Whitby

In Living Memory

2012

In the early part of this year or the latter part of 2011, The Dispensary of Hudson Street opened its doors for the first time. The shop was described as being not just a health shop, but a 'futurehealthstore', stocking lots of natural medicinal products. At the end of 2011, work started on the renewal of St John's Church roof, at the bottom of Brunswick Street. Work was completed in April 2012, and for the work to be done, a temporary tarpaulin sheet was put over to keep everything dry.

Here we can see the scaffolding after just been put up in November 2011 to the last 2 pics in April 2012 with everything down

Around the beginning of 2012, The Granary in Station Square was given a major face lift after being taken over by one of the partners in S.P.C., which was to close in the very near future to make way for a new Sainsbury's supermarket. The front external wall of the pet shop was given a change of colour - from light blue to a pale yellow - and the words 'Whitby Pet Shop' put on the windows, now being the only supplier of pet products in Whitby, after Creature Comforts of Baxtergate closed down at the end of 2010. Also during this year, the former toilet block on West Cliff Beach was set to be put to use again, as plans were passed in 2010 to change the building to a lifeguard lookout station. The building hadn't been used for many years, after the toilets fell into a bad state of repair, and were closed down. The Beach Centre was subsequently built a little further along the beach, which opened in 2007. Damage was caused by vandals to the bowling club clubhouse also at the beginning of the year, which left the clubhouse needing new windows as well as other work, which wasn't completed until July. Also around this time, the Granary in Station Square was given a new colour scheme on the outside. At the very beginning of February, work began on demolishing the old EuroPower factory on Stainsacre Lane, to make way for a new Sainsbury's Superstore. Sainsbury's also purchased land off Cowen Window's & Richard Cana's coal yard on Cholmley Way to house a petrol station. Cowen's moved onto Enterprise Way, and Richard Cana moved to a new yard in Sneaton. The whole of Stainsacre Lane was affected with the works, as the 40mph speed limit was reduced to 30mph in March, which actually used to be national speed limit, prior to 1996. Drivers now have to be careful, as the 30mph runs right from the East side of the New Bridge to past Enterprise Way, where it becomes National Speed Limit.

Above: Former West Cliff Beach toilets turned into a lifeguard lookout station

Left: EuroPower still standing &; Right: During demolition & road alterations

For a video of the Construction Of Sainsbury’s, please Click HERE

Also in the early part of 2012, Zodiac Video on Flowergate, temporarily moved one door up the road into the former Parklife fashion premises, due to subsidence. Boro Tyres of Church Street closed & all business moved to Scarborough.

Boro Tyres' old home on Church Street & Zodiac Video after moving premises

In February, a small housing development on Byland Road was completed, on the site of a former kids' play area, near the Stakesby Arms pub. Work started in April 2010, clearing the site. The development saw the construction of 5 houses, which belong to Home Housing. The development was given a street name of "Harrowing Court", in connection with Lady Harrowing who owned the land in years gone by, and was given a post code of YO21 4AD. The other housing development at Larpool, was completed in May, which saw the construction of 6 plots, which were divided into 15 houses in total, some 2, some 3 and some 4 bed roomed houses. The houses belong to Sanctuary Housing Association and the road was named "Bluebell Grove" with a post code of YO22 4AH.

Byland Road housing project is finished here in February 2012

For a video of the Byland Road Project, please Click here

Around this time, it was realised that the West Pier Lighthouse was in such a bad state, with the central column full of cracks. After exploratory work, it had been found that there was metal conduit carrying cabling to the lights at the top inside the sandstone column, which over the years had been expanding & causing the stone to crack. It was also mentioned that the Lighthouse could be sinking into the Pier, as it was not known whether it's foundations went right to the sea bed or just to the pier itself.

Also in February, Raithwaite Hall secured Whitby's old Whalebones, after a 2-year-long plea to find them a new home, in a move to hopefully see them at their new entrance when all the works on renovating the estate were complete. The owners of the Raithwaite Estate, the Skelwith Group, secured the bones after pledging to make a £1,000 to a local charity, which was chosen by Whitby Gazette readers as Raw Animal Rescue. The bones had surfaced on internet auction site eBay a month earlier at a going price of £100. The bones had been in storage since 2003 when they were taken down from the West Cliff due to weathering, and were displayed at Whitby Archives & Heritage Centre on Flowergate, until that closed down. The bones were donated to the town in 1963 by Norwegian shipping company 'Thor Dahl' and the whale, a 113-ton Fin Whale, was killed in the Weddell Sea in the Antarctic by the Norweigan whaling ship 'Thorshovdi'.

