'Tough months' ahead warns Harrogate's chamber of commerce

The 'new normal' as Harrogate's hospitality sector reopens - Pictured here are staff at Marconi cafe in Harrogate wearing PPE while serving. (Picture Gerard Binks)

Steve Scarre, Harrogate District Chamber of Commerce President, said the Saturday reopening out of lockdown for bars, cafes, restaurants and hotels needed only to be the start if Harrogate's retail sector was to recover fully.

Mr Scarre said: “Having the hospitality sector open alongside their retail colleagues is an important step in the town rebuilding its economy.

“I fear we are in for a tough few months and Saturday was quieter than many businesses were hoping for."

Although it was impossible not to notice a real buzz about part of the town centre for the first time since lockdown in the battle against Covid-19, it was also noticable that some shops had not yet reopened while others seems to have now closed permanently.

But the chamber of commerce is confident things will improve as more businesses in Harrogate town centre choose to reopen with social distancing and PPE in place.

Mr Scarre said: "While not every businesses chose to reopen on Saturday, I know more are planning to do so over the coming days and weeks, therefore giving visitors more reasons to come back into town to shop, eat and drink.

I’m confident that as restrictions are relaxed further, people will feel more confident about coming into town again.”

We're reopening say cinemas in Harrogate in exciting week for movie fans

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.