Whitby

In Living Memory

2014

At the turn of this year, a new boxing club was officially opened, based at the Scout Hut in Spring Hill. The club, aimed at 11-25 year olds, was made possible thanks to Police Community Support Officer Lynne Butler after she secured funding from Sport England & the National Lottery. It opened on Tuesday, Wednesday & Friday evenings and cost just £1 per session, with 11-14 year olds given an earlier session to exclude them from the older people. After the first 8 weeks, the club aimed to widen its age range to include 9 &
10-year-olds too. The club went from strength to strength over the coming months & moved to larger premises to St. Patrick's Church, Church Street. The club continued to thrive with more and more people becoming members & hosting its own boxing show bi-annually with clubs from all over the country taking part in the show.

Also by the turn of the year, demolition was complete on 27 Meadowfields, which was necessary due to the house being in a bad state of repair. Permission was initially granted for 2 semi-detached dormer bungalows and 3 detached dormer bungalows, which was announced in 2012, after the house had stood empty for around a year. Amendments to the plans were passed in 2014 to replace the detached bungalow with a pair of semi-detached bungalows, giving an extra house, 6 in total. It was due to this reason that the plot to the rear right as viewed from Meadowfields was left until last, as this was the plot that would have been a single detached dwelling in the original plans, so work here wasn't completed until around August 2015. Two garages were built in the centre of the site between the two houses to the rear, with these being completed sometime in November when all building work was complete. Finishing touches were made to the development over the coming months into 2016 with the first residents moving in during 2016.

Top from left: Plans of the site before work began; Original plans for the new development; Revised plans in 2014
Above bottom: General photo of the house before demolition; The adjoining garage before demolition

Above left: From the far end of Meadowfields showing the empty space; Looking towards the end of Meadowfields revealing the magnificent view through the site; Right: Close-up of the site

Above left & Left centre: 22nd February - The housing development at Meadowfields with the second photo showing the plot nearest the hospital; Right centre & Right: 22nd March - Similar views of the site

Above from left: The housing development on the site of the former 27 Meadowfields with the front left plot, rear left plot, front right plot & a view straight into what will be the entrance drive respectively

Above left: The plots furthest from the hospital; Right: The plots nearest the hospital

Above 19/06/2014 & below 12/08/2014 - Left: The plot furthest away from the hospital - roof taking shape; Centre: The rear dwelling, lots of progress here; Right: The plot nearest the hospital has its roof finished

Above left & Right: Similar views to those above left & right but with roofing tiles now in place

Above left: The small development taking shape, roofs almost complete; Right: Looking into the development

Progress at Meadowfields moving into 2015 with work started on the revised house to the rear right

Left & Centre: More progress by March - all windows in, only the plot nearest the hospital to be completed; Right: One month on & the last plot to be completed is coming along nicely

Left: The houses nearest Prospect Hill; Left centre: The house to the back of the site still under construction; Right centre: The house to the rear right almost complete; Right: The house to the rear is now complete

Left: The last semi-detached plot complete, initially meant to be a detached property; Right: Garages going up the centre of the photo

Left: The left side of the site looking in; Centre: The newly-completed garages in the centre of the site; Right: The right side of the site looking in

Work almost complete by February 2016

Below is a set of photos taking early November 2016 showing the development in its complete state after being given its official name of "Hawthorn Court".

Top left to right: Hawthorn Court from the entrance to the development from Meadowfields;
Bottom left & right: From within the development looking up towards the entrance from Meadowfields; The street name sign

Moving North along the A174, the bus shelter that was partially demolished by a vehicle in the previous year was eventually taken down by Newholm Parish Council & North Yorkshire County Council highways department.

More work had been taking place over the new year period at the former Universal Garage building in Station Square, with the roof and exterior walls demolished, leaving just supporting columns and roof girders. The sliding doors were also advertised for sale and left on show and other wood was offered to be taken for firewood.

Above left: 8th February - Scaffolding was now down at the former Universal Garage showroom in Station Square; Left centre: 16th February - Windows & doors fitted & walls rendered;
Right centre: Almost a week later but from a different viewpoint, this time showing the rear of the building & the only visible surviving feature from the original building - the brick column
Right: Exterior painting work has taken place over the past few days, pictured on 1st March

Above: Universal Garage as photographed on 5th January - From left: From Wellington Road; From the corner of Wellington Road & Station Square;
Looking in to the building from the corner of Wellington Road & Station Square; Looking into the building from same place as previous photo, but looking up the wall fronting Wellington Road

Universal Garage 2 weeks after the photos above; Left: Looking into the site from the corner of Wellington Road/Station Square, roof has been started & pillars added;
Right: Looking down Wellington Road towards Station Square with blockwork started

Also at the turn of the year, contractors moved in to finish the job of demolishing the bus shelter opposite Whitby Golf Course, which was started around a year ago when a vehicle lost control & hit it. Little Whitehall at Spital Bridge was almost complete by this time, with all scaffolding removed.

The forecourt of the Trinity House Centre further up Flowergate was being re-paved & also had bollards installed with a chain between them. This work was complete by April.

Left: Little Whitehall (centre buildings); Left centre: 20 Flowergate getting worked on, now with the roof tiles partially missing; Right centre & Right: Trinity House Centre has its forecourt re-paved

Also in January, work expected to last 15 weeks was started at the Park & Ride site near Cross Butts.

Above left, Centre & Right; The Park & Ride site from Victoria Farm Garden Centre, the site entrance on Barker Lane & a road sign warning of the delays

Left & Centre: Looking towards what will become the entrance to the park & ride site; Right: A171 Guisborough road looking across to the park & ride site

For a video of the Park & Ride project, please click HERE

From 1st February Rayner Opticians had joined forces with Vision Express & the store in Wellington Road was to become a Vision Express with all staff being transferred to the new company at the same premises. The optician continued to trade as Rayner Opticians for a while with the transition being made towards the end of March, with the shop's fascia also changed at this time. Work on the roof of the new Foulton Foods store in the old Universal Garage showroom was started. Work was started on the construction of the roundabout which was to be called Cross Butts Roundabout, which was needed to form the access to and from the park & ride site, also making the junction of the A171 Guisborough Road & the B1460 Castle Road safer. Also relating to the highways, work on re-building the bus shelter near the Newholm turn off on the A174 was complete, partially destroyed after a car had crashed into it in early 2013.

Above left: Rayner Opticians before being taken over by Vision Express; Left centre; Now bearing the new fascia;
Right centre: The former Universal Garage premises with a new roof; Right: Inside the premises showing the roof in place

Above: Park & Ride site - From left: From the entrance to Victoria Farm; A new sign advertising the project;
The new entrance to the park & ride site where a new roundabout will be sited; Looking up Guisborough Road past the park & ride site

Above: The newly-repaired bus shelter on the A174 near the Newholm junction

Around this time, building work started at Braeside, 79 Coach Road, Sleights on 2 new houses following demolition of a substandard stable block. A trench was first dug from Lowdale Lane to the site of the first house, presumably to install utilities and a track was laid on top of this where the entrance driveway would eventually be. The stable block was located a distance away from the road & the first house to be built was on this site.

Above left: The site before work began, November 2013; Left & right centre: A trench dug to the site from Lowdale Lane; Right: Track from road laid

Above - Views from May - Left: House almost built; Right: Lots of progress less than a month later

Above left & centre: The driveway & the first house complete; Right: A closer view of the house now with garden wall

A further house built on land adjacent to the junction of Lowdale Lane & Coach Road. The first house was mainly complete by June when building work started on a smaller-scale building adjacent to Lowdale Lane. This was complete by February 2015 with just the exterior works to complete by this time.

Left: Work started on the second house of the development Right: Phase 2 progressing

Left: From opposite the driveway; Right: From the top of Lowdale Lane

Left & Left centre: Hedge removed, felled tree revealed & old iron fence exposed; Right centre: 8 weeks later, work on the boundary wall now underway; Right: Almost 6 weeks later, development almost complete

Development of 2 houses at Braeside, 79 Coach Road, Sleights complete - Left: The houses with driveway; Right: From the junction of Lowdale Lane & Coach Road

Work began sometime around the month of September 2015 on phase 3, which would see the original house converted into 3 self-contained flats, with one flat on each floor; the basement, ground & first floors. The work involved ripping down a porch-type structure & replacing it with a similar structure but with a flat roof to provide a balcony for use by the floor above. A window was replaced with a door to provide the access out onto the balcony & a staircase was relocated giving more adequate access up to the first floor.