In March, demolition work began on the Moorlands Hotel on the West Cliff after the hotel closed in the previous March. The Victorian hotel was extended in the early 1990's, the flat-roof part shown in the photo below. The hotel was replaced by 15 town houses over the coming months, designed by architects Bramhall Blenkham for Mulgrave Properties. In the following year, the company was honoured for the development at the LABC Natinal Building Excellence Awards for the development.

Now you see it... Now you don't! Moorlands Hotel is flattened

For a video of the Moorlands development, click here

Also on the housing development front, work began sometime around the turn of the year on the new housing development at the bottom end of Scraper Lane in Stainsacre, which was to become 6 houses, 3 affordable rent, which were to be two 3 bedroom & one 2 bedroom & 3 shared ownership, which were to be one 3 bedroom & two 2 bedroom. The road was to be called "Willow Wood Way", chosen by pupils of Hawsker Shool, and would have a post code of YO22 4PX. By the end of May, block work had started, seen here in May & June

Left: From the road entrance from Scraper Lane on 3rd June & Right: From the Cinder Track on 29th June

For a video of the Scraper Lane development, click here

 In March this year, the road markings were altered in Station Square. The gaps in the hatchings near the bus station were filled in, previously gaps had been left for buses turning right out of the station & traffic turning right out of Windsor Terrace. These manoeuvres are still legal however, personally I don't know why the gaps were left in the first place, when the bus station was re-developed in 2002. Road markings were also altered on the A171 on the Guisborough approach to Bannial Flatt's Roundabout. The 2 destination lanes split further up the road now, and the centre hatchings were narrowed.

Bannial Flatt's Roundabout Seen Here In March 2012

It was around this time also that Baxtergate had some of its kerb stones replaced, near to Lander's Butchers. Also on Skinner Street near the Granby & Botham's, flag stones were laid with tactile slabs to aid crossing the road. The slabs replaced badly cracked concrete. Also in March, work was started on some more bungalows at St Hilda's Gardens, to built to replace the old Tarren houses, which had out-lived their time, as they were only put up as temporary housing after WW2. In the evening of 3rd April, high winds brought the Scoresby Sculpture crashing to the ground after being stood in Dock End since 1996. The 30 foot mast fell towards Langborne Road around 9pm. The wooden pole had snapped less than a foot from the ground. Thankfully, no-one was hurt.

For a video of the St. Hilda’s Gardens Bungalows, click here

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Here we have the Scoresby Statue showing the snapped mast, new kerb stones on Baxtergate, new paving slabs on Skinner Street & building work on St Hilda's Gardens underway

At the end of March, the new housing development off Larpool Lane was completed, comprising of 2, 3 & 4 bedroom houses, the road is named "Bluebell Grove". In April, Sacky's fish & chip shop on Langborne Road was taken over by Fusco's. Colin Swales, the previous owner had retired. Also in construction, a bungalow at 19 Clarence Place had another floor added above half of the bun`galow. It was completed by May 2012.

Clarence Place

  Bluebell Grove off Larpool Lane - Completed in March 2012              

For a video of the Larpool development, click here

Sometime around Spring 2012, a brick built building was constructed, to house the old Marine Diesel pump, near the toilets on Langborne Road. It was around the same time that the diesel pump on the Fish Quay was upgraded also, which made it safer to use by boat owners. In April the council car park next to the Co-op Staff car park was made smaller in size, with the pay & display car park getting the space. The barrier was moved back a few feet, as can be seen below. Also around this time, on the land beyond the marine diesel pump shown on the photo below, a permit holders car park was added for users of the marina. The area was tarmaced & car park spaces were painted. Also, Whitby Golf Course's railings were renewed from the edge of the A174. This left the course with no fence along a considerable length of it, bordering the A174. Also it had a section replaced near the Love Lane roundabout. Also in 2012, Peregrine House got a major extension, seen below next to Upgang Lane.

Above left; You can see the new building to house the Marine Diesel pump. Centre 2 photos; The permit holders only car park on the marina. Right; The car permit holders car park where the old fence was, showing where it was moved back to, thus creating more space in the pay & display car park.

Whitby Golf Course had its boundary fence with the A174, between the ravine & the golf course entrance renewed, butt this left the golf course with no fence for much of its length for quite some time;

Below, Peregrine House gets a major extension

In April this year, the old Town Hall was surrounded with scaffolding ready for repair works to the clock's mechanism after the clock stopped. The clock mechanism was removed and repaired, as well as being fitted with battery back up and automatic time changing. The building itself also needed work doing when more closely inspected, so this was also carried out, including fully restoring the clock faces, the weather vane being completely repaired & the louvered frames supporting the domed, leaded roof were renewed, as well as bird grills being installed. The clock still features the original winding mechanism, cog wheels, gear box & bell. The works took 3 months to complete and cost £35,000. The clock stopping was the trigger for all this work, as the weather vane hadn't worked for sometime either. It was decided on at the beginning of August to set the chiming back as before, on the hour, every hour, with 15 minute chimes between 9am and 9pm. Also around this time, a plaque was erected at the old Spider's Web Bathing Pool, telling visitors about it's history.

