BID Newsletter June 2024

Hello everyone and welcome to our latest Harrogate BID newsletter!

We’re finally starting to see some better weather as we move into the summer months…

Our latest public realm campaign has seen selected streets lined with bunting to celebrate the launch of the Euros – and whoever you’re supporting we hope you’re enjoying the summer of football fun!

The barrier baskets around town now have a summery feel to them following the recent changeover. There are more than 200 of these across the town centre, adding bright colours and decorative features to our walkways!

Preparations are well underway for this year’s Floral Summer of Celebration, with the displays and trail set to launch on July 19th! This year’s theme is ‘Friendship’ in line with the Royal Horticultural Society, which celebrates its 60th anniversary this year.

Keeping on a floral theme, the annual Shop Window competition has also now launched to allow businesses to show off fantastic displays. Top prizes are to be win in a range of categories, so keep your eyes peeled for announcements on the winners…

Our new Street Ranger Sam is now well into the role and has been doing a great job carrying out a range of reactive jobs around the town, from weeding to painting street furniture. Be sure to say hello if you see him around the BID area!

Yours Sincerely

Andrea Thornborrow

BID Chair

Teacher’s Treat Gift Card campaign

Harrogate BID and Your Harrogate are delighted to be working in partnership to launch a promotional competition to encourage pupils to give the gift of Harrogate to their teachers at the end of term.

The ‘Teacher’s Treat’ competition offers the chance to school children to nominate their favourite teachers to be in with a chance of winning a Harrogate Gift Card worth £50 for them at the end of the academic year. The Harrogate Gift Card can be spent in more than 100 businesses across the town, with firms ranging from various sectors in retail, hospitality and more.

To read more on this, please click here.

Harrogate Lego Trail set for 2024 return

Harrogate BID is delighted to announce the return of the popular Lego Trail for 2024, set to bring magical fairytale fun to various locations around the town centre.

Following a year off in 2023, the BID team are excited to once again be working alongside the Fairy Bricks charity to bring the free trail back to the town.

From August 2nd, 13 different displays will begin to appear around the BID area to bring a magical, enchanting feel to Harrogate over a three week period.

To find out more, visit the BID website by clicking here.

Floral Shop Window Competition 2024

Harrogate BID is delighted to announce the return of a popular shop window competition for businesses to celebrate the town’s famous floral heritage.

The BID team are proud to be partnering with Harrogate in Bloom to facilitate this year’s Floral Window Competition, with entries to be submitted by Friday, June 28th.

This summer, Harrogate BID will be running the Floral Window Competition alongside the annual Floral Summer of Celebration – which will highlight friendship in line with the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), which celebrates its 60th anniversary in 2024.

Click here to find out more…

BID and Odyssey Gaming Festival Treasure Hunt

Harrogate BID is delighted to announce that it has teamed up with a brand-new video game festival to create a unique collector card treasure hunt in the town.

In an exciting collaboration, the BID team and Odyssey Video Games Festival are bringing an adventurous twist to the town centre with the Collectors Card Treasure Hunt.

The new festival, set to be held in The Crown Hotel on July 6th and 7th, will bring the world of video games to Harrogate featuring modern games including Fortnite, F1 2024 and Street Fighter 6, retro gaming, live entertainment, live Q&A sessions with industry professionals, exclusive merchandise and much more.

To read more, click this link.

Floral Summer of Celebration 2024

The Harrogate BID team are delighted to announce that the Floral Summer of Celebration will return this month – and preparations are well underway.

The unique floral trail will see fantastic displays placed in key locations around the BID area, allowing visitors to view the Harrogate offer and celebrate the town’s floral heritage as they pass by each exhibit.

This year’s event will highlight friendship in line with the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), which celebrates its 60th anniversary in 2024.

Visit the BID website to find out more.

Fathering Funday success in Harrogate

The first ever Fathering Funday from Harrogate BID has been hailed a success in the town as crowds gathered to join in the football-themed fun.

The new free event, held on Saturday (June 15th) near the cenotaph in Prospect Place, saw families gather to join in with the challenges including beat the keeper, one vs one matches and kick-up competitions and enter the Euro 2024 sweepstake.

Although the event was cut short in the afternoon due to poor weather conditions, visitors and residents still had the chance to take part and join the draw for some top prizes.

You can read a full update on this here.

HUQ update for June 2024

A new addition to the BID’s HUQ dashboard called ‘Demographics’ allows the team to see the age group and gender of each unique visitor, again supporting us when planning future events and creating a target audience for our campaigns.

The total footfall for June 2024 was over 1 million again, but this is down on the same month last year…

To view a full update on HUQ, please click here.

Latest BID street dressing

Street dressing in Harrogate has taken another development as the BID team kicked off the Euro 2024 celebrations across the town centre with new bunting.

Bunting is just one aspect of the BID’s eye-catching public realm and targeted campaigns, all aimed at supporting Harrogate’s unique welcome for visitors.

Last month, new bunting displaying the Harrogate Coat of Arms was placed around key locations in the town centre, with street art and other projects to follow in the coming months.

Read more on this here.

Summer barrier baskets in Harrogate

A change over in Harrogate BID’s floral barrier baskets has added a summer feel to the town centre as we move further into the warmer months of the year.

With more than 200 on show around the BID area, the baskets are just one part of the Business Improvement District’s floral offering in the town, adding bright colours and decorative features to the barriers on the walkways around the town centre.

The flowers are changed twice a year to match the seasons and the move from winter to summer flowers has now taken place.

You can find out more about this here…

Coach & Horses reopens

The Harrogate pub officially reopened on July 1st with a new large bar and restored Tap Room, offering a wide range of beer!

There is also an additional bar called the Feed Room upstairs.

The team are preparing to host a Comedy Club, live music, a pub quiz, a charity raffle and a weekly Sunday roast.

To find out more, visit the pub’s official website by clicking here.

New architect and interior designer to open in Harrogate

Grace & Morris residential architects and interior designers are thrilled to be opening on the prestigious Parliament Street, in the heart of Harrogate.

With a passion for design excellence and a commitment to exceptional service, we are excited to bring our innovative architectural solutions and internal design flair to this historical town.

Whether you’re planning a complete new build, kitchen extension or a home remodel, Grace & Morris want to work with you, to bring your vision to life.

You can email the team on Hello@graceandmorris.com to find out more.

Love to Be Festival

On September 14th, The biggest dance music festival ever to take place in Harrogate lands on The Stray – Love to be… Festival.

A massive and unmissable line up of international house music DJs, vocalists, musicians and performers! In their 30th anniversary year they will be bringing you 30 years of House plus the sounds of Ibiza with Cafe Mambo!

An unmissable all day event never seen before in Harrogate with full festival production, 2 arena’s, plush VIP, food court and entertainment. You can click this link to purchase a ticket.