A new co-working space, meeting area and café have opened in Harrogate’s Windsor House.

The facilities were created during the second phase of a refurbishment of the imposing building, which overlooks Valley Gardens.

Owned by property firm Boultbee Brooks, Windsor House is home to more than 115 businesses, and includes 75,000 sq ft of flexible workspace.

Harrogate borough mayor, Cllr Victoria Oldham, officially opened the new facilities at an event attended by more than 100 dignitaries.

Mayor Victoria Oldham cuts the ribbon.

The refurbishment, which included repairing the leaky roof and installing new furniture, has been overseen by interior design firm and Windsor House tenant RU Creative, which sourced and installed the main focal point — an olive tree.

The new space seats 110 people, who can visit the renovated café, which has been renamed The Pantry at Windsor House. The pantry is run by husband-and-wife Antonio and Jo Nobile.

Read more:

• Business Breakfast: Executive search firm moves to Harrogate’s Windsor House
• Plan submitted for 20mph zones around five schools in Harrogate

The building, formerly the Grand Hotel, is a short walk from the town centre.

Karen Winspear, Boultbee Brooks’ building manager for Windsor House, said:

“After four months of intense work and much anticipation, we are delighted to have opened this beautiful new space for our tenants.

“The grand foyer, which has been returned to its former glory, is a luxurious space for workers to meet clients, to work together, or just relax over a coffee or lunch.

“There is more to come at Windsor House, with plans to open a new yoga studio in the new year.”

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.”

Read more:

• Sneak Peek: The Nelson Inn reopens this week
• Sneak peek: New Harrogate grill and bar opens this weekend

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.

A popular bar and cafe in central Harrogate is set to expand to offer more space for customers.

Starling on Oxford Street will close its doors on Sunday at 3pm to knock through to the neighbouring unit, tripling the ground floor space it currently has.

Owner Simon Midgley told the Stray Ferret that, despite the current economic uncertainty, he was confident the move was right for the business.

He said:

“We bounced back really strongly after the closures and lockdowns. We know what we do is well thought of and we’ve got a good team delivering it.

“It has been a slow burn to get to this point. We first looked next door at the start of the year and it has taken quite a long time to get to the point we are now.

“The world has changed a bit so it brings more challenges than there were 12 months ago. But I’ve done cash flow models working with our accountants, Wild and Co, and they’re doing a fantastic job to support us.

“We’re just really thrilled it has all come to fruition.”

Work has been taking place in the neighbouring building for around 12 weeks already, with the landlord also converting the upper floors into residential space.

Starling is expected to close for around three weeks while the ground floor is completed.

Read more:

• Sneak Peek: Cheers! New Harrogate craft beer bar opens today
• Cafe-bar and record store plans submitted for Cold Bath Road shop

One of the key reasons for the expansion, as well as extending the ground floor space, is to give a better view of what Starling offers from the street to entice people inside. The bar will be turned around and there will be more seating for customers.

Once it re-opens, more jobs will be created, including full- and part-time front-of-house roles and positions in the kitchen.

Simon said, like many other hospitality businesses, recruiting chefs had proved tricky this year and he was still seeking the right people to deliver the menu of brunches and pizzas to complement the soft and alcoholic drinks on offer.

He said:

“We’re expecting to be significantly busier.

“We aren’t trying to reinvent the wheel. I’ve got every confidence in the team and the sort of food and drink we offer.

“We aren’t trying to recreate what we are so much as create a better ambience and a more comfortable space in which to do it.”

He added:

“There are always challenges. As long as you assess the risk and go at it in a calculated way, when times are hard you’re better showing a bit of spark and attacking that situation than sitting back and being cautious.

“Put your best foot forward.”

A new cafe-bar and vinyl records shop could open on Harrogate’s Cold Bath Road if planning permission is granted.

Plans have been put forward to convert the ground floor of 129 Cold Bath Road, which has up to now been used by a travel agency.

The proposals state that the travel agency would continue to trade from the two floors above, while the ground floor – stretching to 52m sq – would be used as a cafe, bar and shop selling records and clothing.

The business would create three full-time jobs and five part-time roles. Its proposed trading hours are 9am to midnight, seven days a week.

The site on Cold Bath Road.

The application has been made by John Caladine, who founded Audio Archtct Experience Ltd in February, along with David Swallow.

To view or comment on the application, visit the planning pages of Harrogate Borough Council’s website and use reference 22/03540/FUL.

