Town starting to welcome back visitors

Knaresborough Town Mayor said it was great to see people returning to the town’s businesses as lockdown restrictions were eased this week.
St Johns church and the River Nidd viewed from Mother Shipton's Cave in Knaresborough, now reopened after covid lockdown restrictions were lifted.   Picture Tony JohnsonSt Johns church and the River Nidd viewed from Mother Shipton's Cave in Knaresborough, now reopened after covid lockdown restrictions were lifted.   Picture Tony Johnson
St Johns church and the River Nidd viewed from Mother Shipton's Cave in Knaresborough, now reopened after covid lockdown restrictions were lifted. Picture Tony Johnson

April 12 signalled the reopening of non-essential shops, personal care premises and public buildings, including libraries and community centres.

Also indoor leisure facilities such as gyms reopened with most outdoor attractions, theme parks, and drive-in cinemas and self-contained accommodation where indoor facilities are not shared with other households.

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Mayor Coun Christine Willoughby said: “I am very happy to see the return of our many excellent local shops and businesses this week.

“It’s great to see people at last being able to have a haircut, and enjoy a pleasant drink with family and friends at a local pub.

“How good it is to see our town at last starting to wake up and people can start to welcome visitors to our town once again.

“It’s great to see the boats on the river, when the weather allows, surely the ultimate in social distancing!

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“And it’s great to welcome back our loyal and hard working market traders who we’ve missed seeing over recent months.

“It’s hard to imagine now, how carefree we all were back in 2019 but now we are starting to get a little flavour of that feeling back again, socially distanced of course.”

Last week the Mayor urged shoppers to allow plenty of time and have patience, as well as think about buying what they need during usually quieter hours.

The Bear at Carriages reopened on Monday, in line with current guidelines, outdoors only.

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A spokesman for the pub said: “In the newly upgraded beer garden, the team is serving the usual drink selection alongside a special outdoor street food menu from the roaring bear pit.

“People are urged to book a table via opentable on Facebook or the website www.thebearatcarriages.co.uk”

Co-owner of Blind Jacks, in the Market Place, Christian Ogley said the regulations for outdoor seating only was a challenge was his business.

“Ideally we would wait till May 17th to reopen as we only have a few tables outside without cover from the great British weather.

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“However, financially we don’t have a choice but to try it.

“And on top of the uncertainty we have just received notice that “Cityfiber” will be digging up the path at the front of the pub in the coming weeks where we are supposed to put our tables.

“So to summarise we hopefully have lovely weather and nobody smashing pavements with sledge hammers.”

Mother Shipton’s Cave in Knaresborough has been open since March 27 as it is deemed a heritage attraction.

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And the attraction has been busy with children on school holidays in recent weeks.

However, managers at the centre said they expected more visitors to attend with an easing of restrictions.

And the museum and gift shop - which have been closed to visitors - is now reopened.

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