79 Coach Road, Sleights - Porch-type structure demolished & altered in works to convert the house to three apartments; Right: Final phase of the works complete

In early February, Whitby Coastal Cruises sold their main charter boat, the Kerrera, the boat leaving Whitby for the last time on the back of a lorry. The boat was purchased by the company in the summer of 2012 from Oban. Also around this time, Trenchers fish restaurant in New Quay Road, which first opened in 1980, was bought out of administration by one of its previous owners in a £4.5M deal. The restaurant went into administration in December 2013 after the leisure group made up of Vimac Group, Vimac Estates & Vimac Trading, after the group, owned by businessman Paul Mackings, was struggling with debts of £15M following earlier acquisitions which had since ceased trading. Trenchers & its sister restaurant in Thirsk, the Crab & Lobster, was bought by Kymel Trading Ltd. Trenchers was bought by the Vimac Group in 2005 after the original founder, Terry Foster sold the business.

Also around this time, volunteers had been busy constructing a boardwalk on a normally very muddy path, part of the Coast To Coast Walk, near Falling Foss. The boardwalk was 65 metres long and was officially opened on the 7th February with Jack & Steph Newman, who own the Falling Foss Tea Garden, on hand to do the honours.

Also in February, Whitby Court - a privately-owned nursing home - opened its doors, creating 80 jobs & caring for up to 50 residents. Built on the site of the former Whitby Magistrates Court in Waterstead Lane, it was the first of its kind in the Whitby area to be eco-friendly, with bio-mass boiler, solar panels energy-saving lighting & under-floor heating. John Fisher was one of the partners behind the new care home, who also at the time owned Esk Hall care home in Sleights. The home was officially opened on 18th May by RNLI Lifeboat Museum curator Pete Thomson MBE along with Isobel Brown, one of the home's first residents. John Fisher handed over a cheque for £500 to the RNLI. For a flash movie of the development, from the demolition of the old magistrates court to the finished project, please CLICK HERE

Whitby Court Care Home, Waterstead Lane

Following on from the money spent on Whitby's schools over the summer of 2013, Stakseby School benefitted from a new Early Years building, which cost £400,000 to build, for use by 3-5 year-olds. The building replaced pre-fabricated classrooms and was officially unveiled in early February 2014 with an open day taking place on 8th February. A time capsule to be dug up in 2039, was buried outside the building near the perimeter fence lining Byland Road. The dedicated playground area was also re-designed. Also around this time, Little Whitehall on Spital Bridge was officially complete.

Left & Left centre: Stakesby School's new early years building; Right centre & Right: Little Whitehall complete

Below are some photos of how the park & ride site looked on 8th February.

Left & Right: The park & ride site with the vehicular entrance taking shape;

Gale-force winds and rain hit the Whitby district late in the afternoon of the 12th February and continued into the night, resulting in small amounts of damage including a fallen tree from Pannett Park, which blocked Bagdale. Also in February, it was announced that the building company responsible for building The Old Creamery housing development at White Ley's Road had gone into administration.

Northern Gas Networks carried out work to replace over 1km of old metal gas mains in Whitby & surrounding villages, with plastic pipes. The work commenced on 6th January and was complete by Easter. The work started in January and meant closures to motorists of Sandgate & Grape Lane were necessary for the duration of that stage of the work & a temporary bus stop was located in Church Street, instead of the 'Tatey Market'. Silver Street also saw a road closure at the end of February & early March. Work was also carried out in Robin Hood's Bay & at Ruswarp, where from the 17th of February lasting for 4 weeks. The work in Ruswarp meant that the Ruswarp High Street was closed to traffic for 2 weeks of the 4-week-long works.

Gas works in Church Street

To coincide with this, the A171 at the park & ride site had 3-way traffic lights in operation whilst them works were nearing their final stages, adding to the traffic chaos. A trench was dug along the A171 next to The Stables boundary, presumably to bury electricity cables for the new roundabout's lighting. At the very beginning of March, work lasting 4 weeks started at Sandsend in connection with the incoming parking control measures. The parking measures were designed to work alongside the park & ride at Whitby & included pay & display parking along the length of the lay-by on the A174 South of Sandsend.

Left: The road closure signs at Ruswarp Bank on the day of the road re-opening; Right: The park & ride site showing the trench

Below are some photos of the former Universal Garage showroom, firstly after having scaffolding taken down on 8th February before work began fitting windows & doors & rendering exterior walls, as seen in the 2nd photo below, taken on 16th February. The last photo below was taken on 22nd February.

A project costing in excess of £1M got underway towards the end of February at Whitby Railway Station after being in the making for almost 2 years. Work saw the original Platform 2 - which was demolished around 1990 with the construction of the co-op supermarket - re-open & track re-laid. The work was to enable the North Yorkshire Moors Railway to offer more journeys to Pickering than was formerly possible. The scheme was made possible thanks to a £1.1M grant from round one of the Government's Coastal Communities Fund & £850,000 was put towards the project by Network Rail. The grant from the Coastal Communities Fund also meant that a further £100,000 was made available from the Railway Heritage Trust. Over the weekend of 22nd & 23rd March between Whitby Railway Station & Bog Hall, work was carried out installing the new section of track & points, to allow access to the 'new' Platform 2. Over the weekend previous, the points on the left track, which the right track fed into (as seen in the pictures below) were removed and the right track extended, which would run into Platform 2 at Whitby Station. Over this weekend, the new points were installed to allow access from the left track to the new track to the right. A centre 'run round' track was also laid, to enable steam engines to go from the front of the train to the back & vice versa. The new section of track was laid out in the fenced-off area of the council car park prior to being lifted into place by crane.
Work progressed throughout the Spring & it was necessary for the railway to purchase a small amount of land back from the Co-op, originally sold to them by British Rail around 1990, which was part of their staff car park & goods yard. A small culvert was created allowing rain water to run from the platform down & under the Co-op delivery access road. This section of work was carried out towards the end of May, which included demolishing & re-building the boundary wall of the Co-op's staff car park & goods yard. A buffer for the new track was added a few weeks after the track was laid. By the early part of August, work re-building the wall at Whitby railway station bordering the Co-operative supermarket was complete. The wall now had low fencing on top of it & the platform signage was also erected. A section of pathway was laid by the side of the track from Bog Hall crossing to a place near Coates Marine to allow access to points control. A new signal-type instrument was also installed at this location on the opposite side of the track. The platform was first used in early August when testing got underway, meaning 5 steam trains a day would arrive & depart Whitby Station run by the North Yorkshire Moors Railway. This stage saw two steam engines in Whitby Station for the first time in 50 years. The official opening of the new platform was 23rd August. However, in the January of the following year, work was started once again on the surface of the new platform, which appeared to be dug up & re-laid. A small amount of work on the platform was also carried out in February of 2015.
In similar news, but out of the area, a new train station was opened on the Whitby to Middlesbrough line, at James Cook Hospital in May. The station was made possible thanks to funding from the department for transport by the local enterprise partnership, Tees Valley Unlimited.

Above: The railway station showing the track & platform with the proposed new platform 2 on the left, around a year before work began

Above left: How the development looked in March - Marina car park showing the fenced-off area with access via the Co-op staff access road; Centre: The railway station showing the area being prepared for platform 2; Right: Portacabins arrived on the council car park

Above left: End of March - Towards Whitby Station with the section of removed track and new ballast laid down; Centre: A week later - The new track in place;
Right: April - All ballast laid read for the new track to be laid as seen from the station front

First 4 photos: The railway track extending into Whitby Station viewed from Windsor Terrace, also showing the numerous works equipment stored in the car park beyond the railway line;
Right: 11th May - The end of the line at Whitby Railway Station - buffer not yet added

Above - First 3 photos: From the station towards Bog Hall showing the wall bordering the Co-op staff car park removed; Right: The safety fencing from the Co-op staff car park

Above left: The covered-over culvert under the access road to the back of the Co-op; Right: The culvert from railway under the access road to the Co-op

Above from left: Buffer added to new track; Centre run round track & junction to other new line; The new platform & demolished wall bordering the Co-op & council car park

Above: 29th June - Co-op wall starting to be re-built

Work complete at Whitby Railway Station - platform in use early August for testing, officially open 22nd August.
Left: General view of the station; Left centre: The new platform with the 'run round' track & points in the centre of the photo;
Right centre & Right: The platform viewed from Windsor Terrace looking towards the station & towards Bog Hall respectively

Work started once again on the platform

Around the end of February, the raised pathway at Sandsend, which was wrecked in December's tidal surge. was re-opened following a temporary repair. A more permanent repair was carried out straight after the summer period in early September. In the vicinity, the housing development at East Row was showing signs of progress. In other news, a pathway was laid at Eastside Community Centre within the secure fenced area around the centre. This was part of a larger-scale scheme.

