Sneak Peek: Starling shows off new spacious bar after major renovation

Harrogate’s Starling Independent Bar Cafe and Kitchen has been showing off it’s impressive new space this week following a major renovation.

The restaurant and bar on Oxford Street serves craft beer, hot drinks and pizza, as well as a brunch menu.

The venue, which launched in 2017, now boasts a ground floor three times the size after expanding into the former TSB bank next door.

The refurbishment, which was completed in just three weeks, offers a more fully accessible space and a more vibrant bar atmosphere.

Dan Howard, general manager, said:

“The main idea was we didn’t want to reinvent the wheel. We didn’t consider the concept broken. We just wanted to expand on what we were offering already.

“We offer a great service and a great selection of products that people already liked. We definitely didn’t want to break that.

“We wanted to make sure people who come to Starling already would enjoy what we have done with it and that it would attract a new crowd as well.

“During a testing time in hospitality, we’ve managed to push through with the refurb and now it’s onwards and upwards.”

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Mr Howard said the increased capacity would also allow the upstairs area to be used more.

He said:

“We are looking at putting football on up there. We already get quite a lot of bookings for functions and we now have the space available to allow those to happen more frequently.”

Starling, which is owned by Simon Midgley, will still offer full table service during the day. This will continue upstairs, however from 3pm the new downstairs area will operate as bar service only.

Mr Howard said:

“We are hoping that will just create a bit more of a social environment. It will just create a bit more of a bar vibe on an evening and really get the place buzzing. We will still be offering the same great service we always have done.

“We have got much more of a presence on the street now and when you look in you can see what we’ve got to offer.”

Starling is also well known for its charity quiz nights, with ‘Dan’s Questionable Quiz’, returning this Sunday.

The quiz raises money for the Harrogate Hospital and Community Charity and will now be held in the downstairs bar area.

Harrogate TSB to close next month

Harrogate TSB will close next month, with the bank attributing the move to a shift in customers to online banking.

The branch on Oxford Street, which was part of the first wave of 82 TSB closures announced last year, will close on November 27 .

TSB has since announced a further 164 branch closures as part of plans to save £100 million by 2022.

When the Harrogate branch closes, the nearest TSB bank will be in Leeds.

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A TSB review into the use of the Harrogate branch found 73 customers visited it regularly each month.

It also revealed weekly transactions had gone up in 2019 compared to the same time in 2016.

A notice in the bank’s window.

Debbie Crosbie, chief executive of TSB, said:

“We are reshaping our business to transform the customer experience and set us up for the future. This means having the right balance between branches on the high street and our digital platforms, enabling us to offer the very best experience for our personal and business customers across the UK.”

Another central Harrogate bank, The Co-operative Bank, is due to close by December 1. The Co-op also blamed a drop in footfall for it closure.