A café in Starbeck has been refurbished, renamed and relaunched following a change of ownership.
The Munch Box – which was formerly the Little Way Café – opened its doors on Tuesday and sells a range of sandwiches and panini, with coffee sourced from Dancing Goat in York.
Owner Mel Lyons took over the lease on the Camwal Road property in August and has spent the last couple of months redecorating and re-equipping it. She told the Stray Ferret:
“I gutted the place, repainted it and laid a new floor, so it looks a lot brighter and lighter now. We’ve been pretty busy, and the customer base is building as more of the guys from the workshops along this street find out we’re here.”
Mel Lyons, owner of The Munch Box.
Mel is from Winchester, Hampshire, and only moved north at the end of October 2022. She previously spent several years managing coffee shops for Caffè Nero-owned chain Coffee #1, and then managing coach stations in Southampton and Bournemouth for National Express.
She moved north to be with her partner and says the change has been very positive. She said:
“I love Starbeck. It’s full of characters and has a real sense of community. It’s unpretentious – just a nice place to be.”
But she’s also having to navigate a few cultural differences when planning her menu. She said:
“I’m learning quickly. On my first day I made a huge tub of egg mayonnaise. That would have flown out the door down south, but no-one wants it here, so I’ve still got it!
“But breakfast is a much bigger deal up here. Bacon and sausage baps may not be health food, but they’re much tastier than some of the breakfasts I’ve seen.”
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New cafe opens on Starbeck High Street
A brand new cafe has opened in Starbeck.
Susie June’s Cafe, which is based at 67F High Street, opened its doors yesterday.
The new venture was founded by local business partners Simone MacDermid and Charlotte Currie.
They acquired the site, which was the former Millers Cafe, in July.
The pair, who both worked in the hospitality industry, launched the venture with the aim to create a “community feel”. The name comes from the first names of both owners’ mothers.
Ms MacDermid told the Stray Ferret:
“We’re both local girls.
“Everyone knows that we are here to provide for everyone’s needs. We have had local people in and use local produce.”
She added that the pair had help from friends and family to get the venture off the ground.
The cafe offers traditional breakfast, hot sandwiches, soups, cakes and pastries.
It is open six days a week from 7am until 4.30pm Monday to Friday and 7am to 2pm on Saturdays.
Susie June’s becomes the latest hospitality venue to open in Starbeck this year.
In April, The Office Ale House bar opened on High Street.
Meanwhile, Chilli Chicks chicken restaurant and takeaway opened in July.
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Missing Harrogate man found ‘safe and well’
North Yorkshire Police said today a missing man from Harrogate had been found “safe and well”.
Police issued a description and appeal yesterday for help locating the 27-year-old from Starbeck, who had not been since since Friday night.
But the force issued a statement today, which said the man had been found.
It added:
“North Yorkshire Police would like to thank members of the public and the media for sharing the appeals.”
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Council to hire contractor for Harrogate school expansion
North Yorkshire Council is set to hire a contractor to expand Springwater School and refurbish Oak Beck House in Harrogate.
The authority will take on the procurement exercise over the next six months.
It comes as senior councillors backed plans to increase the capacity at Springwater School in Starbeck by 45 pupils in February this year.
According to a council report, the work is earmarked to start in August 2024 and is due to be complete by May 2025.
It says:
“The scheme will create additional teaching space at Springwater School, Harrogate and adaptations and refurbishment at Oak Beck House, Harrogate.”
No cost for the work is included in the report.
Springwater School, which is based off High Street, teaches children aged two to 19 with “profound and multiple, severe or physical difficulties”.
At a meeting in February, the council said the move would help to provide “more local, quality in-house special school places” within the county.
As part of the plan, the council intends to spend £3.1 million from its High Needs Provision Capital Allocation, which is granted by government.
Meanwhile, the council also intends to carry out refurbishment work to Oak Beck House on Electric Avenue.
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Police release CCTV images after theft from van in Starbeck
Police have issued CCTV to identify two men involved in a theft from a van in Starbeck.
The incident happened at around 2pm on July 5, 2023, close to Papa Johns Pizza on the junction of Stonefall Avenue and Knaresborough Road.
Items were taken from a van belonging to a telecommunications engineer, who was working at height.
North Yorkshire Police have appealed for help in identifying two men who were involved in the incident.
A force statement said:
“The first man is a white male, 16-20-years-old, 5ft 8 inches tall with short ginger hair. He was wearing dark blue jeans and a black jumper.
“The second man is white, around 30-years-old, around 6ft tall and was wearing a black jumper and jeans.
“If you recognise the men in the images below, please get in contact.”
Anyone with information that could assist the investigation can email joseph.havercroft@northyorkshire.police.uk.
If you wish to remain anonymous, you can pass information to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
Quote North Yorkshire Police reference number 12230124365.