Left & Left centre: The temporary repair job on the raised pathway at Sandsend, looking towards East Row;
Right centre: The housing development at East Row, Sandsend showing signs of progress; Right: The path at Eastside Community Centre

Around the end of February also, work was started in a field off Cholmley Way - between the Highways Office & Stainsacre Lane - on what was to become the new Marston's Hotel & separate pub, to be called 'Penny Hedge'. The pub would serve food from a
rotisserie-style menu & also offer breakfasts & coffees. In May the access road which originally gave access to Eves, later extended to the recycling centre & highways depot & now also to the new hotel, had a  street sign temporarily erected with a name of 'Discovery Way'. A new road from the aforementioned Discovery Way was created, adding a cross road-type junction with the Recycling centre & highways depot on their own road, with the car park to the new pub opposite this junction. The road continued down towards the rear of East Whitby school's field with the road ending with a possibility of further development. The entrance to this was created over an existing watercourse, as was the entrance to the pub car park itself, and so two small culverts were required. The new Marston's building was addressed as being on Stainsacre Lane although access was obtained from Discovery Way & the manager at the time of opening was Mr. Peter Thrussell. Days before the grand opening of 15th June 2015, pupils from East Whitby Primary School were invited to go and try the rotisserie for themselves bringing with them a time capsule. Meanwhile, employees & family were invited to a trial run night, to ensure any niggles could be ironed out prior to opening. Sometime before the summer of 2016, the street sign for the original 'Discovery Way' was moved to the road leading to the recycling centre & highways depot whilst the access road to this & also giving access to Penny Hedge was now fitted out with its own street sign of 'Botany Way' & with a postcode of YO22 4QX. The postcode for the 'new' Discovery Way was YO22 4PZ.

Left: October 2013 - The site of what was to become Marsden's Hotel at land off Cholmley Way, near the Highways Office - Centre: March 2014 - Hardcore goes down;
Right: Street sign for Discovery Way from Cholmley Way

By August the entrance road was taking shape which would see the existing corner on what was to become Botany Way made shallower and a cross roads installed, with a right turn required to access the road to the Recycling Centre & Highways Depot which would later be known as Discovery Way. By late November the road layout was all in place.

Above: Progress at Marsden's site with kerbs laid to the left of the site as viewed from the main entrance road

Above left: The car park area; Left centre: The site looking down Botany Way;
Right centre: The instruction markings on the corner of Discovery Way/Botany Way opposite the new entrance to the hotel; Right: Almost 6 weeks on & work on the new road alignment only just begun

Above left: What will be the site of the hotel building behind the barriers in the distance; Right: The site of the car park & access road taking shape

Above left: Looking round the now shallower corner of Discovery Way; Left centre: The new road layout with the junction to the right towards the Recycling Centre;
Right centre: From the road to the Recycling Centre looking towards the new road into the site; Right: The road from the Recycling Centre towards the site with Stainsacre Lane behind

Above left: Ground work progressing at the Marsdens site nearest the A171, viewed from Discovery Way; Right: The site nearest the council depot viewed from the corner of Discovery Way/Botany Way

Above: Groundwork progressing for the new hotel; Left: Looking towards Stainsacre Lane & Eskdale School; Right: Looking towards Stainsacre Lane & Mount Farm

Left & Centre: Scaffolding erected on the site; Right: The site of the future pub building

By the turn of 2015 the building was really taking shape with residents in the immediate area realising what an impact it would have on their views. The buildings were taking shape & one could readily differentiate between the larger hotel & smaller pub building. The name & logo of the hotel had appeared by early April.

8th February - From left: The massive development from the A171 as viewed approaching Whitby; The building from the rear;
The entrance to what will be the car park; The end of the road with the car park to the left & another road off to the right

8th March -
Above left: The hotel & pub looking towards the main road; Left centre: The pub with car park to the right; Right centre: Drainage system; Right: The development from the entrance to the driveway of East Whitby School

2nd April - Above left: A view of the hotel from the front of the building; Left centre: A view of the southern side of Marston's pub; Right centre: A view of the front of the pub; Right: View from the main road 2 weeks later

Above left: The hotel building & forecourt; Centre; A water main by the roadside; Right: The 'Penny Hedge' pub now displaying its full name

In the coming weeks throughout April & May an outdoor children's play area was installed before the pedestrian entrance was created giving access from Stainsacre Lane. The car park was marked out and all building work looked complete by the end of May, with the opening date already been set as the 15th June.

Above - Top row: New signs erected by the main road & the small outdoor play area in all its glory; Bottom row: The car park area to the rear are looking a lot more tidy - only 4 weeks before opening!

Top left & Right: The footway entrance from Stainsacre Lane is now in place; Bottom: The hotel & pub buildings respectively with the car parks now marked

The day before the official opening of Marston's Hotel & Penny Hedge Rotisserie

Above: The view from the car park of the hotel & pub

Above left & centre: The hotel reception entrance & small outside seating area behind the pub; Right: From the car park looking to the right of the pub

A full view of the hotel & pub from the rear; The pub as viewed from Stainsacre Lane; The hotel from the same position

Left: Formerly Discovery Way changed after completion of the Penny Hedge to 'Botany Way'; Right: The road leading to the recycling centre & highways depot retains its old name of Discovery Way

Work at the David Wilson housing development & similarly the Barratt housing development had really gathered pace over the past month or so, as by the beginning of March the first phase of work in relation to the site plan was really progressing. Also around this time, Hallmark Cards in Flowergate closed down & was eventually to become Whitby Vintage, which relocated from Skinner Street in July. Wharton's Skip Hire, located at the site of the former household tip in Spital Bridge was closed down recently, after a long battle by residents of the area who were becoming increasingly fed up with the amount of rubbish accumulating over the months. They had been given an order by the environment agency to clear the rubbish around a year earlier.

Above: Various shots of the housing development at Larpool

For a video of the Larpool housing development, please click HERE

Left: Hallmark Card shop, Flowergate closed down; Centre: Whitby Vintage re-locates into former Hallmark premises; Right: Wharton's Skip Hire site after closing

The former Universal Garage showroom was looking more and more ready to open as Fulton's Foods, with wooden boxing installed up the exterior walls with stock arriving in the last week of March. On the 23rd March, tarmacking work was undertaken on the footpaths of Brunswick Street, in Bagdale in front of St. Hilda's Catholic Church & along Station Square, initially along to the far end of Boyes & then around a week later this was extended into New Quay Road. The paving slabs at the bottom of Brunswick Street were left untouched. Also in this area, water main works were being carried out at the bottom of Downdinner Hill, with 4-way traffic lights required on the roundabout.

Above left: Former Zodiac Video premises, Flowergate; Left centre: The new Fulton's Food's taking shape with boxing installed up the exterior walls;
Right centre: Stock in the shop; Right: Pavements on Brunswick Street tarmacked

Left: Looking towards Sleights roundabout; Centre: The filter lane to the B1460 blocked by the new roundabout; Right: What's left of the old junction of the B1460 & A171

On 24th March an exciting discovery was made by archaeologists at Whitby Abbey. In a previous dig in 1999 they had uncovered some stones but did not realise at the time that what they had actually uncovered was the remains of an old chapel. The discovery came after finding a graveyard with around 300 graves. The ancient chapel stood in the middle of the graveyard and measured 10m by 5m. It is believed the chapel originates from the original monastery founded in 657AD.

Work on the new roundabout at the junction of the A171 & B1460 at the new park & ride site was progressing well, with the structure being built roughly where the former filter lane was from the A171 to the B1460. Below are some photos of how the Park & Ride site looked on 27th March, with the roundabout approaches taking shape.

Left: Towards Guisborough with the approach road from Whitby to the right of the cones;
Right: The roundabout in the centre of the photo with the Guisborough approach behind the line of cones with the Park & Ride junction to left of that

A few days later, on the 28th March Argyle Garage in Argyle Road - which had been in operation for 51 years - closed down without warning. The owner of Argyle Garage, Alan Marshall - along with manager Frank Tolomeo - decided the time was right to call it a day. Alan bought the building back in 1963 from the Metropole Hotel and it was no more than tin walls & an empty shell. Frank joined the business as manager in 1977 & in 1979 the garage was awarded the franchise for Vauxhall. As well as vehicle repair, services & MOT's, the garage also sold used cars & sold fuel. The building was emptied around the middle of May.

Left, Left centre & Right centre: Argyle Garage a day after closing; Right: Fuel pumps removed

The very next day a new business opened in the town centre in the shape of Fultons Food shop. The shop, located in the former Universal Garage showroom premises in Station Square opened its doors after the building had a lot of attention in the few months previous.

Left: Fultons Foods from Wellington Road; Right: The store receives a milk delivery 2 hours before opening

Below is a further series of photos of the park & ride site. The first set of photos were taken on the 6th April, less than 2 weeks before the official opening.

Left: The changed entrance into the residents' accommodation of Victoria Farm; Left centre: B1460 looking towards the roundabout with the old road markings just visible;
Right centre: The park & ride site from the roundabout; Right: The entrance to the Stables re-aligned

These photos were taken on the 15th April, just 3 days before the official opening with the building work on the main building at the site underway by this time.

