Knaresborough was busy this afternoon as shops opened their doors for the first time since lockdown.

Shop owners were feeling optimistic as they took their first tentative steps to reopening.The town’s independent shops were hopeful for a sense of normality to follow their reopening.

All of the shops had safety measures- each had its own measures in place including cleaning stations and one-way systems.

Jordan Thompson owns women’s clothing store Harriet’s in Knaresborough, the store is operating at a maximum of three customers in the store at a time. She told us:

“I’m feeling excited and a little anxious today, but we’ve already had a few customers come in and purchase items. We have to get back to some kind of normality, although it’s going to be a change in normality with the gloves and masks and social distancing, we still need to get back to some sort of normality.”

Martin Sturdey, the owner of Zigzag, a cards and gifts shop in Knaresborough, said:

“We’ll probably have quite a good few days and then it’ll tail off and then build up again, its just difficult to predict. The good thing about Knaresborough is theres lot of independent stores and people want to support us. All we can do is take all the precautions and see what footfall is like. I think it’s going to take the rest of the year to slowly pick up as people gain confidence and return.”

Stations such as these are present in many of the shops in Knaresborough to encourage customer safety.

Read more: 

• Sports Direct opened its doors this morning to huge queues of keen shoppers.
• Take a look at our list of shops that are reopening this week near you.

Knaresborough town centre didn’t see the queues that other towns across the country did, but many shoppers still came out to browse. One happy shopper told The Stray Ferret of her experiences, Linda Humphrey said:

“I feel confident in shopping again today, I’m being sensible I have my mask and sanitiser with me. There’s been no problems in the shops I’ve been to, everybody is doing what they should be. I’m doing my dads shopping today and I’ve had no issues today or when I’ve been in previous weeks. I’m glad it’s like this again.”

Mother Shipton’s cave in Knaresborough is reopening tomorrow. Visitors will be allowed to explore the park for a maximum of two and a half hours to maintain limited contact.

There is a pre-booking system in place to allow visitors to book an arrival time slot in advance of their visit. The attraction is also limiting the number of passengers to seven people per car and each car will be charged at £20.

Vans, minibuses, and motorhomes will not be allowed and neither will pedestrians who arrive without a car. This is in an attempt to control the number of vehicles and people within the attraction.

Mother Shipton’s Cave reopens with several measures in place to make sure visitors are kept safe.

Read more:

• WATCH to see how Newby Hall prepared to open for the public.
• What shops are opening on Monday? We’ve compiled a comprehensive list. 

Most of the favoured elements will be accessible to visitors including the petrifying well and of course, Mother Shipton’s Cave.

But the museum and gift shop will remain closed until the reopening of non-essential shops on the June 15. The adventure playground will also stay closed until government advice on playgrounds changes.

Ripon’s non-essential market traders returned to their stalls today after months of lockdown. But some traders believe they have been poorly treated by Harrogate Borough Council.

Harrogate Borough Council, which is planning to increase the rent for each stall by up to 32.4%, has offered the traders no rent holidays or reductions as they get back up and running.

The stallholders argue that due to the inability to trade over lockdown rental reductions should now be offered as they ease back into trading.

Nick Farnsworth, who has been selling women’s nightwear and underwear at Ripon for 25 years, said:

“It’s a disgrace that we are still being charged the full whack, when other areas are doing their best to help their market stallholders.”

Ripon market traders want more support from the council as they adjust to trading again.

Read more: 

• The council are offering discretionary grants to small businesses, including market traders and charities.
• Want to know what shops are reopening in the district? We’ve compiled a list for you. 

One market trader, Andrew Sutcliffe, who also trades in Knaresborough, agreed with other traders that more support from the council is necessary. He told The Stray Ferret that other markets he works on are currently offering rent holidays and reductions as they adjust to trading at full capacity.

In the week beginning 1st June, other local authorities including Barnsley and Leeds allowed stall holders selling goods classed as non-essential, to trade however the council decided to delay reopening to this week.

