to fix the roof and remove asbestos.

The next phase of the project, which is underway, will ensure the building is structurally sound and will focus on stripping the interior and undertaking structural works.

How the building looks now.

In a crowdfunding appeal post, the association said:

“It’s difficult to convey how deteriorated the building interior is, but we’re determined to make it right.”

“This phase will see a removal and replacement of both the ground and first floors, each of which have suffered extensive rot and degradation.

“The floors will be replaced with steel framing and timber infrastructure to match the existing levels. The steel infrastructure will also help brace the existing masonry walls.”

https://twitter.com/HarrogateIA/status/1694010495445897311?s=20

 

The crowdfunding appeal post said further funds will need to be raised for a final phase, which will involve installing electricity, heating, security and plumbing systems, along with interior walls, doors, and amenities.

The post said the association was minimising disruption by not erecting scaffolding or conducting exterior work during the current phase so traffic and businesses on Tower Street and Belford Road will not be disrupted.

It added:

“Our intent is for this process to be a model that other communities can follow in terms of outreach, management, safety, and engagement with the wider community.”

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Zahed Amanullah, outreach coordinator at the association, said the mosque was likely to open early next year. He added:

“It’s a very old building with a lot of issues so we are moving carefully and methodically. We are not rushing.”

The association published these images showing the state of the building inside.

 

 

Dates set for reopening historic hotels in Knaresborough and Ripon

An historic Knaresborough hotel will reopen next month after a refurbishment and renaming by its new owners.

The Knaresborough Inn – previously known as the Dower House – is set for an official opening on August 31.

It follows the closure of the hotel last summer, with a contractor appointed for the work at the end of the year.

Visitors to the refurbished facility will find its spa and gym have been replaced by an additional nine bedrooms.

A new portico entrance has been built on the Grade II-listed 15th century building, with an accessible ramp to the entrance and repairs to its roof and brickwork.

News of a reopening date follows the company’s unveiling of The Harrogate Inn, formerly the St George Hotel, on July 3 after a 152-day refurbishment.

Chris Moor, operations director for The Inn Collection Group, said:

“We’re excited that The Harrogate Inn has been received so positively since reopening and we are looking forward to unveiling The Knaresborough Inn as our second North Yorkshire site to complete refurbishment in a few weeks.

“Creating a new-look for a much-loved venue has been a painstaking process as has the renovation programme, making sure we take great care of what in parts dates back to the 15th century but we are confident that we have done what we set out to achieve.

“The inn will breathe new life into the venue and retain it as a resource and vital hub for the local community as much as guests coming to stay.

“We will be announcing plans for our reopening celebrations very shortly and I look forward to seeing the doors back open before the end of the summer.”

The Spa Hotel will be reopened by its new ownersrs

Meanwhile, The Ripon Inn, which used to be the Spa Hotel, is now set to welcome guests from October 2.

Its opening has been delayed from an initial expectation of spring this year, later updated to August, and now put back a further two months.

All three hotels were bought by the Inn Collection Group over the last two years. Based in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, the company owns 32 hotels across northern England and north Wales.

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Ripon Co-op reopens with fresh look and new facilities

A Co-op in Ripon has re-opened with a new look and food and drink facilities after a lengthy refurbishment.

The store on Clotherholme Road, which includes a post office, now serves coffee, ice-cream and hot snacks to take away.

The Co-op is popular with pupils from nearby Ripon Grammar School and Outwood Academy Ripon.

It is run by Southern Co-op, which operates about 200 Co-ops as well as other convenience stores and funeral homes.

The company said in a statement:

“The store was closed for three weeks in order to have a full refurbishment as it was looking a little dated.

“The store now has a completely new look featuring energy-saving refrigeration and LED lighting throughout to help use less energy. The post office remains offering the same services as before.

“The store continues to stock a delicious range of Co-op products. There is also an improved range of food and drink to go including coffee, ice-cream and hot food.”

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Sainsbury’s to close Harrogate store all next week for refurb

Sainsbury’s supermarket on Wetherby Road in Harrogate will close its doors all next week to make improvements to the store.

It traditionally closes for the duration of the Great Yorkshire Show, which this year runs from Tuesday, July 11 to Friday, July 14.

However, it is going to be closed from Monday to Friday, to allow more time for changes inside and to its petrol station.

The work will include updating the signage and fixtures, improving the fresh food and produce areas, relocating the sushi bar, and extending the clothing department.

Behind the scenes, staff areas are also being improved “to help foster a more interactive and inspiring workplace”.

A Sainsbury’s spokesperson said:

“We hope our customers in Harrogate enjoy their new look store once the works are complete. We’d like to thank everyone for bearing with us while we complete this extensive project and we look forward to hearing what our customers think.”

After closing as usual at 4pm tomorrow, the store will reopen at 7am on Saturday, July 15.

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Historic hotels in Harrogate, Ripon and Knaresborough set to re-open

Three historic hotels in Harrogate, Ripon and Knaresborough have announced details of when they plan to reopen.

The St George Hotel in Harrogate, the Spa Hotel in Ripon and the Dower House in Knaresborough are all currently closed.

They have been acquired by the Inn Collection Group, which has 32 venues in northern England, and are undergoing major refurbishments.

They have also been renamed as the Harrogate Inn, the Ripon Inn and the Knaresborough Inn.

An Inn Collection Group spokesman revealed today the Harrogate Inn will reopen on July 3. It will have 96 rooms, six more than previously. The six extra rooms are all ground floor suites.

St George Hotel, Harrogate

The former St George Hotel, Harrogate

The Ripon Inn will reopen on August 20 with 58 rooms, compared with 43 previously.

The Knaresborough Inn is expected to be the second of the three venues to re-open. A date has not been set but it is expected to be early August. It will have 57 rooms, compared with 38 previously.

The Harrogate and Ripon inns are both accepting bookings now.

The Dower House has a new name and look

The spokesman said:

“The three sites have have undergone significant refurbishment and investment.

“All three will have new look bar and restaurant areas on reopening, and also have had additional rooms added to their stock.”

As part of the reopening activity, all three sites are running a free dinner promotion for guests.

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