Above left: The old junction with the B1460 now completely disguised, located behind the cones; Centre: The building at the site now underway;
Right: West Terrace near the Royal Hotel awaiting the highways team to change markings

By April there was also more progression at the Larpool housing developments & also at East Row at the old boat yard site.

Left: Plots 137-134 making good progress; Centre: The social housing plots of Scoresby Park coming along nicely; Right: Phase 2 of work at Phoenix Park started with plot 122

Above left April 2014 - The rear of the site from the Meadowfields end; Centre: The rear of the site looking towards Meadowfields; Right: Front of the site looking towards Whitby

August 2014 - Slow progress made: Left & Centre: The rear of the development; Right: The front of the development

Whitby's eagerly anticipated park & ride was up and running as promised on Good Friday, the 18th April. There was however space for only 230 cars at first, until the site was completed in September, when 450 spaces would be available. The town's controlled parking scheme was not launched until 1st May and so the park & ride was not used to capacity at first, with Stakesby Road lined with parked cars over the Easter holiday. The roundabout at the junction of the B1460 & A171 was, in my opinion, temporarily left in a very dangerous condition indeed, with a very narrow approach from the B1460 side & A171 Whitby side. The entrance onto the roundabout from the Guisborough direction was made as a 2 lane approach; with a straight-on arrow to continue on the A171, even though it was more of a right turn after a slight road re-alignment, with no mention of which lane to take to access the B1460 - which most traffic seemed to be taking, as this was the first exit off the roundabout to be signed "Whitby", the second being the A171. The roundabout continued to be worked on in the coming weeks, beginning with destination signs being added at the exits of the roundabout, as well as a main roundabout sign from the A171 approaching Whitby. After completion of the roundabout it was revealed that the approach from Guisborough was to be left as a Russian roulette junction if your destination was to be the B1460. Normal roundabout procedure would be to take the left lane with the exit being before the 12 o'clock position, but this was marked as "P+R" with a left arrow. The other lane was marked as "Whitby" and a straight-on arrow. So the right lane would probably be the favourable lane to take but drivers had be beware of others cutting them up as the approached the junction from the left-hand lane! In the middle of May, numerous signs were erected on the approaches to Whitby directing people to the park & ride, from as far out as the top of Blue Bank on the A169. The approach roads to the roundabout were resurfaced and tidied up in the early part of June, with Guisborough Road being closed at off-peak times to all for works to the road surface to be carried out. Traffic was diverted via Castle Park. The overflow car park - increasing the overall capacity of the site to 450 cars - and main building housing toilet facilities was complete by the original deadline & the site was officially opened on 5th Septmeber, and so the on-site portable toilet block was removed. Here are a few photos from the first day in operation.

From left: The site from the A171; The exit from the site onto the roundabout; The back of the main car park with work paused for Easter beyond that; The work behind the main car park

Left: The building finished & open to the public; Right: The entrance to the overflow car park

For a video of the Park & Ride project, please click HERE

Controlled Parking Zones in parts of Whitby town centre came into force on 1st May to run in conjunction with the Park & Ride. With most of the work starting in March, work continued throughout March & April with parking meters installed in the early stages of the works at North Promenade on the West Cliff & also at the lay-by at Sandsend. Double yellow lines were later installed on both sides of Sandsend Road near the junction to Raithwaite Hall which continued along the road opposite the lay-by, which cars used in the summer months as everywhere else became full. Signs prohibiting the parking of motor homes between 11pm & 7am - which were later revealed to be illegal signs - were also erected in these areas as well as the rest of the town centre, with other poles installed to hold future signs along the stretches of pay & display parking. Temporary markings were put down throughout March to instruct where the new main road markings would be for the new zoned parking bays. After North Yorkshire County Council's scheme of 11 parking zones for residents was thrown out due to public outcry in November 2013, a new scheme of a single parking zone was passed in January of this year, when the rest of the parking control measures were passed, meaning residents living inside the zone boundary would have to pay £5 for a parking permit, to park their car on the street. Another detail of the scheme was released only in March however, before presumably being thrown out for a second time. This was to see the removal of the one-way section of Crescent Place from the top of East Crescent. A one-way system anti-clockwise would then be introduced on West Terrace, North Promenade & East Terrace. This was to allow for echelon parking to be introduced, which would allow cars to park diagonal to the kerb. However, on East Terrace, signs indicating the end of the Pay & Display zone & entrance to the Disc zone were erected a few weeks later. Work was started on 9th April marking out the parking bays and double yellow lines around the streets of the West Cliff, following on from work a few days previous to remove certain lines, including white keep clear lines at dropped kerbs. A bus stop at Crescent Avenue at the start of Langdale Terrace in the direction from Upgang Lane was also removed, which was ironically to be used in the coming weeks by park & ride buses. Another bus stop was also removed at Argyle Road in the direction towards North Promenade, but this wasn't immediately filled in with parking bays. On North Promenade, an additional parking bay was marked on an area which was previously double yellow lines to the West of the Metropole on the seaward side. Pavement re-paving works were carried out during May on the seaward side of the southern end of North Promenade, from the entrance to the former Spa booking office in two sections, leaving a stretch of old paving in place near the entrance to the crazy golf.

Left: Paving works being carried out at North Promenade; Centre: A month later the new slabs laid from Captain Cook's statue to the crazy golf; Right: More work on-going opposite the pitch & putt golf

In the remaining weeks following this, work on marking parking bays & double yellow lines continued, until what seemed like every road edge was covered - even down the numerous alleyways only wide enough for one car to drive!  Keep clear markings were also removed from the top of Skinner Street just up from Bothams and also outside the entrance to St. Hilda's Church where the single yellow line was left alone. A 'Loading Only' bay was marked at the top of Skinner Street outside West Cliff Methodist Church only long enough for a van, as well as a longer one at the end of St. Ann's Staith, in front of the Jolly Sailors pub. Another loading bay was marked on Flowergate at the top of Brunswick Street, which was previously double yellow lines. The edges of roads at junctions were 'double-yellowed' to stop people parking on junctions, as everyone did previous to this, especially on the streets of the West Cliff. Much shorter keep clear markings previously existed but only on the dropped kerb sections of the junctions. The main Controlled Parking Zone was from the North end of North Promenade including all of Argyle Road and all roads in that area to the far end of Crescent Avenue or the top end of St. Hilda's Terrace at Harrison's Garage, as with Back St. Hilda's Terrace. The zone ended between Newton Street & Walker Street on Brunswick Street with Walker Street included in the zone, indicated by a sign at the entrance to the street, similar to other narrow streets actually within the zone boundary, stating that the street was 'Permits Only Parking'. The zoned area started again at the entrance to St. Ann's Staith so as to include all the pier area & Khyber Pass in the zone, this being only residents' permits only. The zoned area was in force between 9am & 7pm with signs adjacent to the bays detailing the parking restrictions in force in that particular bay. These ranged from Permits (& scratch cards) only, Discs only, or both Permits (scratch cards) & Discs; with either a 1 hour or 2 hour maximum stay for those using parking discs, with a no return within 2 hours. The exception to this was the bay outside the Royal Mail sorting office in Crescent Avenue, which was a Discs only bay until 1pm. Up to 50 scratch cards could be bought annually by residents for them to issue to visitors at their house which entitled them to park until the next morning at 9am. Similar scratch cards could also be bought by business persons and guest houses.
The way some of the road markings were painted left a lot of locals miffed, for instance marking the end of parking bays with a keep clear line from within the bay extending out of it onto double yellow lines is one example, and outside Harrison's Garage showroom, installing long keep clear lines within the parking bay - surely it would have been better to split the parking bay either side of the forecourt. With everyone gearing up for the introduction of the Controlled Parking Zone, residents of Church Square & Langdale Terrace were in for a surprise when they received a letter from the county council informing them that the lane to the rear of Langdale Terrace & also Church Square was not to be initially included in the controlled parking zone scheme, due to a legal issue with the signage. The bays were marked and signage was installed, before being taken down again on the day the scheme came into force. A temporary sign was therefore required at the entrances to the square indicating the end of parking control, which was erected the day previous. This meant that this street would be a free for all and residents would not have any advantage, having already paid the £5 for the year. At the time it was promised the road would be added in to the parking zone in August/September. This was not the case however, and was actually the Summer of 2015 when it got sorted.

From left: One of the many temporary marking on the streets of Whitby, ready for marking out the parking bays & zones;
Parking machines installed on North Promenade; Sandsend lay-by with parking machines installed with the poles for new signs
Double yellow lines added on both side of the road at Sandsend Road from just South of Raithwaite Hall to Dunsley junction, looking from Dunsley & Raithwaite respectively

Below is a set of photos of the introduction of Controlled Parking Zones in Whitby, showing some of the council's bloopers, including: Argyle Road where a bus stop has been erased but the parking bays left out - seemingly the bus stop was wrongly erased as it was re-instated a short while later; a parking bay on Argyle Road changed to fit to the end of a Keep Clear line for a private driveway & a sign changed from disc zone of 2 hour stay to 1 hour stay.