Harrogate Borough Council responded to the traders’ claims that they felt unsupported. They said:

“Throughout lockdown, the markets at Knaresborough and Ripon have continued to open in line with government guidance. We supported those essential goods traders to ensure they could continue to work. We’ve not charged for any trader who chose not to attend or wasn’t allowed to because of the coronavirus restrictions.

“Where we have charged, fees have been held at last year’s rates. It’s disappointing to hear that one or two traders feel we’ve not been supportive.  We’ve done all we can to ensure our markets can fully re-open safely and to enable traders to get back to business as usual.”

Knaresborough and Ripon markets won’t be fully re-opening this week- despite the government relaxing restrictions.

From Monday markets can open if social distancing guidelines are in place. But Harrogate Borough Council has chosen to delay fully opening the markets until next week, saying it wants to put more safety systems in place.

After seeing markets in Leeds and Barnsley re-opening fully, Ripon market traders were confused by the council’s decision.

The market stallholders representative at Ripon market, Brian Murphy said:

“I only heard from the council on Monday evening that we would not have a full market on Thursday. This has come as a surprise and disappointment to a number of non-food traders who hoped to be back after being unable to trade for weeks.”

Essential stalls such as those selling fruit and vegetables have remained open but other sellers have had to stay away.

Read more:

• Safety first at Ripon market as traders plead with customers to adhere to social distancing rules.
• Knaresborough prepares to reopen shops safely on the 15th June. 

However, Steve Teggin, the President of the Knaresborough Chamber of Trade thought this was a sensible decision:

“The council have been sensible to make this decision, they need to take time to see how it goes. There’s no way that we can accommodate all the stalls, so I think it’s the right decision. The health and safety would allow for 25 market stalls to open but road closures would be needed to accommodate this. The difficulty comes when they have to decide who to allow to return to their stalls.”

Mr Teggin said he thought it was likely there would be staggered approach to opening and that the chamber is having a meeting with the council later this week to discuss it.

A one-way system and additional staffing will be implemented to enable Grewelthorpe’s Himalayan Gardens and Sculpture Park to re-open tomorrow.

The visitor attraction – named Yorkshire in Bloom Tourist Attraction of the Year in 2018 and 2019 – features more than 80 outdoor sculptures around its grounds. Operations manager Naomi Hutchinson said it could only open if visitors follow social distancing guidelines:

“We believe that being outdoors and in beautiful gardens is restorative and important for people’s wellbeing. It can be a source of much-needed tranquillity in these super anxious times, and with 45 acres, the Himalayan Gardens offers the open space needed.

“We are however mindful that the safety of visitors and our staff is our number one priority. We’re pleased to welcome visitors and that they won’t miss out on the final blooms of spring, but our re-opening depends on all following the social distancing rules.”

The gardens’ new one-way system has been created using natural materials including stones, plant pots and wooden signs. While public toilets will be open, with social distancing in place, and plants will be on sale, the tea rooms will remain closed for the first week.

A booking system will also be in place to control numbers, so visitors will need to book in advance for a specified day via the attraction’s website.

Huge demand

Meanwhile, Newby Hall is set to open its grounds from Wednesday for season ticket holders, and from Saturday for the public. Its other attractions, including the railway, restaurant and teddy bears exhibition, will remain closed, and additional safety measures will be in place for visitors, including more toilets.

Booking will be essential, with slots set to go on sale on Newby Hall’s website on Tuesday, June 2.

Newby Hall and the Himalayan Gardens are the latest tourist attractions to announce they are opening their gates. RHS Garden Harlow Carr last week saw huge demand for access to its grounds as it opened bookings on its website.

The National Trust has not yet opened its properties in the Harrogate district, but slots to visit others around the country sold out quickly last week.

WATCH: Take a look at what might be Harrogate’s first community woodland

Only a third of North Yorkshire’s primary schools are following government guidance on reopening today as concerns remain over the safety of pupils and staff.

Children in reception, year one and year six could all be back in lessons from today – but not every primary school has chosen to follow the changing advice.

Just 111 schools across the county are planning to reopen to pupils in some or all of those year groups today, according to the county council, and 24 more are expecting to follow next week. Judith Kirk, NYCC’s assistant director for education and skills, said:

“Schools have drawn up a bespoke approach to reopening, appropriate to their circumstances, but we want to reassure parents that when children come into primary schools in North Yorkshire, the first focus will be children’s safety and wellbeing, settling them in and making them feel secure, before we begin teaching the curriculum.