Whitby old Town Hall has repair work carried out & Whitby Spiders Web Bathing Pool site gets an information board telling visitors about the history

In May, Cowen Windows of Cholmley Way was demolished, to make way for Sainsbury's petrol station. Cowen's moved up onto Enterprise Way. Also Richard Cana's Coal yard was moved to Sneaton for the same reason.

Now you see it...Now you don't. Cowen Windows is demolished between 5th May & 12th May 2012

For a video of the Construction Of Sainsbury’s, please Click HERE

Whitby Wizard on West Cliff closed it’s doors for the last time as the owner of the business retired at age 65. Dag Hagenaes-Kjelldahl from Norway ran the business for 10 years. The building was to be converted to a café & soft play area. Also in May, the former Dolly's Deli premises at 17 Skinner Street had work started on it's shop front and all signage removed. The shop closed around a year ago and was now to become Yorkshire Cottages, open in July. Another shop on Skinner Street was also being done out just after this one, which was to become Yorkshire Coast Cottages, in the former Post Office building. On Carr Hill Lane, an additional dwelling was being built in the garden of 26 Carr Hill Lane, named Giraffe House, after clearing trees and dead wood. Near the top of the same road, a house was being built, to be called 'Grande View'. Slightly further down the hill, another house was being built at 69-71, on the corner of Ridge Lane. The Dolphin pub was also getting a major refurb, which was complete by the end of June.

Left & Left centre: Dwelling being built in the garden of 26 Carr Hill Lane pictured in March & June;
Right centre: Building work complete but exterior works still on-going 3 years on; Right: Another 18 months have passed and the work has just about finished!

Above from left; Grande View, Carr Hill Lane being built pictured in March & June 2012; Right: March 2013 - house complete

Above left: Dolly's Deli in Skinner Street, closed for over a year opens as Yorkshire Cottages in July; Centre: Yorkshire Coast Cottages opens in old Post Office building; Above right: The Dolphin Pub gets a major refurb

The Railway Station was given some attention as these signs, pictured below, were added. Previous to this, there was just the railway sign, one at the side facing the car park and one at the front at the end nearest the Bus Station, the latter had been removed in creating these. Also, Whitby Hospital had similar work, with a logo painted on the side of the building, following work on the windows, which saw new white plastic boarding put below each of them, which was done a few months previous. Also in May, the Co-operative Food on Langborne Road was preparing for a new parking system to be installed. Previously, shoppers could park for free for up to 30 minutes & then pay an hourly rate at the exit on a manned hut. If they spent between £5 & £10 in-store though, they could shop for 1 hour free, £10-50, 2 hours free & over £50 they would get 3 hours free parking. The system was in use from 1st July and as the system incorporated number plate recognition, the hut was then used to house equipment to collate details of users of the car park, with the cameras being installed in June & more disabled bays added. The maximum stay was 2 hours with disabled shoppers getting longer upon registering their details.

Left: Co-op car park with the old hut and barriers & cameras on the pole in front of the van; Centre: Showing the newly-painted parent & baby & disabled spaces;
Right: Whitby Railway Station gets some new signage to it's roof

Also in May, Whitby Magistrates Courthouse was demolished. The building dates back to around 1975 & was no longer needed in Whitby. It took about 2 days to completely flatten the building.

Whitby Magistrates Court before & during demolition

For a video of the Whitby Magistrates Court development, click here

At the beginning of June, NatWest bank got a 2nd ATM machine. At the end of June, a number of roads in the town were re-surfaced, the first of which was the Newholm road from the junction with the A174 through to the A171 & also the full length of Barker Lane. Other roads include Helredale Road & part of Stainsacre Lane as far as Eskdale School, the full length of The Carrs, Iburndale Lane & Eskdaleside and more, all with the loose chippings type covering. Also around this time, Birthdays in Talbot House, Baxtergate, closed down, having been in the same unit for over 20 years.

Birthday's closed down its Whitby branch in September sometime; NatWest's new ATM Machine, the old one is round the corner to the left of the big window

By the end of June, the Sainsbury's development edged another step closer to completion where the road junction was virtually complete, with the anti-skid surfacing down & road markings on the A171 & within the entrance were painted. A yellow box was added outside the Cholmley Way junction to prevent queuing traffic to the newly installed traffic lights for Sainsbury's, blocking traffic turning in & out of Cholmley Way, a new sign was added on 2 poles which were erected a few months previous, warning South-bound traffic of the new traffic signals & red surfacing added on the Southern approach to the new 30mph speed limit, with a white 30 in a circle painted on it. Also at the end of June, a time capsule was buried at the entrance to the store. The capsule contained items school children had collected from East Whitby school, and helped by Eskdale School children, and even included a copy of the Whitby Gazette.