Above from left: Entrance to Parking Zone, North Promenade; Entrance to Pay & Display zone at North Promenade; End of Parking Zone, Argyle Road; Erasure of bus stop from Argyle Road but no parking bay

Above from left: Markings changed at Argyle Road - Bay extended even though it's prohibited to park at the end of it; Top of Skinner Street, loading bay marked; Church Square omitted from the zone, for now at least

Left: Space lost at St. Hilda's Terrace due to bays having different rules attached to them, the one to the right having disc & permits and the one to the left being discs only, previously 40 minutes' stay;
Right: A close-up of the same sign after being changed from disc parking of 2 hours to 1 hour

In other parking news, a portion of the Marina car park, previously closed off to permit holders was to be opened up as a pay & display car park from 30th April. It was revealed that there were times when the sectioned-off area was underused whilst the pay & display area was chock-a-block.

Marina Car Park showing the entrance to the new permit holders only section

In the middle of April, Laura Stone's beauty salon in Skinner Street was closed - initially for a few days, which actually turned out to be until 9th May - to allow for refurbishment works to be carried out. Also at this time, the Cancer Research charity shop in Baxtergate was closed for a major refurbishment. Meanwhile, Mind charity shop in Flowergate as given new fascia signage to its shop front whilst at number 42 (next to Flowergate Gallery) Great Goth shop moved premises to the former J.P. Carpets at 26 Silver Street. Their previous home was to become 'The Orange Frog' confectioners, also known as 'TOF' & their shop front displayed only this name until early 2015. The shop had its first trading day on 26th July.

 Above left: Great Goth shop - former home; Centre: Great Goth shop's former premises in Flowergate re-opened as Tof Confectionery; Right: New home

At the beginning of May Rusty Shears opened its doors as a tea rooms in the former Vinyard Bistro premises in Silver Street. Also in this area, work started in November & December 2013 on converting a disused warehouse-style building into holiday accommodation. Progress was being made on the apartment in Silver Street, to be called Starfish Apartments and was almost complete by May 2014. The side of the building was left unfinished however and it wasn't until around August 2016 that the unfinished area was painted.

, with just the rendering of a wall to be carried out. In other news around this time, A.J's second-hand shop in St. Ann's Staith closed down for good after the owner had sadly passed away. The premises was in use again very quickly however, when it opened as a jewellers & antique shop. Another business to change in this area was Staponas Gallery Cafe in Pier Road, which became Shelly's Tea Shop around this time, which saw the premises change back to its former use as a cafe, having been Teas & Tarts cafe up until 2011 when Staponas moved in. The owners added a cafe in 2013.

Above left: A.J's second-hand shop closed down; Left centre: The same premises re-opened as a jewellers & antiques shop;
Above right centre: Rusty Shears tea rooms opens in the former Vinyard premises, Silver Street; Right: Former Staponas Gallery Cafe becomes Shelly's Tea Shop

Above left & Left centre: The new building as it appeared in December 2013, advertising holiday accommodation; Right centre: Almost complete as seen here in May; Right: The side of the building has been painted

Work started on the eastern harbour wall just North of the Swing Bridge in mid-April, as iron rods were embedded into the bank of the river Esk in a scheme to stabilise the area, after substantial subsidence, especially to the rear of Venus Trading. The two-month-long work was commissioned by Yorkshire Water & the work was carried out by Mott MacDonald Bentley.

Left & Centre: Work at the rear of Sandgate seen here from the Swing Bridge in May; Right: Work complete ready for the onset of Winter

By this time, work was progressing on the new house at the top of Lowdale Lane in Sleights & at the Phoenix Park housing development, plots 89-98 were coming along nicely.

 Left: 4th May - Plots 98-89 at Phoenix Park; Centre: Plots 136 & 137 to the left with fencing erected at the centre of the plot; Right: Plots 134-136 almost complete

Left: Works entrance to the park & ride site; Centre: Looking into the works entrance; Right: The site building coming along nicely

Left: The exit from the park & ride showing the manmade lake; Right: The junction with the recently-named Cross Butts Roundabout from the B1460

Before the end of 2013 and carrying on into the new year, work was progressing rapidly at the old Zodiac Video premises at 20 Flowergate. Boarding had been put up outside the building and work was ongoing, out of sight of the public. Preliminary work was carried out shortly after it closed at the beginning of 2012, with the residential maisonette above having been unoccupied for an even longer time, due to the poor state of the building. Workers broke up the floor of the former shop and left it in that state for quite a considerable time, before getting back to work towards the end of 2013, when planning permission was re-granted for the re-development of the premises. The front wall was leaning out towards the pavement of Flowergate, the chimney at ground level was missing & the remaining stack was severely damaged. The repair work involved basically demolishing the front wall & chimney stack of the building and replace the shop front. The windows to the upper floors were to be replaced to match the former windows and roof repairs were also to be carried out. Refurbishment to the living accommodation was also to take place with a redesign of the internal space, creating a 3 bedroom residential unit with the entrance staircase altered to an 'L' shape design with the retention of the winding staircase from the first to second floor level. The ground to first floor staircase was to be re-positioned, but was to be re-used, although this was of a modern construction regardless. In the early part of 2014, work really got underway when the front of the building was boarded off. The boarding at protective sheeting above was taken away in mid-March and the shop was re-opened in early May with stock being moved from the temporary shop next door. The old premises was re-opened as Henderson's Estate Agency on 7th March by Nick Henderson & his partner. The 27-year old had worked his way up with Astin's & he took 2 other Astin's employees with him on his venture.

Various stages of progress with work at the Zodiac store in Flowergate - moved to temporary premises before moving back in to previous home in May 2014. Shop front complete early August 2014

Henderson's Travel Agents opens in former Zodiac Video

Also in May, refurbishment work was complete at St. Hilda's Playgroup in Hinderwell, situated in the Old School since being set up in 1992. The work was made possible thanks to a grant of £5,000 from Big Lottery Fund. Moving South to Robin Hood's Bay, a new cafe was opened in time for the Spring Bank Holiday in the former Tiffin Cafe premises in New Road after undergoing a 10-day refurbishment. David Shackleton, former employee of Boulby Mine, decided to have a career swap and opened The Coffee Shack with fiancee Louise Gerhardsen.

In June, a sinkhole appeared in Church Street car park, thought to have been caused by heavy rain. Around 250 litres of water a minute were being pumped to the water treatment works & 500 litres a minute out to sea.

Around this time saw the completion of a very long process of restoration works to a house in Bagdale. Thistlebank House, dating back since 1801, the house had been an eyesore for the past 20 years. Nathan Jones took over the property in 2006 following the death of his father and since then he had been working on bringing the building back to its former glory. Nathan used various local contractors during different stages of the work and used only the highest quality, period furnishings.

23rd June saw the opening of Lythe Community Shop in the premises of the former Lythe Stores. The new shop stocked groceries, fresh fruit & vegetables & local produce including that from Bothams Bakery, Stonehouse Bakery from Danby & Brickyard Bakery from Brotton. Also on offer in the shop was Beacon Farm ice-cream & a small self-service tea & coffee area with home-made cakes & sandwiches. Any profits made by the shop would go back into the company or used for the benefit of the local community. A Post Office was advertised on the shop's wall but this was not up & running until it's official opening on 4th February. Also a short time earlier, Sleights Post Office had closed its doors for good, after a series of opening & closing since around the beginning of the previous summer. Some services were moved into the Spar shop across the road in the summer of this year. Also in June, the American diner Jumpin' Jacks in Flowergate was under new management and received a small refurbishment. A little further up the road, Bridgfords estate agents was also undergoing a refurbishment, although on a slightly larger scale. In the town centre at this time, Station News was having its fascia painted, now bearing the Sun newspaper logo.

Left: Lythe Community Shop a day before opening; Left centre: Sleights Post Office advertising closing down sale in October 2013; Right centre & Right: Post Office closed with a view inside the shop

By mid-June, the approach roads to the Cross Butts roundabout were all surfaced & lineage work was started. Surface dressing was applied to the road which meant one day closures took place, firstly on the Guisborough Road section towards Four Lane Ends, secondly to the Castle Road junction & lastly to the other side of the roundabout, on the road linking this to Sleights roundabout. This last section was carried out through one night however, so as to minimise disruption. Also at this stage of the works, a right turn lane was added to the road for vehicles wishing to turn right into the Stables Restaurant. Turf was also laid on the verges around the site & also on the centre of the roundabout. At the end of June, the entrance from the A171 just West of the the Stables Restaurant which was used for works traffic was closed off. An information sign was also added advising drivers of the entrance to Victoria Farm Garden Centre. Signs were also added to warn motorists approaching the area of a new roundabout ahead. The direction lanes on the approach from Guisborough were causing much confusion, with the left lane marked as 'Park & Ride' and the right lane marked as a straight on for 'Whitby'. The confusion arose over which lane to use to access the B1460. The markings seemed to indicate the right lane, but as the exit was around the 11 o'clock position, the natural lane to take would be the left.

