A teenager has been sentenced to an electronically monitored curfew for breaching a court order issued after committing a string of offences in Harrogate.

The 17-year-old boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, appeared before Harrogate Youth Court on March 3 after failing to comply with an order issued in August last year.

The court made the order after the teenager was charged with numerous offences in Harrogate.

These included carrying a knife and assault on Forest Lane, stealing £56 worth of watches from TK Maxx in Victoria Shopping Centre and stealing a bike from Swarcliffe Road in August 2022.

He also faced charges on theft of a Berghaus hoodie from Blacks on Station Parade, assault on Hookstone Drive and knowingly being carried on a stolen Piaggio Zip scooter in Harrogate on December 3, 2022.

The 17-year-old was also charged with stealing mountain bikes from St Aidan’s Church of England High School in October last year.

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As a result of the offences, the court imposed a new youth rehabilitation order on the teenager.

It requires him to abide by a curfew at his home address in Skipton for two months, which will be electronically monitored.

He was also ordered not to enter St Aidan’s for three months.

As 2020 draws to a close, the Stray Ferret looks back at the news stories that stood out among a year of extraordinary events.

Today, we reveal the most popular stories on our site since we launched at the beginning of March.

10. Events company folds after 46 years

Andrew Manby, director of Joe Manby Ltd.

The tenth most-read story on our site this year was a sad one for those involved – and for many others.

After months of uncertainty for the events industry, long-standing family firm Joe Manby Ltd was put into liquidation.

Director Andrew Manby had been warning for many months about the threat to the sector, with events unable to go ahead and no sign of improvement on the horizon.

Readers and fellow business owners expressed shock and sympathy after the news was announced.

9. Eat Out to Help Out

Restaurants and cafes took part in the Eat Out to Help Out scheme

When the government scheme to encourage hospitality spending was launched, businesses in the Harrogate district signed up with enthusiasm.

Residents were also keen to show their support, as our ninth most popular story shows. With more than 100 businesses on the list, locals checked in to see where they could get a discount on dining out early in the week.

8. Six workers rescued from Ripon takeaway

In September, six people were rescued from a Ripon takeaway after local residents raised concerns about their living and working conditions.

Agencies including the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority, Immigration Enforcement, Harrogate Borough Council and the police and fire service swooped on the takeaway, which was not publicly identified.

As a result, six people were placed in temporary accommodation. Officers reported several possible indicators of labour abuse but could not find any signs of modern slavery offences.

The council and the fire service said they would investigate a number of housing and fire safety issues at the property.

The story was our eighth most-read of the year.

7. Many hospitality businesses will not reopen

In his first column for the Stray Ferret, Peter Banks, MD of Rudding Park, gave an honest account of his expectations for the future of his industry.

Writing in early May, he said the first week of the pandemic’s impact was the worst of his professional life. However, in a rapidly changing climate, he soon found himself trying to work out how the hotel would reopen – and concluding that, for many, it would never happen.

The column proved hugely popular, especially with our audience on social media, and is seventh on our list of most-read stories of the year.

Today, we published Mr Banks’s reflections on the year in hospitality – including the last-minute bombshell delivered by the government to scupper plans for New Year’s Eve.

6. Long queues outside Harrogate shop after pubs close

Queues formed outside the Tesco Express shop in Harrogate’s town centre just after 10pm.

When the 10pm curfew on hospitality came in, many said it would only lead to a rush of people onto the streets all at the same time.

This appeared to be true, as the queue outside Tesco on Cambridge Road showed on Saturday, October 24 just after 10pm.

The same happened again the following week, and both stories proved popular with local readers. It’s at number six on our list.

5. Harrogate district to enter tier two restrictions

As the second national lockdown ended in early December, the decision about which tier the Harrogate district would be placed in drew a lot of attention.

Readers were eager to find out what restrictions they would face – and local businesses were also keen to know if they could open and trade in the vital few weeks before Christmas.

The story was the fifth most-read of the year. Yesterday’s announcement of the district’s move into tier three from New Year’s Eve is the most-read story in December.

4. Coach and Horses has alcohol licence revoked

Police were called to the Coach and Horses pub by concerned locals in May

In July, long-standing West Park pub the Coach and Horses had its alcohol licence revoked by Harrogate Borough Council after a dispute over their compliance with lockdown rules in May.

The pub opened to sell take-out beer, but as crowds gathered on the pavement and across the road by the Stray, police and council enforcement staff arrived.

Their accounts of the situation suggested landlord John Nelson had been “aggressive and abusive”, though at the licensing hearing his lawyer said he accepted he had made a “chronic error of judgement”.

The committee revoked Mr Nelson’s licence with the support of North Yorkshire Police, and the report on the decision was our fourth most read story of the year.

Three months later, his daughter Samantha was successful in her application for a licence to reopen the pub.

3. Police attend serious incident near Harrogate town centre

A man died and another was treated in hospital after an incident on Harcourt Drive, on the edge of Harrogate town centre.

On a quiet Sunday evening in late August, the incident shocked neighbours and the wider community. It was the third most read story of 2020 on our website.

Police later confirmed the incident was not being treated as suspicious and an inquest would be held to examine the circumstances of the man’s death.

2. Harrogate’s Stray FM to close

Owners Greatest Hits Radio announced the end of Stray FM in May

Residents of the district were shocked by the announcement in May that Stray FM would be disappearing from the airwaves.

Though owners Greatest Hits Radio described the plans as a ‘rebrand’, the reality was that there would be mostly national programming on the station from September, with one regional show each day at drivetime.

As well as the ending of a familiar brand established in 1994, community groups expressed their sadness at the loss of the station’s valuable support.

The announcement of the plans was our second most-read story of 2020.

1. Town centre roads closed by police

Police closed off Mayfield Grove junction with Bower Road. Picture: Sharon Canavar.

A police incident near the centre of town on a Friday afternoon drew our biggest audience of the year.

A man was arrested for saying he had a knife and making threats to other residents.

Officers closed a number of roads around Strawberry Dale while they dealt with the situation, leading to congestion on surrounding routes. The roads were reopened after around 90 minutes.

A second man was arrested for obstructing the police, separately to the original incident.

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If further restrictions are announced on hospitality, Harrogate bar owners have warned they could “finish us off”.

Bars and restaurants across the country are currently under a 10pm curfew in an attempt to deal with the rise of coronavirus cases.

Harrogate hospitality owners say any further restrictions would be hugely damaging to the industry – and the effects of the curfew have already impacted trade immensely.

A full closure in hotspot areas and a limit on household mixing are speculated to be announced today.

Martin Greenhow, managing director of MOJO bars, said:

“Hospitality has been hit with a sledgehammer. We are currently taking 20% of what we were pre-covid. We were just about managing before the curfew but now we have lost 60% of our trading hours.

“We are currently sat on a precipice and we are going to fall. Things are so bad now, more measures would be inconsequential – we may even be better off closed. It is that dire. But we don’t want to close because we want to keep our staff in employment.”

Read more:

• Harrogate Borough Council has received nearly £60,000 to ensure covid restrictions are enforced. 
• The 10pm curfew on bars has been described as “devastating”. 

Hales Bar is the oldest bar in Harrogate and previously relied heavily on the tourist trade. Owner Amanda Wilkinson said:

“We aren’t open Monday to Wednesday because I just don’t think it’s financially viable. If they close us in the evening at 6pm we will have to close temporarily because we don’t do a lot of daytime trade. How long we survive this all depends on pub landlords and if they continue to charge rents of businesses that aren’t operating.

“If we do close temporarily, we are talking about six months. This could finish us off.”

On Friday, the Chancellor announced an extension to his job support scheme with the government paying two-thirds of wages for companies forced to close due to restrictions.

The county was described to be at a at a “tipping point” amid increased infections, by North Yorkshire Local Resilience Forum.

The continual rise in cases within Harrogate and its surrounding areas has forced council leaders to call for the public follow the guidelines in an effort to avoid the restrictions placed on nearby cities such as Leeds.

People across North Yorkshire have been called upon to return home safely after pubs and restaurants close this weekend in an effort to avoid crowds.

North Yorkshire’s Resilience Forum, a partnership between public agencies including police and NHS, have made the plea following crowds on the streets in York last weekend.

Officials said they want to avoid further incidents of people gathering on the streets after the 10pm curfew.