Sainsbury's development taking shape, the first 2 pictures are of the road junction & the 3rd one from the left is of the forecourt structure, with the last one being of the store from half way along Cholmley Way

For a video of the Construction Of Sainsbury’s, click here

Also in May, work was started on the new Hydro Electric scheme on the River Esk at Ruswarp. The scheme was initiated by members of the Esk Valley Community Energy Group, which was set up in 2008 in Danby Parish, and then set up Esk Energy (Yorkshire) Ltd, to fund this project. In the first week of July, work was on going with replacing and repairing the paved area at Dock End, and also with removing the base of the Scoresby Statue, which fell in April. Work also included installation of black bollards, railings near the entrance to the Whitby Moors & Coast Centre & more benches with flower tubs after every 2 benches, which read 'Whitby In Bloom'. Work was also progressing on the new Wetherspoon development, with an advertisement sign going on the front of the building.

From left: Dock End, Whitby showing the base of the old Scoresby Statue being removed; Same location, the area being tidied up for the Whitby In Bloom & new benches with flower tubs between them; Wetherspoon development now has an advertising sign up; Ruswarp Hydro Electric scheme on the River Esk, work underway

By July, work was starting to progress on transforming the old Red Chard Grill Pan at 22-23 Flowergate into a cafe, 'Thyme & Tide'. Whitby Coastal Cruises parted company with the Esk Belle II in a swap deal with a company in Tenby, South Wales, for a 60-seater vessel named the Island Cruise, which was re-named the Esk Belle III. Another 60-seater vessel was purchased from Oban, called the Kerrera. This vessel took over the role in September of this year, when the Esk Belle III left Whitby, with the Kerrara having better manoeuvrability. This was then re-named the Esk Belle III, replacing 'Island Cruise' (Esk Belle III). At the end of July, Helredale Stores changed names from 'Premier' to 'McColl's @ Helredale'. Work was underway at the shop, which included new signage, a disabled ramp and interior works. 4 parking bays were also painted at the start of 2013 in front of the shop, allowing cars to park side-by-side on the pavement. Also Four Lane Ends Garage got a sprucing up with new canopy signage, which saw the old signage revealed behind for a short time, & new pump casings fitted. Also, the pricing board was replaced with light-up digital digits.

From left; McColl's @ Helredale changes name from Premier; Four Lane Ends Garage with canopy signage getting replaced; West Pier Extension 'Memorial Bridge' complete with a close up of the plaque

Sometime around June or July, the route of the 93 bus service, operated by Arriva, was altered. Instead of calling through Stainsacre, the bus by-passed it, as in the summer, double-deckers would be running the route and could not pass under the bridge. The move sparked much anger by Stainsacre residents, and Esk Valley Coaches put on a service into Whitby, but to get to Scarborough people would have to cross the busy road. This continued until the end of the school holiday's, and then the Stainsacre service was resumed, but it was said that it would be a regular thing in the summers to come after much overcrowding in the previous summers when single-deckers operated. In March, work started on the 'Helredale Triangle', which would see the planting of trees, inclusion of a flower bed & replacement of an old bench. This was all completed by July, with a plaque added next to it. It was around this time, that the pavement between the Captain Cook's Statue & the Northern entrance to the Spa car park was re-paved, seen below.

Left & Centre; Helredale Triangle with the plaque, Right; The re-paved pavement near Captain Cook's Statue

Sainsbury's was making good progress, as seen in these photo's, just 2 and a half weeks before the planned opening date.

Left; Cholmley Way new wall with all panelling on rear of building, Centre; Entrance & car park with all markings down & glass in front of store, Right; Old site entrance being closed up & tidied up

For a video of the Construction Of Sainsbury’s, click here

At the end of July, work began on transforming the old Meadow shop at 25 Skinner Street. By the end of July, the development of bungalows on St Hilda's Gardens were complete, Peregrine House extension was very nearly complete, the development on Scraper Lane was well underway, and Sainsbury's was due to open in the next couple of weeks. Also, Rhyme & Tide cafe on Flowergate, in the former Red Chard building was opened.

Above: St Hilda's Gardens, complete July 2012

For a video of the St. Hilda’s Gardens Bungalows development, click here

Another development nearby at 22 Back St. Hilda's Terrace was complete in this year which saw the conversion of a workshop with maisonette above to residential accommodation with new build cottages built to the rear following the demolition of garages. The successful planning application followed numerous attempts by the owner to obtain many different variants to the final accepted plans, trying to obtain permission for as many dwellings as possible. The new cottages were reached through an archway from Back St. Hilda's Terrace and the development was called "Stonehouse Gardens".