Above from left: The A171 new right turn lane to the Stables Restaurant; The roundabout showing the Castle Road & Guisborough Road to Whitby junctions;
The roundabout towards Guisborough; The site with a drainage system on show behind the gate

Left: The previous works access entrance closed off; Right: The main building taking shape, nicely semi-hidden from the view of the National Park

By July, the Park & Ride site was making good progress, with the overflow car park almost complete to the rear of the site.

For a video of the Park & Ride project, please click HERE

Left: The Park & Ride building coming along nicely; Right: New signs indicating 'New Roundabout Ahead' added to all approach routes

In the last week of June, Station News in Whitby town centre was fitted out with new fascia signage & canopy, boasting the Sun newspaper logo. This replaced the old fading blue canopy. Also at this time, a number of rural roads around the area were re-surfaced with loose chippings, including roads from Stainsacre towards Sneaton & the local roads leading off the A174 towards Runswick Bay etc. The estate roads of Sleights were all re-dressed after the same procedure was applied to the minor roads around the Stainsacre & Sneatonthorpe areas, with the work in Sleights taking place on 28th June. A long stretch of the A169 near the Goathland turn offs was also re-surfaced. Also at this time, Whitby Library was having some repairs done to its roof, which required the erection of scaffolding around the building. It was not necessary for the library to close however & the work was complete by July.

Above left: As Station News looked before the small change; Centre: Station News with their new canopy; Right: Whitby Library surrounded by scaffolding

In June, some street name signs had been erected at the new housing development at Larpool. The new names were Nightingale Drive & Harrier Place. Lots of work had been carried out over the last month or so, as you can see from the photos below.

From top left to bottom right: Nightingales Drive; Harrier Place; Plots 136 & 137; Plots 130 & 131; Plots 134 & 135; Plot 140 with 141 to the rear; Looking beyond plot 141 into the countryside

July saw another piece of artwork unveiled by volunteer group Friends of Pannett Park. The 'Eternal Gardener', a Victorian type statue, stands at 8-feet-tall & was made from steel at 12mm thick & set in a cubic metre concrete, donated by Stuart Knaggs. An earlier model produced as a trial run was put in place near the museum entrance, produced from thinner steel at 2mm thick. The statue was designed by the group's chairman Bob Bennett with assistance from Les Hulme. The masterpiece was created by J.C. Fabrications.

The Eternal Gardener sculpture in Pannett Park

On July 26^th, the former premises of Luna Piena in Skinner Street was re-opened after being converted into a shop premises 'Lavender's Bizarre', selling goth-related things & other similar items. The former restaurant was closed for good around October 2013, after it had been taken into administration.

Also in the catering sector, the Whitby Tandoori Indian restaurant in the railway station had closed down in the recent months, after being bought by the owner of two other foreign food restaurants in town; Kam Thai & Passage to India. The owner moved his Kam Thai restaurant from Church Street into the railway station unit before opening an Indian restaurant in the former Kam Thai premises, also with plans to open a further establishment in Silver Street's former Cafe Masala premises in the future. Work on the railway station Thai restaurant began in early December with the official opening date of 5th March 2015. The former Thai restaurant in Church Street opened as an Indian restaurant 'Indian Moments' in the Summer of 2015. The former Cafe Masala restaurant in Silver Street was left in an abandoned state for some months, until September 2015. Interior works were then carried out & in July 2016 work to the exterior of the building took place, including partially re-building the exterior wall & installing new windows.

Above left: The former Whitby Tandoori restaurant & takeaway in Whitby railway station; Left centre: Kam Thai's new premises opens;
Right centre: The former Cafe Masala in Silver Street recently closed its doors & bought by the 'Kam Group'; Right: Indian Moments opens in the former Kam Thai premises, Church Street

Left: Former Cafe Masala is gutted after standing empty for over a year; Centre: July 2016 - Lower part of exterior wall re-built & windows installed; Right: Sep 2016 - Wall complete with timber fascia hiding the lintel

It was also around this time that the Cheque Centre in Baxtergate closed its doors, which replaced Thornton's chocolatiers around 5 years earlier. A new shoe shop 'Loafers' moved into the premises by mid-December however.

Above left: Luna Piena premises before being converted into retail premises; Left centre: Former Luna Piena premises re-opened as Lavender's Bizarre; Right: Signage added mid-September

Left: The former Cheque Centre premises soon after closing; Right: Shoe shop opens in same premises mid-December

It was also around July that a new shop opened in St. Ann's Staith selling gift items. The shop was based in the former Whale Watching booking office, used by Whitby Coastal Cruises for the previous summer season. Also at this time, building work was being carried out to a building opposite the former booking office in Haggersgate. It is also worth mentioning that with the arrival of the school holidays came road works. There was a road closure in place at High Stakesby which lasted about a week at the 'switch backs' between the turn in to Beck Vets & the junction with Castle Road. Two other series of road works were taking place at the same time but only lasted a few days. Firstly, gas works were taking place at the foot of Chubb Hill, which meant the uphill lane was closed to traffic & the road was coned to allow traffic travelling uphill to use the right-hand downward lane, leaving just the left-turn lane open to downhill traffic. Further road works were taking place at the same time at the foot of John Street by Northern Gas Networks and this end of the road was completely closed off for the latter part of the works.

Left: The building which was the office used by Whitby Coastal Cruises to book trips on their pleasure vessels in the 2013 season; Centre: Premises re-opened as a gift shop;
Centre right: Building work being carried out to a building in Haggersgate in July of this year; Right: Work to the door of the building complete

It was announced that from Monday 4th August there would be a charge for anyone dumping hardcore, plasterboard, rubble or similar items at Whitby's Recycling Centre. The charge could only be paid by card. Work was recently completed on a project which was started in the Spring of 2013. The building project on a previously grassy bank off Bank Close & Lowdale Lane, Sleights, which would see a three-storey house built into the hillside, with a garage underneath.

Above: New house built on empty grassed area off Bank Close & Lowdale Lane, Sleights

Work landscaping the entrance to Raithwaite Estate off the Whitby to Sandsend road was complete by around July, after the area to the right of the entrance road into the estate was dug over & a boundary stone wall built, incorporating a stone seat facing the sea. The work had been on-going for over a year. At Stonecross Road, boulders were placed lining the edge of the grass verge, separating the verge & the pavement. This caused aproar with the owner of a nearby house, who said this prevented him access to his caravan. On a couple of occasions in the next 13 months, he had these boulders removed but the police were called on both occasions, with the first occasion seeing him arrested.

The entrance to Raithwaite Estate from the A174 Whitby to Sandsend road at various time since work began in January 2013 (top left)

Above: Highfield Road with its newly added boulders lining the grass verge

In other news, around the beginning of August, parts of some of Whitby's roads were either double yellow lined or single yellow lined. This included parts of Green Lane & Upgang Lane and roads leading directly off them. Green Lane saw work being carried out first where double yellow lines replaced the single yellow line that previously existed. This was due to the fact cars were parking on the corners of junctions on the single yellow line & with the accompanying signs unlawfully removed, the authorities faced no other choice. Parts of the top, flatter section of Green Lane was also double-yellowed as well as the right-hand side of The Ropery, as drivers headed down from Green Lane, as far along as the entrance to The Rise. Motorists never parked on this side of The Ropery anyway as it would clearly be causing obstruction owing to the constant line of cars parked on the other side of the road - another case of them having left-over paint! Single yellows were left in place on the downward side of Green land between Captain Cooks Crescent & opposite The Ropery junction for some time but were later removed completely, even though no cars ever parked on that side of the road anyway - why no double-yellow it like they did everywhere else!? At Upgang Lane they made most junction corners double yellow & also a short section into Field House Road, to match the other side of the road. The lines also now covered the section between Blenheim Avenue & Marlborough Avenue, doubling the old lines in distance. Similar work continued at Prospect Hill where the double yellow lines which ran round the corner from Mayfield Road were extended towards Downdinner Hill by around 100 yards. The bus stop here was moved a few yards closer to Downdinner Hill & a bay painted to mark the stop. Double yellow lines were also added at Stakesby Vale, as the most observant amongst us would have noticed. The lines were painted from Harrison's garage forecourt round the corner of Chubb Hill roundabout earlier in the year and left with no 'T' on them. These were what were extended at this time and finished at the foot of the slope to Stakesby Road, leaving a more dangerous section of road open to parking, where the lines were actually needed. The double yellows from the top of Chubb Hill finishing on Spring Vale were also extended a few yards away from the roundabout. In similar news, a long parking bay was painted in front of the houses of Albion Terrace to enable echelon parking, which had already been going on since the apartments were built in 2005 - another waste of paint! The double yellow lines were extended a few yards away from Spring Hill Terrace towards North Road however. The authorities also removed a section of double yellow lines from the entrance to the secure parking area for the apartments, apparently allowing the parking of vehicles on the entrance! Also at this time, a number of road signs directing traffic to car parks at West Cliff, Harbour & Abbey Headland were also installed & signs at various roundabouts throughout the town were replaced.