Read more:

• Residential conversion plan submitted for upper floors of Harrogate estate agency
• New plan to convert former Harrogate post office into holiday apartments

Mrs Smith’s Cafe in Jennyfields, which has been closed since April, has gone into liquidation.

The family-friendly community cafe was situated in a unit on Jennyfields Shopping Centre next door to the Co-op.

It offered food and drink and had a play area for children.

However, a post on the cafe’s Facebook page from April 26 said it was closed “until further notice” and it’s remained empty since.

It appears the cafe will not be reopening as Wigan-based Focus Insolvency Group was appointed to liquidate the business last week.

Two of the four units on Jennyfield Drive are now empty. The Rainbow Room library and St Michael’s Hospice charity shop remain open.

Read more:

• Harrogate Hydro set to reopen in May 2023
• Praise for Harrogate school as Ofsted rating improves

The owners of Hustle & Co have thanked their customers after announcing that a new owner will be taking over the business today.

Nici Routledge and Jo Bradshaw launched the healthy cafe and restaurant on Harrogate’s prestigious Prince Albert Row in December 2020.

However, it was put up for sale this year to allow the best friends and business partners to explore other projects and new opportunities.

This week they revealed that the venue was now under new ownership and would be renamed Jesper’s Bar and Kitchen, with the new owner starting work today.

• Harrogate’s Hustle & Co for sale as owners hatch new plan
• Sneak peek: New health cafe opens in Harrogate

Ms Bradshaw stressed that the staff and menu would remain the same and it would be “business as usual”.

She told the Stray Ferret:

“We feel we found the perfect fit to move our business forward. We wanted to find someone who shared a similar ethos. It’s business as usual at least for now.

“The chefs and the staff are the same and the dishes are the same, so it is the same food and drink and excellent service that customers are used to.”

The owners of Hustle & Co, Nici Routledge (left) and Jo Bradshaw.

Ms Bradshaw said both she and Ms Routledge would miss their loyal customers.

She said:

“Many of them are now friends. But we are looking forward to a drink with them on the other side of the bar.

“Congratulations to Jesper and his family. We wish them every success for the future. Jesper has years of experience in the hospitality industry.

“We are super excited about our future plans. It’s the right time to hand over the reins and move on. Watch this space, there are great things to come.”

Marks & Spencer has decided to retain a café at its Leeds Road food hall in Harrogate after previously saying it would close.

The company announced in December it planned to increase the size of its food hall at Oatlands by more than 70% and extend into the neighbouring Sofa.com retail unit.

It said the scheme would enable it to ‘deliver a bigger, better and fresher new-look food hall’ but that it would mean closing the in-store café.

How the Oatlands food hall will look.

The café is a popular meeting point and the news prompted a petition calling for it to be retained.

M&S has now confirmed to the Stray Ferret that its new look food hall will include a café.

The woman who organised the petition, who lives near the food hall but asked not to be named, said the manager of the store had contacted her to say the café would be retained but would be smaller. She said she understood it was likely to be similar in size to the new Pret shop in Harrogate town centre.

But she welcomed the decision to retain the café:

“I’m pleased. There isn’t a café like it in the area. It’s a place people go to meet friends, especially older people.

“I think they recognise the whole community uses it and a lot of people said they wouldn’t go there any more if it closed.”

Read more:

• 200 people sign petition to save Harrogate M&S cafe
• M&S gives sneak peek of expanded Harrogate Oatlands store

This story is sponsored by Halls of Ripon.

It has been a sparkling first year for the 20 plus independent retailers at Halls of Ripon.

At Red Buttons – one of the jewels in the department store’s crown – the celebrations continue for owners Mike and Liz Cooper as they will soon reach a golden milestone, having married in August 1972.

The couple, along with Hedley Hall, Ben Butler and Lloyd Sheard, were instrumental in the re-birth and re-invention of the unique retail destination on Fishergate, under the famous Halls name, so fondly remembered in Ripon and across the Harrogate district, for the quality of its goods and the excellence of its service.

In their own golden wedding anniversary year, Mike and Liz have launched a sale of select rings and other jewellery items, offered at discounted prices that customers can purchase to mark their own special occasions, from silver to gold, diamond and platinum.

The special anniversary sale of select jewellery items is now on at Red Buttons

Mike, who worked for more than 40 years in senior management at some of the best-known jewellers on the UK high street, said:

“Jewellery is a personal, emotional and sentimental gift that carries deep meaning and lifelong memories.