“We are working with schools, headteachers and teaching unions to support each school and the decision made by head teachers and governing bodies.”

Teaching unions told The Stray Ferret last month that they had serious reservations about their ability to keep everyone safe, and it seems those concerns remain. Some schools say they will follow full government guidance, while others say it would not be safe to reopen at all, other than for the children of key workers who have already been attending.

‘Not missing out’

Among those opening for some year groups today is Bilton Grange Primary School in Harrogate, which will welcome back pupils in its reception classes. However, the school has told parents it does not feel it can safely open to years one and six yet – something which has been welcomed by parent Jamie Haslam.

His daughter Erin is in year six at the school, but has been learning at home, alongside older sister Jessica who attends Harrogate High School, with support from teachers and their parents since the start of lockdown. Jamie said he was relieved not to have to make the decision himself about whether it was safe for Erin to return – though he does feel sad she’s missing the final weeks at primary school.

“I remember from last year when Jessica left, it was nice that last bit of primary school. I don’t feel she’s missing out on anything education-wise, she will just miss those nice experiences with her friends.”

Schools across the district will teach pupils taught in smaller groups than usual class sizes. Each small group is being kept apart from others, with measures such as staggered arrival times and breaks introduced, and additional ventilation, cleaning and other measures in place to minimise the risks of infection.

Pupils will be taught in smaller groups, but social distancing will not be enforced within those

North Yorkshire county councillor Patrick Mulligan said:

“All schools have carried out risk assessments looking at social distancing, staffing and hygiene and those that can open safely will be doing on Monday. Not all schools will be open on June 1; we are a large rural county with a relatively high number of small rural schools – including traditional church schools based around small classrooms – where implementing social distancing simply isn’t possible.

“We would like to reassure parents who are sending their children to school that schools are working hard to ensure the safety and wellbeing of pupils.”

The county council is also working to deliver home-to-school transport for those pupils who already qualified for it. Parents in need of transport over the coming weeks have been asked to complete a survey on the council’s website.

Is your child’s school reopening today? How do you feel about sending them back? Contact us with your views.

The closure of the St George Hotel is symptomatic of the huge challenges facing the hospitality industry, according to the leader of the group representing the largest hotels in the Harrogate district.

Peter Banks, chairman of Harrogate Hospitality and Tourism Association, told The Stray Ferret: “They will be the first of many in the country. It’s going to be carnage. The high street will be changed for good.”

With Harrogate Convention Centre still set up as a Nightingale hospital and remaining on stand-by for an indefinite period, Mr Banks, who is general manager at Rudding Park, said there is a large question mark hanging over the viability of the industry in the district.

“What about all the bedrooms that go hand-in-hand with the convention centre? If it’s a hospital for a year, all of those big shows won’t be going on and all their attendees and delegates will not be staying in the hotel bedrooms.

“Only about three per cent of the bedrooms I sell are related to the convention centre, but there are other hotels that are much more like 30, 40, 50 per cent. Where’s that business going to come from?”

Sitting opposite the convention centre, the St George was likely to have been more affected than most by it being out of use for events. But Mr Banks said being part of a business which also operated coach tours put it at greater risk than many of the district’s other hotels.

Peter Banks, chairman of Harorgate Hospitality and Tourism Association

While quarantine restrictions are in place for overseas travel, Harrogate is likely to get a boost from UK tourists. However, Mr Banks said HHTA’s thoughts haven’t yet turned to how the district can capitalise on this and market itself effectively:

“Right now, everybody is just trying to work out how the hell we’re going to operate. We’re that far away from creating any marketing plans. If you can’t work out how people are going to go to the loo safely, it might be putting the cart before the horse.”

Weight of responsibility

He criticised the guidance from the government as “about as clear as mud”, saying they had left businesses to try to work out how to operate safely without straightforward rules. Hotel owners, he said, felt an enormous weight of responsibility to protect staff and visitors from the risk of catching Covid-19 and were constantly re-writing their plans as government guidance changed.