Above: Stonehouse Gardens in the final stages construction

Above: The development on Scraper Lane, Stainsacre

Above left & centre: Peregrine House extension nearly complete; Above right: Rhyme & Tide replaces Red Chard

Above from left: Fuel advertising & pedestrian entrance; Car park with trolley bays & signage; A171 looking South showing traffic lights in operation; Old entrance to Cowen's, with forecourt canopy in place

For a video of the Construction Of Sainsbury’s, click here

Sometime in July, work began on transforming 36-37 Flowergate, the old Help The Aged shop on Flowergate into Jumping Jacks American Diner. The West Pier extension ‘Memorial Bridge’ was officially opened in July, with a plaque to commemorate it in memory of the Whitby people that died recently fighting for their country. Also on the West Pier, old wooden benches were replaced with metal ones, in memory of Whitby people. On Monday, 6th August, Lythe Post Office re-opened in Lythe Stores. The Post Office was withdrawn in January 2011. Sometime in July, a fish pass had been completed at the hydro electric scheme in Ruswarp.

In August a volunteer group was formed named 'Street Angels Whitby', a Christian group who worked alongside the police patrolling the town on a Friday night. The members each received training in first aid & conflict management.

Work on Whitby's West Pier with the official opening of the West Pier Extension new link bridge with the memorial plaque; Metal benches replace wooden & concrete ones

On August 8^th at 9am, Sainsbury’s Supermarket on Stainsacre Lane opened its doors for the first time. The store manager was Ian Wassall. There were slight teething problems with 4 of the fuel pumps, as they weren’t in operation. Incidentally, the same pumps were the only pumps to offer super unleaded petrol. The road traffic entering Sainsbury's from Whitby only had to stop at the traffic lights if the pedestrian crossing was in use, and the rest of traffic was camera controlled, changing the lights when needed. There is to be a free 'hopper bus' service, operated by Arriva, with a bus with Sainsbury's decals, connected nearby villagers, as well as those from other parts of Whitby, the chance to shop at the store, who don't have their own transport. It operates on 3 different routes, S1, S2 & S3. S1 & S2 operate on Monday's, Wednesday's, Friday's & Saturday's. S1 covers Castle Park and through the town centre & S2 covers Sleights & Ruswarp on one route, and Robin Hood's Bay, Fylingthorpe & Stainsacre on another route. S3 operates on Tuesday's & Thursday's and covers Lythe, Sandsend & Whitby West Cliff area. All routes exclude Public Holiday's. The construction contractor was Longcross.

Clockwise from top left: General view of Sainsbury's; Entrance to Sainsbury's looking over the car park; Junction from the Whitby side; Forecourt; Delivery entrance off Cholmley Way; Looking down Cholmley Way

The inside kerb on the top corner of Brunswick Street was taken back by about 6 inches at the apex of the corner to give larger vehicles more room to turn without touching the pavement.

Above From Left: Showing Brunswick Street kerbs after being moved back; Scraper Lane development nearing completion; Rosedale development at Carr Hill Lane entrance; Rosedale development looking into the site; Below: Moorlands looking towards North Promenade

In Sandsend, or Eastrow to be more precise, rather lengthy building work for a housing development 'The Boat Yard' was getting underway. The site was once home to old railway sidings, next to what today is the Doctor’s Surgery. For about 30 years, various companies have tried to build on the land but failed to gain planning permission until the breakthrough was finally made in 2008. The site was dug over at the start of 2011 & a new fence had also been erected recently next to the old section of road. The construction was very slow-moving however, with the first of the houses not being completed until the Summer of 2015!

Above eft & Left centre: GK - The site as a boat yard in 1995; Right centre: Planning permission granted - 2008; Right: The site dug over - April 2011

Above from left: 29th August 2012; 3rd October 2012; 28th October 2012; 11th November 2012

Above from left: 29th November 2012; 27th January 2013; 4th May 2013; 31st August 2013

Above from left: 23rd November 2013; 19th December 2013; 1st March 2014; 15th April 2014

Above from left: 22nd June 2014; 23rd August 2014; 23rd October 2014

4th July 2015 - Some houses complete - Above left: View from the rear of the properties; Left centre, Centre & Right centre: Fairlead Cottage; Pintile Cottage; Keel House; Right: The front of the properties

For a video of the East Row development, click here

At the beginning of September, Heroes Tattoo Studio opened in Meadow's old shop on Skinner Street. 4th September saw the arrival of the Archimedes Screw, the major part of the hydro electric project in Ruswarp, which would be turned by water power.

Heroes Tattoo Studio on Skinner Street in the old Meadow shop premises, seen here with the blue front in the centre of the photo

Over the summer of this year, a section of perimeter wall was built at Whitby Town FC, replacing old boarding & railings, between the main stand and the dressing rooms, linking up with the players' entrance cage.