“Over the years it has been a pleasure to share in everything from marriages and the earliest wedding anniversaries, to the birth of a child, by helping people to find the appropriate piece or pieces of jewellery.”

Mike pointed out:

“For some customers, diamonds have been selected as the mile-stones that tell the story of their lives.

“The sentimental value goes on when single items or entire collections are left to loved ones and become treasured heirlooms that will be passed on to future generations.”

Creating customised Jewellery

Red Buttons takes pride in providing a personalised service and experience for customers, supported by designers and craftsman jewellers who can create customised pieces, often involving the recycling of a family’s redundant and damaged items.

Mike explains:

“A lady brought gold rings inherited from her parents, that she was unable to wear and within a matter of days we transformed them into a simple, but stylish cross that can be worn every day.

The gold heart with diamonds, created from wedding rings and an engagement ring

“For another customer, the wedding ring of her late mother and grandmother’s diamond engagement and wedding rings, were united in a single gold and diamond heart, whose sentimental value is beyond price.”

Red Buttons’ services include free jewellery cleaning and inspection, re-sizing, stone replacement, claw re-tipping and replacement. Part exchange is also available for customers with items that they wish to trade.

A community of independent retailers 

Liz Cooper, said:

“Our independent retailers cover all ages, from clothes for babies and children to hand-made furniture and a newly-introduced repair shop where classic sofas and chairs are re-upholstered and returned to use.

“All traders have expanded over the past year and each has something special to offer that adds to the department store experience. The coffee, homemade cakes and sandwiches at The Hive cafe within the store are highly recommended.”

A cafe in Starbeck has become a hub for the local community, which is rallying together in the face of the cost of living crisis.

The Living Room Café is run by Sarah Khanye and inside the Life Destiny Church at 93b High Street.

The family-friendly space opens from Tuesday to Friday from 9am until 3pm and hosts a variety of events that aim to bring the community together with homemade food, drinks and treats available.

Ms Khanye, 31, has worked in catering all her life. When the Stray Ferret visited yesterday, she looked at home with a spoon in a bowl as she made a cake.

She set up the cafe over two years ago, before covid and before the cost of living crisis.

Both have unquestionably increased stress, isolation and anxiety for people living in Starbeck.

The cafe aims to be not just a place to fill up your belly, but also somewhere where local families and friends can get together in a welcoming space.

Ms Khayne said:

“One cup of tea can last all day. The cafe helps people feel safe, combats loneliness and improves mental health.”

Affordability

The cafe is volunteer-run, with prices kept affordable.

It also includes a pantry and community fridge that includes donated food from places like the Co-op, which people are able to pay for with whatever they can afford.

The cafe also hosts events including community running clubs, craft and coffee mornings and get-togethers for mums, among other activities.

Read more:

• Residents flock to Starbeck Community Day
• Paris proposal for Starbeck nurses on charity bike ride across Europe

Cost of living

Starbeck is one of the least affluent areas in the Harrogate district with many residents more vulnerable to increasing prices.

Life Destiny Church also runs a food bank, which has seen demand increase sharply.

Ms Khanye says in the last two months alone, the number of people coming to the food bank has gone up by a “massive, massive” amount as the cost of living crisis continues to bite.

She said:

“People in Starbeck are worried about the cost of living. A lot of people have limited income so numbers are growing.”

But with difficult times ahead, Ms Khanye believes Starbeck will stick together through choppy waters.

She added:

“I just like to see people enjoy the community where they live.

“Seeing families being able to support each other is massive. It would be a sad thing not to work here!”

Some of the events the cafe puts on.

A popular children’s “play café” near Ripon is closing its doors in September.

Little Beans, in West Tanfield, launched three years ago as a role play and messy play café for under six-year-olds.

An announcement on the business’s Facebook page said the venue at Village Farm, on Main Street, would close on Friday, September 2.

Owner Emma Terry wrote:

“It is with a heavy heart that as of September 2, Little Beans will be closing its doors and the Imagination Centre will only be doing private parties and events in external venues.

“This decision hasn’t been made easily and has been taken out of our hands.

“We would just like to thank all of our customers, past and present, who have supported us over the last three years, especially through the biggest pandemic we have ever seen.

“We have made some lovely friends along the way and will truly miss each and every one of you.”

Read more:

• Could a pothole machine be the answer to Ripon’s rocky roads?
• Long-awaited resurfacing work to start on busy Ripon roads

There will be a number of events taking place at the café over the summer and a farewell party is being planned on September 2.

Ms Terry added: