'Patience' plea as Harrogate town centre gets ready for big reopening

The relaxing of Government rules to allow all ‘non-essential’ shops to reopen from Monday has seen a race against time this week by businesses and business groups to get ready to meet strict guidance on social distancing.

The massive operation has seen everything from the introduction of elaborate signage and hand sanitisers at M&S’s main Harrogate store on Oxford Street to a deep clean of the streets carried out by Harrogate BID in the town centre.

BID’s acting chair, Sara Ferguson, says the massive operation was a vital part of giving Harrogate people the confidence to come back to the shops next week.

She said: “Harrogate BID has been working hard on a number of initiatives to encourage people to come back to Harrogate town centre, and go back in the wonderful shops we have, both our independents and the chain stores.

“The social distancing floor and window stickers we have produced - which have been taken up by more than 120 town centre businesses - have been designed to be helpful reminders to both customers and staff about their responsibilities, and to give all the confidence to come and shop local.”

Fears have grown in Harrogate’s business community that online shopping has become more of the norm since the Government ordered most shops in Britain to close in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic on March 23.

But groups like Harrogate Business Improvement District, Harrogate District Chamber of Commerce and Independent Harrogate believe it is possible to break that habit and bring customers back to Harrogate’s high street safely, if both shops and shoppers adapt to the new environment.

Sara Ferguson added: “I think that in the early stages, and until restrictions have been relaxed further, shopping will be a different experience, and one that will demand a bit of tolerance and patience.

“There will be restrictions on the numbers of people allowed in a shop at any one time, which may result in queuing, which we see at supermarkets on a daily basis.

“Businesses have gone to an awful lot of effort to ensure they are Government compliant, and these measures will need to be respected by everyone.”

One bone of contention for businesses is the return of parking charges from Monday as the town centre finally reopens.

Many businesses had been hoping the reintroduction by North Yorkshire County Council and Harrogate Borough Council would be delayed until the end of July as a sweetener for shoppers.

'We have had to adapt' says Harrogate shop owner as it prepares to reopen

A message from the Editor

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news on this free-to-read site, I am asking you to also please purchase a copy of our newspaper.

Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the most rigorous standards in the world. But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. So we need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers - and consequently the advertising that we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news and information by buying a copy of our newspaper