New wall before & after being built

In the first week of September, the site of the mine head was chosen. It would be beside the B1416 between Sneaton and the junction with the A171 at Doves Nest Farm and the adjoining Haxby Plantation. A temporary bore hole was drilled at the site following this decision.

Doves Nest Farm off the B1416 was the chosen site for the potash mine shaft. In the picture on the right, the road can be seen heading towards 'Red Gates', the junctions for May Beck & Falling Foss

September update on the various building projects taking place in Whitby, with the Rosewood development at Carr Hill complete...

Above from left: The Old Creamery, plots 33-28 &; Plots 27-22, which back onto the old railway line; Scraper Lane, windows in, entrance to the site &; Far end of the site

Above: Ruswarp Hyro electric project, the big screw went in recently, which will turn with water power

Above from left: Moorlands getting its roof on, &; From around the back, behind the fence can be seen a 2nd, smaller dwelling; Rosewood is now finished with its powered gates closed &; A closer shot of the houses

Also in September, Colin, Brown & Kidson joined national company QualitySolicitors, acquiring the pink & black logo with facia boards.  In September, work started on erecting a new building on the site of the highways centre, used to house the dustbin collection lorries, which was completed sometime in December. Also a large extension was being built onto the rear of 9 Love Lane, with an existing extension getting re-roofed & a front porch added. Ramsdens Pawnbrokers came to Whitby after moving into the former JAG mobile phone shop in Baxtergate, which opened on 8th October. Also in this area - at 12-13 Baxtergate -  Stead & Simpson closed down towards the end of October to become a Costa Coffee around 2 years later. The shoe store was bought out of administration in January 2008 by Shoe Zone & the company had taken the decision to close any stores where there was a Shoe Zone store in the same street or where they were not profitable. This resulted in 90 store closures.

Ramsdens Pawnbrokers moves into the premises previously occupied by JAG mobile phone shop; New addition to the highways centre, a building to house the dustbin collection lorries, during building & almost complete; & 9 Love Lane has an existing extension re-roofed & a new extension to the back, & a new porch to the front

Colin, Brown & Kidson with their new shop front

Also in September, work was taking place to strengthen the small bridge over a beck on Glen Esk Road, near the junction to Golden Grove. The work meant the road was closed for quite a number of weeks. Also around the same time, buildings housing flats at Broomfield Terrace were being renovated, including the building, on the northern corner of Broomfeld Terrace with Bagdale, which saw work on both the inside and out, with a partial new exterior wall being built & new doorway installed. The work on this particular property wasn't finished until March 2014. At the beginning of October, maintenance work got underway on the Swing Bridge, costing a total of £4m. The works included renewing rotting timber, install new walkways on the dolphins to enable easier access for maintenance work & re-paint the whole structure, in the same colour scheme as it was previously. Other work included moving the bridge's electrical junction boxes higher up the structure so as to decrease the risk of them being exposed to water & to fit new navigational lights. This phase of work was complete by December. Throughout 2013, work was underway to repair the wall of Kiddies Corner, which was complete by early 2014. Also at the beginning of October, in Stainsacre, Summerfield Garage on the main A171 road had its fuel pumps removed, presumably as an effect from Sainsbury's opening a fuel forecourt a couple of months earlier less than a mile down the road. The base of the pumps was removed a few weeks later in October. By the end of October, the Resolution on Flowergate, had been re-painted blue. Work was started earlier in the year when the inside of the business was given a refurbishment. The exterior of the Reading Rooms was left unpainted.

Left: Viewed looking up Bagdale, flats at Broomfield Terrace get renovated; Right: To the rear of Broomfield Terrace, more flats were renovated, including this building seen here looking West

On 30th October, the turbine, at Ruswarp's hydro electric scheme was turned for the first time during testing, and was commissioned on 12th November, when it started generating electricity for the first time. Work on the site was on-going to tidy up the area, but this would be completed in the Spring with the arrival of better weather.

In the first week of November, a tree was felled on the Western side of Chubb Hill Road. The tree stood near Caedmon's Prospect and grew in the pavement. Also in the first half of November, work was started on gas works in the town centre, starting around the front of the Train Station, Flowergate & Silver Street. Also around this time, re-surfacing work was being carried out at the small roundabout at the end of Langborne Road, which was carried out through the night, and also St Anne's Staith.