For example, he said reducing the number of staff in hotel kitchens means overhauling menus – and putting those menus onto apps instead of passing them between staff and customers. Even simple things like passing in corridors and using toilets will have to be considered and controlled. He added:

“My hotel manager said it’s going to be like re-opening a new hotel. It’s going to be like opening a new hotel on Mars. The rules are going to be entirely different and we’re going to have to change things day by day while we work out how it works.”

Peter Banks says re-opening Rudding Park will be ‘like opening a new hotel on Mars’

Mr Banks said he expects most of the hotels in Harrogate to be large enough to sustain themselves through the current turmoil. For restaurants, however, he said even if they are able to reopen in the coming weeks, social distancing may make it impossible for them to break even, let alone make a profit.

“The furlough scheme has been a life-saver, but frankly all it’s doing is kicking the can down the road. We’re all going to have to cope without the support of the government at some point. It’s delaying the inevitable when a lot of smaller businesses will not be able to make a profit.

“If they have to get 70 per cent occupancy to break even in restaurants, what’s the point? They just won’t open.

The hospitality industry is extremely worried. Everyone is getting ready to open in July at some point but everyone is worried about what it’s going to look like.”

Short-term ‘bounce’

As well as the hotel receptionists, cleaners, kitchen porters, accountants and others who lose their jobs when a hotel closes, Mr Banks said there is a ripple effect to others such as food suppliers. Even the move to cashless systems to reduce the risk of infection will result in job losses, as cashing up is no longer needed and couriers won’t be required to take money to the bank.

The result could be further redundancies being made across all industries, leaving people with less cash in their pockets. While Mr Banks said he expects a short-term “bounce” for many hotels and restaurants soon after reopening, he said the winter could be very quiet as people run out of money they have saved during lockdown, or more job losses hit across the UK.

However, he sounded a note of optimism for the Harrogate district.

“Harrogate is an awful lot more fortunate than a lot of other places. We have a great natural resource, a really beautiful built environment, unlike so many other places. We will be less affected than others.”

A mum from Harrogate told the Stray Ferret that she does ‘not see a way’ to be able to send her 6-year-old son who has Downs Syndrome back to school.

Wendy Puckrin’s son, Elijah, is in year 1 at Kettlesing Primary School in Harrogate.

The government says schools should begin reopening for children in nursery, reception, year one and year six, from 1 June. This would mean Elijah could return to school, but for Wendy, this would be very hard:

” I’m not saying homeschooling is going well, but I just don’t see a way he could social distance. He needs human contact to feel secure, he needs cuddles and he just doesn’t understand… He’s a beautiful little kid and I don’t want that trauma for him at such an early stage in life.”

The NASUWT teachers’ union representative in Harrogate has warned that reopening schools will be a logistical nightmare.

Sharon Calvert, who has decades of experience in teaching, said the local teachers she represents are very worried about plans to welcome back some classes from June 1.

“These young children will not keep their social distancing, The first thing they will want to do is run inside and hug their teacher, it will be impossible to keep apart. The headteachers I know are mortified about these plans,” she told the Stray Ferret.

She believes that schools should not be given any deadline to reopen. Instead, she says that they should only open when it is clear that it is safe.

Sharon said the guidance from the government is as “clear as mud.”

“This is very serious, it is like we are being asked to send our children over the top. The children don’t seem to be affected quite as badly but the children could take that home to someone who is vulnerable. The teachers are just as worried about spreading it to their families.”

What are schools planning?

North Yorkshire County Council has said it will leave individual schools in the Harrogate district to decide whether it is safe for them to reopen, as previously reported.

Each school will need to take a risk assessment and the council has said it will give them support and advice.

That leaves it up to headteachers across the Harrogate district to decide when they will reopen and how teaching will work with social distancing.

One primary school, Saltergate, in Harrogate has said when it opens it will try to replicate the system in Denmark. The school sent a notice to parents to say they will keep groups of around seven children in “protective bubbles.”

They will also keep social distancing to the best of their ability, focus on regular handwashing, and introduce staggered start and finish times.