Above: New double yellow lines replace single yellows on Green Lane & extend into junctions off the road - Left: Top junction of St. Mary's Crescent also showing Captain Cooks Crescent;
Centre: Near Green Lane Centre; Right: Towards the top of Green Lane

Above left: Looking down Green Lane showing the double yellows on the corners of junctions & single yellows - soon to be removed - on the left;
Right: The single yellow line on this part of the downward side of Green Lane removed

Above left: The junction of Ocean Road with Upgang Lane now double-yellowed; Centre: The junction of Station Avenue received similar treatment; Right: The new lines on the entrance to Field House Road;

Above: Old roundabout sign on the High Stakesby Road approach to Four Lane Ends roundabout - this sign was replaced sometime in the early part of 2015

Above left: Prospect Hill where the double yellows now finish after the alterations, also showing the newly-marked bus stop;
Centre: Stakseby Vale towards Chubb Hill roundabout, formerly new parking restrictions existed here;
Right: From Chubb Hill roundabout, the lines on the left have been extended a little, also showing the new double yellows on the right of Stakesby Vale

Left: The new section of double yellow lines away from Spring Hill Terrace with the newly-painted parking bays beyond;
Right: The double yellows at the entrance to the secure parking area of the apartments removed

Around this time, the exterior of Landers butchers had a change of colour scheme from red to black. The aprons worn by the staff were also changed to match. It was in late July & early August that work was undertaken on tidying up the First Inn Last Out pub on the 'Railway'. The work included interior & exterior decorating, the outside colour remained the same however. Work on the interior of the pub was also being carried out in the Spring of 2015. Also sometime around early August, boulders were placed at regular intervals on the grass verge of Highfield Road near its junction with Love Lane. During the summer a new sign was erected at the entrance to the Turnbull Ground car park, advertising Whitby Cricket Club & Cutter Shed Bar.

Above left & Centre: The First Inn Last Out pub during & after works; Right: Whitby Cricket Club sign

Above: Landers Butchers of Baxtergate changes colour scheme from red to grey

Sleights villagers once again had access to some Post Office services in August with the opening of a new 'Post Office Local' counter situated in the village's Spar shop across the road from the former Post Office. The shop got a whole new counter as part of the work and the Post Office services were launched on 21st August after a short closure of the shop to allow the work to be carried out. Back in Whitby, a new store opened towards the end of August in the former premises of Ashe Computers in John Street after many months of the shop displaying products in the windows, such as light switches and bespoke plastic chairs. The new shop was called Home & Lifestyle - Studio & Gallery.

The former premises of Ashe Computers is re-opened as Home & Lifestyle Studio & Gallery

September saw the usual launch of the new school year, except this year was far from usual. The new school year saw the merger of Caedmon School & Whitby Community College - the new school to be called 'Caedmon College Whitby'. The former Caedmon site was now called 'Scoresby site' & the former Whitby Community College site called 'Normanby site'. The merger meant that students would not have the transfer at age 14 that they did previously, with lessons being held between the sites for all year groups from year 7 to 13, with the sixth form based at the 'Normanby site'. A new logo was created using the former Whitby Community College emblem with Captain Cook's ship but the caedmon cross replaced the 3 Whitby ammonites as on the previous design of the ship. A new website domain was setup as ccwhitby.co.uk and all students were issued with new email addresses and access to cloud storage. The former head of Caedmon School - Tony Hewitt - was made deputy of the new college while the former head of Whitby Community College - Keith Prytherch - was to become the new head. The former Caedmon School website was still in operation for a short while but the former Whitby Community College website had a forward in place to the new Caedmon College Whitby site.

Left: Previously Caedmon School, now the Scoresby site of Community College Whitby; Right: The Normanby site of Caedmon College Whitby

Work was started at the very beginning of September on a permanent repair of Sandsend over-hanging footway, following a temporary repair in the Spring after being damaged by the storms in the previous December.

Above left: The path looking towards East Row; Right: The view from the other end of the path looking towards Lythe Bank;

The pathway at Sandsend was re-opened sometime before the end of September but with some work still to be carried out. Also around this time, the former Thyme & Tide restaurant in Flowergate was getting transformed ready to become Whitby Deli with work on-going from early-September up until the opening on 31st October.

Above & below left: Views of the path just before & after completion with a view towards East Row of the path after re-opening &; Right: A view towards Sandsend

Left: Thyme & Tide during its transformation into Whitby Deli; Right: Work underway with transforming the premises a few days before opening

Mid-September saw the installation of new LED lighting at Whitby's West Cliff Skate Park, replacing the old floodlights. The new lighting encountered teething problems however, with the lights being reported to have been broken for the first 7 weeks of them being in use, meaning the skate park was unusable after dark.

The end of September saw a new 'supermobile' library van take to the roads of North Yorkshire, replacing the old van which had served the community for around 11 years. The new vehicle - which would serve many rural villages across North Yorkshire - was given its own colour scheme, chosen by 4 school children from across the county, whose designs were chosen as winners.

Also around this time a new cafe was opened at Hildegarde House, 27 Skinner Street. The previously disused lower floor of the building was converted into Cafe Aroma. The building was recently renovated by Whitby Holiday Cottages & once housed J. Hamilton Scott opticians. Planning permission was granted in 2009 for a change of use to a launderette, but this never materialised.

The ground floor of Hildegarde House changed into Cafe Aroma

Also in this area, work began with the conversion of the former public toilets at 21 Clarence Place into an office, after many failed attempts for planning permission by various people since 2005, which included conversions to cottage & workshop. The building was fitted with new windows & the exterior brickwork was clad. The work was complete by early 2015.

Also around the end of September, the right-hand door to the Station Square frontage of Boyes was changed & replaced to aid the disabled. The door was able to be operated by a push button on the wall.

Left: The former public toilets in Clarence Place - conversion work just begun; Centre left & Centre right: Walls clad on the former toilets; Right: Exterior work appears complete

Left: The front of the newly-transformed office building looking almost complete; Right: The rear of the building

Work complete on conversion of the former Skinner Street public toilets to an office as seen from the front & rear respectively

By the beginning of October, work at the housing development at Larpool was taking shape, especially the Barratt Homes side with a new street name unveiled with the erection of a street sign. Wagtail Crescent would be the street of plots 59-105. Meanwhile, across town a house was in the process of being built near Beck's Vets, High Stakesby Road which saw work start in early summer. The house was complete by early March 2015 complete with gravel driveway with the last section of garden fencing erected by the beginning of May.
Also at this time, Langborne Road was re-surfaced along with other local roads in the town, including Rievaux Road, parts of Byland Road and also Helredale Road from the top of Spital Bridge to Larpool Lane. Out of town, roads at Sleights were re-surfaced including Coach Road, Lowdale Lane & The Avenue. Also at this time, gas main works were taking place in areas of the town at Mayfield Road as well as the Silver Street area & Windsor Terrace.

Above left: Fence erected around the bottom of the David Wilson Homes site; Centre: Looking into Wagtail Crescent; Right: From Wagtail Crescent towards the as yet undeveloped part of the site

From left: House built at Beck's Vets, High Stakesby Road; The exterior of the house nearing completion; Some external cladding work done; Cladding to the front of the new building complete

Left & Centre: The house complete with gravel driveway - March 2015; Right: Last section of fence erected May 2015

Also around this time, the more observant of people would have noticed that the Resolution monument atop a 40ft metal pole situated by Captain Cook's statue on the West Cliff was removed. Council workers were carrying out health & safety repairs to the tall structure so as to avoid a similar incident to that which happened to the town centre's Scoresby statue 18 months earlier when it came crashing to the ground. The monument was erected at its present site in 1996 having been sited in the town centre since 1991 until being replaced by the aforementioned Scoresby Statue.

The site of the pole which held the Resolution monument 40 feet high - the base can be seen still in the ground in the centre of the photo

A new installation at Robin Hood's Bay's Bank Top Play Area was unveiled on 15th October in the form of a wooden pirate ship as part of a number of upgrades to take place at the play area. The structure cost £32,000 & replaced a fishing vessel which was donated to the play area in 1982 & was dedicated to the memory of local girl Tracey Hutchinson who died in a road accident. The coble had begun to show signs of age & so in December 2012 funds were started to be raised to improve the play area. The new equipment was made by York-based company Playscheme & was officially opened by Cameron Kenneally, who would have been Tracey's Nephew. New swings were also planned for the play area with improved disabled access. Sadly, the play area was vandalised within days of it opening. Just next door, public conveniences were saved from closure when Fylingdales Parish Council took over the running of them from Scarborough Borough Council.