Left to right: Work on-going on the bridge on the Glen Esk Road; Summerfield Garage has its fuel pumps removed with the concrete base removed a few weeks later

 Left: Swing Bridge during work on painting; Left Centre: Marina car park showing fencing being erected bordering the Co-op's access road; Right Centre: Gas works in Town Centre; Right: Fishnets Lingerie on Skinner Street before being re-located

Around this time, a new shop was opened in Grape Lane, by Adrian Booth. Outpost 31 specialised in selling film and gaming memorabilia with costume characters on display. The end of November saw the completion of a project to renovate the Sleights Scout Hut. The renovation was made possible thanks to funding from the Jack Brunton Trust, the Sir George Martin Trust & the Cadbury Charitable Trust. Cowen's window company also donated free labour to fit the new windows. Works also included refurbishing the toilets & kitchen areas, re-cladding part of the hut, re-wiring the electrics & installing new electric heating. Over the past 3 to 4 years, the lease on the hut, from Yorkshire Coast Homes has been secured for another 20 years prompting the trustees of the First Sleights Scouts to give the hut the makeover. The trustees also organised a host of fundraising events such as a sponsored walk and bag pack.

Overnight on 24th & 25th November saw 12 hours of consistent rainfall hit the Whitby area. This lead to problems on the roads including the A171 South of Whitby near Homebase & Broomfield Farm, which lead to the road becoming closed due to the full width of the road being under water, as well as The Carrs between Ruswarp & Sleights, where the river Esk had burst its banks. To see photos of the chaos, please click here. At this time also, Sacky's fish & chip shop on Langborne Road was getting renovated after being taken over by Fusco's earlier in the year. Also, an electronic sign was installed on Helredale Road for South-bound traffic warning of the speed limit, flashing '30' if a vehicle is breaking the speed limit. Below is also a photo of the Ruswarp hydo electric project, after a lot of rainfall.

The new electronic sign on Helredale Road; Ruswarp hydro electric project; Sacky's Fish & Chip shop getting renovated

The bad weather also brought more disruption, which came overnight on Monday 26th November. Land at the rear of Aelfleda Terrace at the end of the Ropery and below the Abbey suffered a major landslip. The landslip took decking & patios with it, leaving the houses on the edge of a near-vertical drop. All but one of the row of 7 Victorian houses, 151 years old, were either unoccupied or empty as holiday lets at the time of the slip, but the one, was more than enough. Number 7 Aelfleda Terrace was occupied by Ms Knight. She had lost everything with her home of 26 years condemned. Demolition would start from the back of the houses, so as not to pose a risk to the homes below. 2 of the 7, on the Northern end of the row were said to be structurally safe, with a big, white house, not part of Aelfleda Terrace, also safe. Elbow Terrace and below that, Franks Terrace, which laid at the other end of the terrace, were also said to be safe. Ms Knight, raised the alarm herself, after finding 15 foot of her garden gone on the morning of Tuesday 27th November. Jude Knight, who had lived at the property for 26 years was told to get out, which she did, only stopping to collect irreplaceable items. She was allowed back in on Tuesday afternoon for half an hour to collect some more items. Ms Knight said she first noticed movement about 4 o'clock of the afternoon of the 26th November, where she said it had started to cave in where the drain was. When she looked again at around 8pm, it had dropped about 4 feet. She then rang Yorkshire Water, but they were inundated with calls from people with sewage in their home, so they were unable to help. She and Mr Tomlinson, who owned a holiday cottage next door to Ms Knight, were blaming Yorkshire Water, saying that work they did more than a decade ago was completed unsatisfactorily. People were also saying that work when the Abbey Car Park was created back in 1998/99, did something to the land, when an old water system was affected. The area had obviously been subject to landslips recently, since a footpath leading down below Franks Terrace & Aelfleda Terrace was fenced off some years ago. People's thoughts were confirmed true around a year later, when Ms. Knight's insurance company conducted a survey, only to reveal that the demolition of the houses was unnecessary. It was decided that the responsibility of the tidying up of the area following the demolition - which was done by Scarborough Borough Council - rested with the owners of the properties.
Please click here to see photos from the day after the landslip.

Another slip occurred on the night of Tuesday 27th, which saw a terrace of 3 cottages directly below Aelfleda Terrace being hit by much of the debris, so the future of that building was not clear at that time. The cottages belonged to Primitive Methodist Chapel Yard, which were all unoccupied at the time.

The next day, the 29th November, didn't see a lot happen to the untrained eye, but actually an aluminium 'road' was laid through the field behind, to allow plant vehicles to access the houses. It was also noted a tree should be removed for safety reasons as it was leaning towards the rear of a block of flats off Church Street. Residents of the flats concerned were told to evacuate in the morning and were not allowed back in until tea time, until the tree had been taken down, with the Green Lane Centre being used as a place for people to go. The tree was left to lay on the bank until some days later. It was also reported that as there had been further movement of the land, the work on demolition was not to start until Saturday 1st December, as they didn't want to risk working through the darkness using artificial light, as the ground needed to be monitored whilst demolition was being undertaken. An orange, plastic sheet fence was unrolled and installed to one side of the track that was created the day before. This seemed at the time to be a waste of time and money, when more important issues should have been in the process of being dealt with.

