The boss of Harrogate International Festivals has talked about the practicalities that need to be considered if the big screen was to return to the town.

While most people have been happy to support Harrogate’s hospitality sector during the World Cup by watching England matches in the pub, some have said they missed the giant outdoors screen that the town’s arts charity brought to the town a few years back.

Taking a break from organising the launch of this year’s Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate in just a few days’ time on July 23, Harrogate International Festivals’ Chief Executive Sharon Canavar said the list of negative factors had grown substantially since the arts charity first installed the big screen on Montpellier Hill in the better times in 2010 in the days of Andy Murray and Wimbledon.

As well as the costs of the screen itself, the list of boxes which HIF now had a duty to tick – and pay for – before there was any hope of bringing back the big screen was prohibitive.

Harrogate International Festivals’ Chief Executive Sharon Canavar said the list of negative factors against having a big screen in Harrogate to show sporting events had grown substantially since the arts charity first installed one in 2010.

placeholder image — Harrogate International Festivals’ Chief Executive Sharon Canavar said the list of negative factors against having a big screen in Harrogate to show sporting events had grown substantially since the arts charity first installed one in 2010.

These included:

Toilets

Security barriers

Security staff

Maintaining public order

Preventing anti-social behaviour

First aid

Clearing litter afterwards

The Harrogate International Festivals’ highly-respected Chief Executive said she was not against the idea of the big screen in principle but in practice.

In addition, when it came to football, the arts charity had no desire to take customers away from the town’s pub and bars.

One of the UK’s least publically funded arts, HIF says the entire landscape for the arts has simply become far tougher in recent years.

The first year of the big screen in 2010, HIF worked in partnership with Harrogate Borough Council.

The latter no longer even exists.

North Yorkshire Council, the new unitary authority since 2023, has faced a very different situation in charge and had set very different priorities.

In particular, the council has imposed new charges on arts groups for the use of public land.

“Thirty festivals across the UK have gone bust this year, that’s the scale of the challenges the arts face,” said Sharon Canavar.

"North Yorkshire Council are now charging for the use of public space, which adds yet another layer of cost.

"I understand the council has all these valuable assets which, these days, they need to monetise.

"But there should be a differentiation when it comes to public land between commercial groups that are doing it to make money and charities and community groups that are doing it for the good of the town.

"If we want the arts to make the most of our public spaces to attract visitors and support the economy but people cannot afford to put events on, it’s Harrogate as a whole which will lose out.”

It has been ten years or so now since Harrogate last had its big screen.

Recent years have seen Glastonbury Festival shown on a big screen in the grounds of Knaresborough Castle.

But that has had the benefit of being a natural setting and, perhaps, most crucially, the support of North Yorkshire Council.