District Bar on Cold Bath Road will keep the covered outdoor seating area that was constructed during the Covid pandemic to encourage social distancing permanently.
Harrogate bar to permanently keep covered outdoor areaDistrict Bar on Cold Bath Road will keep the covered outdoor seating area that was constructed during the Covid pandemic to encourage social distancing permanently.
The bar opened in September 2019 just a few months before the town’s hospitality industry was turned on its head by Covid.
Like many other bars and restaurants in Harrogate during the pandemic, District Bar was granted approval by the council to erect a semi-permanent metal structure on its patio to allow customers to sit outside.
Not only did the covered area allow customers to sit safely away from each other during Covid restrictions, it has also become a dry and warm space during the winter months and helps to block out noise from the bar onto the street.
Last week North Yorkshire Council approved a planning application to see the structure remain on the site for good.
The council has stipulated that the area must close by 9pm when customers must move inside.
Planning documents submitted by the owner of District Bar said:
“Following a well received launch we were then, like the rest of the world, thrust into the unknown with Covid and the challenges it brought. Like many other small local businesses, we struggled to exist and get through it. But we consider ourselves part of the local fabric and community, and to that end received tremendous support from local public.
“In 2020, since we couldn’t operate inside due to Covid restrictions, we applied and received permission for a ‘semi-permanent’ structure to be erected on our patio connected to the bar.
“What we have found since its erection, is we disrupt our local community even less than we did before since noise is no longer an issue (prior we had people outside talking till 9pm) and as well as that an area where people still sceptical of covid and contagion can distance them selves from our main inside bar area. It has created a warm and cosy area for people to still keep safe distances.”
By Thomas Barrett, Local Democracy Reporter
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