In the last week of November, more landslips occurred in the town, this time behind Fortune's Kipper House. The cliff gave away after heavy rainfall, but it was reported that the landslip was due to a broken drainage pipe, which had become damaged. It was later fixed but then, a few days later it had broken away. The land, including the cliff itself is owned by the church. Human bones were among the debris that came down the cliff, but these were reinterred. The bones date from before the early 1800's, when all burials after this date were at Larpool Cemetery. More slips were happening all week and netting had been put up towards the end of Henrietta Street to catch any falling debris. More slips occurred in the following weeks, meaning a family living in a property on Henrietta Street, adjacent to the Kipper House, had to vacate the premises, but were allowed to return on 21st December, after a safety fence was erected. Sometime before Christmas, Scarborough Borough Council handed St. Mary's Church with a notice stating that they (the church) had responsibility to carry out works to secure the cliff and protect properties below. The drainage system had to be found and intercepted, which led under the 199 steps. The work wasn't carried out until February of the following year The work was initially expected to cost around £90,000, which the church had put aside for repairs to the church & St. Hilda's & St. John's churches. But on nearing completion of the work, it was discovered that this figure was actually £140,000.

Saturday 1st December saw the demolition process started on the houses of Aelfleda Terrace. Specialist contractors, RGM, used a cherry picker to start demolition, allowing them to access the roof, knowing that if the buildings did fall, they contractors would be safe. Work started on number 7, which was nearest Elbow Terrace, removing one brick at a time. On Tuesday 4th December, a pointless white dashed line was painted across the lay-by on the Eastern side of the new bridge. The line hasn't been needed for the past 30-odd years, so why now? Also at this time, work was on-going on repairing the Swing Bridge's dolphins.

Work on-going on repairing the Swing Bridge dolphin on the South side of the Eastern leaf; The new, pointless, white dashed line across the Eastern lay-by of the new bridge

In late November or early December, Soul To Sole shoe shop at 28 Skinner Street closed down and the premises became Laura Stone's Beauty Salon. Laura, 23 at the time, always wanted to set up her own business, after working for Kristy's Salon for a few years. The Christmas tree at the foot of Bagdale wasn't able to have lights on it in this year due to the cost of installing the electricity supply. Scaborough Borough Council alerted Whitby Town Council in August to the problem, but Whitby Town Council went ahead and placed the tree in its usual place, with no lights on it. A spokesperson for Scarborough Borough Council said that they had modernised much of the installation infrastructure, including upgrading power points & replacing wiring. In December, plans were passed for Beacon Farm, Sneaton, to build a house for the owners son, manager of the business. Also passed were plans for St. Hedda's School, Egton, to demolish a detached building, built in 1947, to provide a kitchen & dining room for the school. A new building would be built in its place, slightly larger than its predecessor. On the 18th & 19th December, Gouldbuys Jewellers on Flowergate had its fascia sign changed from a deep, all-red background, to a similar colour for the backing of the text, but white to the sides.

Laura Stone's Salon, Skinner Street & Gouldbuys, Flowergate

On the night of Friday 22nd December, more landslides took place, this time at Khyber Pass. A member of the public alerted police at 10:30pm. The area was cordoned off as debris had fallen onto the pavement below, but the road was kept open. On Saturday 23rd December, the main contractors working on the demolition of the houses at Aelfleda Terrace had finished their jobs. The site was handed back to Scarborough Borough Council to clear the rest of the rubble. Other landslips occurred in the area, including Goathland above the railway station, making half of the road unsafe so traffic lights had to be brought in until repair work could be carried out. Also at Alum House, Littlebeck saw a small slippage & near Glaisdale another slippage occurred. Please see the page on Aelfleda Terrace for photos. By Christmas time, the conversion of the former Sacky's Fish & Chip shop on Langborne Road was complete, changing name to Fish Box after getting a complete makeover. A roof-top sign was not added until around early February of 2013 however, with another one facing the side of the building facing Endeavour Wharf installed around the middle of the month. Also towards the end of 2012, work was on-going at Whitby Brunswick Centre, which included adding a door in place of a window to the side of the building, to access straight off Brunswick Street, with a small wall also constructed, which was completed in the early weeks of 2013, which saw a metal hand rail fitted to the wall in April 2013 & a guttering down pipe from the main building roof re-installed at the same time.

Crumbling cliffs at Khyber Pass; Sacky's former chip shop gets converted into 'Fish Box' after being taken over by Fusco's earlier in the year;

Also in the latter part of 2012, Zero Gravity, a fashion shop on Flowergate closed its doors for the last time, choosing to only serve customers through their website.

Zero Gravity, Flowergate was housed in the black fronted shop on the left