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• No plans to add Harrogate to Covid watchlist

Superintendent Mike Walker, gold commander for North Yorkshire Police’s response to covid 19, and the chair of the North Yorkshire strategic coordination group, said:

“I am sure that people enjoying the freedom to go out and about in North Yorkshire this weekend do not want to see the enforced interventions being seen in many other northern areas being imposed on the county.

“We must all do what we can to stem the tide of infection and this means that people wanting to enjoy a night out in the pub or restaurant take all the necessary steps to make sure they can get home safely and quickly.”

Supt Walker said police were working with other organisations, including councils, to do all they could to help slow the spread of the virus.

He added:

“However, it’s not just down to police, partners, business owners and licensees to stop the spread of this deadly virus, it’s also down to the public to make the right decisions and abide by the regulations.

“We have been living with covid-19 for some time now and we all know the devastating impact it could have on our loved-ones, families, businesses and our NHS. We also know what we have to do to halt the spread – think hands, face, space, wear a face covering and try to limit contact as much as possible.

“North Yorkshire Police will continue to do everything within our power to keep the people of North Yorkshire safe. We know the majority of the public will join us and follow the rules. Those who do not, and who put the vulnerable among us at risk, should fully expect police to take action against them.

“So my advice to anyone who is thinking of enjoying a night out this weekend is to follow the regulations, otherwise your night could suddenly become a very expensive one.”

Meanwhile, Richard Flinton, chair of the resilience forum, said the county was at “tipping point” and urged people to follow social distancing guidelines.

Mr Flinton added that most infections are linked to households and social interaction.

He said: 

“Rather than wait for government intervention and the imposition of more serious lockdown measures being faced by people in many parts of the north of England, we are appealing to people to take the necessary precautions now.”

Bar owners and managers have expressed concern about the possibility of lockdown measures including curfews being introduced, as warnings have been issued around North Yorkshire.

Other areas of the country have seen a 10pm curfew introduced on bars and a ban on people mixing outside their households, in an effort to curb rising infection rates.

While no such restrictions are in place in North Yorkshire, Scarborough and Selby are now on Public Health England’s “watch list” because of their growing figures.

The Stray Ferret has spoken to some late-night bars in Harrogate about how this would impact their business.

Wetherspoons on Parliament Street is open for customers until 1am on Thursday, Friday and Saturday and until midnight every other night. Claire Demain, a shift leader at Wetherspoons, told the Stray Ferret that another lockdown would be “catastrophic”.

“We are quite concerned – we are starting to think, ‘are we going to be next?’. An earlier closing time would impact us significantly, especially on a weekend when the majority of our trade is from younger people and we do take a fair bit of money on drink and food after 10pm.

“Being locked down for three months to start with was very detrimental… We have just got into a flow of things again and sales are picking up so if we get locked down again it would be catastrophic, because we survive on people being able to come out for a drink…

“I don’t know how we would financially or mentally recover from it again.”

Mojo, Harrogate

Mojo bar on Parliament street is another to express the “devastating” impact a 10pm curfew would have on business.

James Hudson, a spokesperson for Mojo, told us:

“The impact of closing our business at 10pm would be absolutely devastating, especially after our teams have worked so hard over the last few months implementing and working to new guidelines.

“Finding a balance between curbing this virus while not destroying businesses and livelihoods is challenging and not one I feel we have come close to managing. The timing of these new restrictions seems to be in line with colleges and universities reopening. I am not convinced this action will make any real difference.”

Read more:

• North Yorkshire bosses call for “greater vigilance” following a rise in cases in Harrogate 
• North Yorkshire declares covid emergency

However, not all bars are totally against the curfew.

Jay Smith, who has owned Montey’s bar since 1996, told us that it wouldn’t be “the worst idea in the world”.

Montey’s currently closes at 2am, though before COVID it was open until 4am. Mr Smith said:

“If you were sat in front of your economics professor, he would tell you to be worried, but you have to think that people are losing their lives and loved ones and that your staff – many of which have worked for you for years – are being exposed to people on a regular basis.

“If authorities come to the balanced decision that it’s dangerous and it needs to be calmed down for while then that’s the way it is.”

With Scarborough and Selby now on Public Health England’s covid watchlist after an increase in cases, Dr Lincoln Sargeant, director of public health at North Yorkshire County Council, has urged people to be vigilant and follow the rule of six.