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Business Breakfast: Starbeck pub awarded beer accreditation
The Stray Ferret Business Club’s next meeting is an after work drinks event on Thursday, August 31 at The West Park Hotel in Harrogate between 5-7pm.
The Business Club provides monthly opportunities to network, make new connections and hear local success stories. Get your tickets by clicking or tapping here.
A Starbeck pub has been awarded an accreditation for the quality of its beers.
The Office Ale House, which opened in April on High Street, has received Cask Marque accreditation.
Cask Marque, which was founded in 1998, is backed by major brewers and pub companies and audits the quality of ale.
Kevin Jones, who owns the Office Ale House, was awarded the accreditation this past week.
He said:
“This award is a great endorsement for us. A lot of our customers visit the pub especially for the cask ale and it is really gratifying to know that we are getting the formula just right.
“We did have some problems with our cooling system that unfortunately was never installed properly and during the heatwave this led to a drop in quality, but with the help of the right people and guidance from Cask Marque, we are now serving the perfect pint again. We achieved 5s across the board.”
Northern appoints new managing director
Train operator Northern has appointed a new managing director.
The company, which runs trains through Harrogate and Knaresborough, has hired Tricia Williams to the role.
Tricia Williams, managing director at Northern.
Ms Williams, who is currently Northern’s chief operating officer, will take over from Nick Donovan when he steps down from his role in spring 2024.
She said:
“After three great years as chief operating officer, it’s an absolute honour to be taking on the managing director role.
“Nick has set the standard – not only for driving this business forward but the standard for truly supportive and inclusive leadership.
“We know we still have big challenges ahead of us. Nick will leave us in a strong position, and the team and I are ready to continue the great work he has started.”
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New cafe to open in Knaresborough on Friday
The Little Way Cafe is to reopen in Knaresborough this week.
The family-run cafe and bakery announced on August 10 it was closing its site on Camwal Road in Starbeck after 11 months.
It is due to reopen in the unit formerly occupied by Moat Buttery cafe in Knaresborough on Friday.
In a Facebook post, the cafe said it was a “very difficult decision” to cease trading in Starbeck but “it was the only choice we could make in order to provide the best service and environment we could for our customers”.
Owner Yasmine Alsamarai told the Stray Ferret the move was necessary because the new site had more space.
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Ms Alsamarai said she was eager to stay as local to her original cafe as possible and the new “prime” Knaresborough location in Castle Yard came as a welcome opportunity.
She added she was sad to leave the “good community in Starbeck” but was looking forward to the Knaresborough move.
Originally from Leeds, Ms Alsamarai said she had a “love for hospitality” and opening a cafe had always been her dream. The homemade bakes are made by her sister, Saleimah Wright.
Ms Wright said:
“We’re so excited for the opening of the Knaresborough cafe and look forward to sharing what we do with the community!”
Ms Alsamarai emphasised the importance of community and love at Little Way Cafe.
She explained the meaning of the cafe’s name:
Harrogate plant hire company founder David Kitching dies“Do small things with great love.”
David Kitching, who founded the Harrogate firm Kitching Plant Hire, has died at the age of 80.
Mr Kitching, who was born in Bridlington and brought up in Pateley Bridge, founded the firm as D&S Kitching with wife Shirley in 1967.
The company began operating out of a small yard and workshop in Darley, where Mr Kiching lived.
It moved to Hookstone Park in Harrogate in the early 1990s but outgrew the premises and moved to its present location, the former Harrogate bus depot on Camwal Road in Starbeck, in the early 2000s.
The firm now employs about 20 staff and has more than 400 machines for hire, including diggers, rollers and cement mixers
The Camwal Road site in Starbeck.
Mr Kitching stepped back from day-to-day involvement with the company a few years ago.
A message on the firm’s Facebook page, posted by Shirley and sons Jason and Matthew, who are both directors of the firm, said:
“A void in our family has been formed which can never be ratified and we will miss him greatly.”.
Mr Kitching’s funeral will be held on September 1 at St James’ Church in Birstwith, It will be followed by a celebration of his life at the Wellington Inn in Darley.
Guests are requested to wear a hint of yellow as a nod to the yellow machinery that contributed so much to Mr Kitching’s life.
As a mark of respect, the business will close on the day of the funeral and reopen on September 4.
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Harrogate Bus Company places £21m order for 39 electric buses
The Harrogate Bus Company has placed orders worth £21 million for 39 new buses and to equip its Starbeck depot to convert its entire Harrogate fleet to fully electric power.
Funding for the bid includes £7.8 million secured by North Yorkshire Council from the government’s zero emission bus regional areas scheme.
Ministers set-up the scheme to help local authorities outside London introduce zero-emission buses.
The Harrogate Bus Company, whose services include the 36 that runs between Ripon, Harrogate and Leeds, is owned by French firm Transdev.
Transdev has already trialled several types of all-electric buses on three routes in and around Harrogate, and on its shuttle route linking Bradford and Keighley.
Transdev orders, which it revealed today, call for:
- 20 new Mercedes-Benz E-Citaro all-electric single deck buses, to be used on the urban route 1 between Harrogate and Knaresborough, route 7 linking Harrogate, Wetherby and Leeds, and rural route 24 between Harrogate and Pateley Bridge.
- 19 new Alexander Dennis Enviro 400EV fully electric double deck buses, to relaunch flagship route, The 36 linking Ripon, Harrogate and Leeds. These will be among the first of this new British-built design to enter service.
One of eight current Harrogate Electrics-branded single deck vehicles, seen at Harrogate Bus Station.
Henri Rohard, managing director of Transdev, described the news as “an important evolution in the quality and sustainability of our network in and around our home town of Harrogate”.
Mr Rohard added:
“All our bus fleet will be renewed in the process, giving our Harrogate Bus Company the most modern and passenger oriented network.
“In combination with our existing eight Harrogate Electrics-branded Volvo 7900E electric buses, the first of their kind in Britain, 47 fully-electric vehicles are now expected to be in service in spring 2024.
“Higher power output delivered by today’s new generation batteries means each bus can go further between charge-ups – and to make sure we provide a reliable service, our buses will also have top-up charges at Harrogate Bus Station, as they will travel further in a day than the maximum range achievable by fully electric buses.”
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The Starbeck depot will be upgraded.
Roads minister Richard Holden said:
“It’s fantastic to see Transdev turn its Harrogate fleet to fully electric by ordering 39 new electric buses.
“We’ve awarded £330 million of dedicated funding for zero emission buses in England excluding London, as we continue in our quest to decarbonise transport and reach net zero by 2050.”
Conservative-controlled North Yorkshire Council was among 12 local authorities to submit a successful bid for government funding.
Cllr Keane Duncan, the council’s executive member for highways and transport, said:
“It’s great news for passengers and an important step towards achieving our climate aims.”
Nature-inspired murals brighten up Starbeck underpass
A striking new set of murals aims to bring the natural world into an unloved urban part of Starbeck, its creator says.
Sam Porter has painted three murals to brighten up the underpass near the level crossing.
They feature wild birds and plants, as well as symbols of the area’s history, on three boards put up along the white walls.
Harrogate-based Sam was commissioned by Starbeck in Bloom to do the work, which was funded by Northern Rail.
He told the Stray Ferret:
“The thing I found quite difficult was, I’m used to painting directly onto the walls and you can work with the environment easier.
“It could have spanned through the whole underpass, but we would have had to close the underpass, which would have been a problem.
“But doing this has been really good, because it has added another strand to my work, using panels if people don’t want things directly onto walls.”
Sam said he was fortunate to be offered space to work in the yard at Amara Jane, the furniture shop next to the station, keeping him close to where the paintings would go on display.
He has struck up a friendship with the business owner, Andreas Mandrekas, and has been offered use of the yard again in future.
After years of travelling to Manchester, where he was being commissioned regularly, Sam is happy to have been asked to do more work in Harrogate in recent years.
His murals can now be seen in Cross James Street in Harrogate, as well as on Cheapside and near the Two Brothers Grill and Pizzeria in Knaresborough.
He has also created artwork for community buildings, including Aspin Park and Western primary schools.
He will soon be working on a mural for the Kiosk at Conyngham Hall as part of Knaresborough’s Feva Festival.
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As part of his work, Sam enjoys researching local history to come up with the designs for his murals.
In Starbeck, he has featured some of the local buildings, as well as the Pump Room in Harrogate. He said:
“When people used to come to Harrogate for the waters, they used to get the train to Starbeck and then get coaches up, because people in Harrogate didn’t want the dirty trains coming into town.
“The workhouse was in Starbeck, so it has always been the more working class area of Harrogate, but a vital part of the whole thing.”
Much of his work has been commissioned to brighten up unloved or troubled areas of towns and cities.
Sam said statistics show levels of crime and anti-social behaviour can be reduced if hotspots are improved, prompting more local pride among the community.
His inspiration comes from the world around him, which he began to appreciate more during the pandemic.
“It was during lockdown I reconnected with nature a lot. There are a few things about that time that I miss.
“Obviously it was grim, but for the first time ever, you were told, ‘you don’t have to do anything and you aren’t expected to do anything’, so I focused in on some things I loved and started looking at nature again.
“I became aware of how lucky we are with what’s around us – so much beautiful countryside.
“I like bringing nature back into an urban environment. I think that’s really what needs to happen in the world, in order to save it. You need to live with nature, rather than keep on harming it.”