OPINION: The busiest month in the Harrogate calendar

Yes, without doubt, we’ve probably experienced the longest period of sunshine and warm weather that I can remember and it’s been fantastic for hospitality businesses around the town.

We’ve all become a little more addicted to alfresco drinking and dining over recent years and there’s no doubt it definitely gives you that feeling of being on your holidays when you can enjoy a cool beer or nice chilled glass of wine in the sunshine. I, for one, hope this wonderful warm spell continues for the rest of the summer.

Last week I was lucky enough to get up to the Great Yorkshire Show for a few hours and it once again delivered a fantastic experience for all. The last 10 days or so is amongst the busiest all year for Harrogate hotels, restaurants and bars, with huge demand for rooms for both the GYS and then immediately going into the Gift Fair Show at HCC; this show delivers the highest number of visitors of all annual events there.

Reports were that it was another excellent event with buyers attending from far and wide. Attendees of both of these events make the most of their visit to Harrogate. I met up with a few of the regulars and went out for dinner on Tuesday and it was great to see the town’s restaurants all very busy and doing great trade for a mid-weeknight.

With HIF Crime Writing Festival on this week, July is once again proving to be a good month and trust me when I say that many businesses desperately need it. Also, now with the school holidays upon us, I’m hoping that the current bumper trade continues into August, which has traditionally been a difficult month to predict.

Once again, we’ll need the help of the weather to play its part in ensuring people come out and enjoy hospitality around the town. But with events and activities put on by Harrogate BID, amongst others, such as the Lego Trail etc, I’m hoping there’ll be plenty enough reasons for people to be out spending and keeping the town busy.

My final point of note this month is recognising we have a new Prime Minister this week. I’m not sure he or his aides will necessarily be reading my column! But I know our MP Tom Gordon occasionally does, so maybe he’ll kindly give the new Government a nudge, or maybe AI might pick up on this once published online.

An easy win for our new PM would be to recognise the importance of hospitality to the UK economy and understand how many businesses nationally are struggling with the highest costs they’ve ever experienced. There’s an ongoing campaign right now called ‘VAT’s The Problem’, which is petitioning to lower VAT in hospitality from the normal 20 per cent to 10 per cent.

I’ve written on this many times before and highlighted how many other European countries have already done this to great success, so PM Burnham, why not do something that not only helps a huge number of UK businesses, but also helps the rest of the nation get out and be able to afford enjoying themselves a little easier? It’s got to be a win-win all round.

I won’t pin any hopes on the last point, but rather hope we get continued great weather, great events and lots of reasons to get out and enjoy the summer.