Moving back to Whitby, the end of October saw the long anticipated opening of Costa Coffee in the premises formerly occupied by Stead & Simpson shoe shop in Baxtergate. The shoe shop closed around the same time 2 years earlier & lots of rumours were doing the rounds as to what the shop was to become. Costa Coffee was official opened on 27th October with the first regular customers sipping their first cup 2 days later.

Left: Stead & Simpson just before closing down in October 2012; Centre: Costa Coffee just before opening pictured the day after the fascia was installed; Right: Costa Coffee the morning after opening

The end of October marked the 100th anniversary of the disaster of HMHS Rohilla - a hospital ship on its way to Dunkirk after leaving Leith. The ship was on her way down the East coast when she hit Whitby Rock and broke her back. Five lifeboats in all tried effortlessly to bring the 229 crew & passengers onboard. The Whitby lifeboat was launched & made 2 successful trips rescuing 37 passengers but could not return a third time as the boat had been smashed to bits. The Upgang lifeboat was then launched from its base a mile North of Whitby but this could not get close enough to the stricken ship due to the sheer current in the water. The lifeboat from Scarborough was brought in but that could not get near the Rohilla. Messages had arrived at Teesmouth but this lifeboat sprung a leak whilst being towed across the Tees bar. The motor lifeboat at Tynemouth then arrived at Whitby. This managed to take the remaining men ashore - 50 in total, but it was too late for the 85 that perished, some of which simply decided to swim for shore but stood no chance in the raging seas. The rescue operation lasted over 3 days & townsfolk lined the East Cliff trying in anyway they could to help the helpless souls, so close to shore. A plaque was unveiled at Whitby's West Pier facing the site of the Rohilla disaster as part of a series of events to take place to commemorate the anniversary.

Left: The site of the plaque with the aquatic grave of the Rohilla behind; Right: The plaque

The 2nd November marked a sad day for the owners of Whitby's iconic Elizabeth steam bus, which made its last ever sight-seeing trip round the town & the vehicle was up for sale. The owners of the bus, a DG6P had a conflict with Scarborough Borough Council earlier in the year due to the council not supporting the owners of the bus, Vivien & Vernon, find a solution to their problem of where to fill up with water. The bus, dating back to 1931, was bought by the couple in 2002 and carefully refurbished after being stuck in a shed for almost 30 years before hitting the streets of Whitby in the Summer of 2003. The Secretary of State for Transport agreed to issue a licence for Elizabeth to carry passengers on a public road. Whilst being in Whitby the bus has travelled down to London to be part of the Lord Mayor's parade. The bus was transferred into storage before leaving the town for good on a low-loader on 16th July 2015.

Elizabeth - Last day in service, 2nd November

The start of November also saw work being done to the railings of St. Hilda's Catholic church in Bagdale, which saw the railings replaced with new ones starting with the section bordering Brunswick Street. Also by this time, work lasting around a month was complete at Stainsacre Lane, which involved extending the footpath from where it ended just beyond Fairfield Way to meet up with Enterprise Way. Also, in the town centre, Booze Buster at 10 Baxtergate became Oddies, selling the same products.

Left & Left centre: Footpath at Stainsacre Lane being extended to remove the need for people to cross the road; Right centre: Footpath complete; Right: Booze Buster becomes Oddies, 10 Baxtergate

It was around this time the lower part of Sandsend Road beyond Raithwaite was made an Urban Clearway with signage being installed.

A new business named 'Mouse Hole' opened its doors at 7 Silver Street on 22nd November selling cheese! Just over the road from this shop, work had begun around a month previous clearing an overgrown area of land between Silver Street & Waterloo Yard, previously housing 26A, before being demolished. A concrete base was laid for three 2-storey houses to be built between Silver Street & Waterloo Yard to form a terrace of three houses named 'Cobble Row'. Block work started at the site around mid-January 2015 with the first house up by mid-March which had windows fitted by the start of May. The houses were complete by February 2016 with access to numbers 2 & 3 from the existing decking serving the rear of properties in Silver Street into the first floor. Access to number 1 was from ground level.

Left: New business 'Mouse Hole' open at 7 Silver Street; Centre & Right: Land off Silver Street ready for 3 houses to be built on

Left: Building work commenced; Centre: Showing how little space there is between the existing buildings & the new development; Right: Windows fitted in the first house by early May

Above left: The exterior of the houses nearest the access from Silver Street almost complete; Right: Looking along the very cramped space between the new & old buildings towards the back of The Elsinore

Left: Looking in from the entrance from Silver Street with the entrance to number 1 to the left; Left centre: Looking back towards the entrance from Silver Street;
Right centre: On the decking above with the entrance to 2; Right: Outside number 3 looking towards the rear of the Elsinore

Around this time, the Whitby Gazette moved from its former home at its offices in Bridge Street to a unit at St. Hilda's Business Centre. On the demolition front, a dormer bungalow at 91 Stakesby Road was being demolished at the junction with the former Stakesby Road council depot to be replaced with a 4-bedroom house. The demolition was completed quite rapidly, within the first week of the new year. There was a delay before building work on the new house was started, with no considerable work done until late May 2015, but work was quite efficient after that, with the house built & the roof tiled by the beginning of October of the same year. Exterior tidying up work was then started, & a garage was then built. This took almost a year to complete however, with building work finished by September 2016.

Above left: Whitby Gazette Office building sold; Centre: Demolition started at 91 Stakesby Road; Right: Top half of the structure gone within the week leading up to Christmas;

Above left: The house now gone; Right: A closer shot of the grounds where the house once stood

Above left: The outline of the new house can be seen in this photo; Centre: Building work underway; Right centre: 10 days later; Right: 11 days later!

Left: Working on the 2nd floor; Left centre: Three weeks later - roof going on; Right centre: Tiling of the roof started; Right: Tiling complete

Left: House complete, most of exterior work done; Left centre: Work started on garage; Right centre: Garage & perimeter wall almost complete; Right: Garage & house now complete - September 2016

North of Whitby, at Runswick Bay, work lasting 19 weeks for Yorkshire Water undertaken by Mott MacDonald Bentley costing £500,000 was underway. The aim of the work was to alleviate the villages flooding problems from over-flowing sewers. A new sewer was laid and surface water was to be diverted upstream where there was more capacity in the sewer network. The work meant however that Hinderwell Lane was closed from late November until the end of January with the only respite for locals coming in the 2-week Christmas period. This meant bus timetables had to be re-worked and a shuttle bus was provided by Coastal & Country Coaches to link up at Ellerby with the number 4 bus service operated by Arriva. The work was complete by mid-February.

Back in Whitby, the beginning of December saw give-way lines painted at the entrance to the Leisure Centre car park from Crescent Avenue - for the first time ever!

Meanwhile in the Railway Station car park, the metal bollards previously linked with chains marking the edge of the car park were changed, with more bollards installed at closer intervals and the linking chains removed. As the bollards were closer together, it would not be possible to pass a car between them so 2 of the bollards nearest the pedestrian crossing of New Quay Road were able to be lowered in the case of a vehicle requiring an emergency exit from the car park - as was the case a year earlier when that end of Langborne Road was cut off by flood water and cars leaving Langborne Road used that as a cut-through.

Nearby, shrubs which lined Langborne Road outside Endeavour Wharf were removed and replaced with boulders with one of them carved into the shape of a whale's tail. Bark was laid in place of soil and in June 2015, a small fence was erected to presumably prevent people from walking on the bark. The fence however did take a lot longer to erect than necessary, as the posts were put in one day, with one cross bar put across the top between two of the posts & left for around two weeks before the rest of the horizontal tops were attached! During the first stages of the work, back in 2014, the Co-operative food store had the top of its concrete bollards painted yellow, to allow them to stand out more to the partially sighted.

Above left: The newly-placed bollards around the New Quay Road border of the railway station car park; Centre: The newly-designed feature on Langborne Road outside Endeavour Wharf;
Right centre: The new fence around the feature at Endeavour Wharf making very slow progress; Right: The fence up after being left with one horizontal attached for over a week

A small feature was created by Whitby in Bloom with work starting around November on part of West Cliff's sunken gardens. A bombed cottage was built to commemorate the centenary of the bombardment of Whitby on 16th December 1914 from a design by local artist John Freeman. An official unveiling took place on the morning of the 16th December to coincide with the centenary of the bombardment of the town.

Above left: A general view of the site; Right: A close-up of the site with work on-going

A day after the official unveiling - From left: General view; The left-hand room (kitchen); The right-hand room (living room); Information board beside the feature

Work was also on-going by December at 31 Coach Road, Sleights, where a detached garage was demolished to make way for a house. By June 2015 the house was almost complete & by September of that year the scaffolding was removed.

Above left: The empty space left by the demolition of a garage at 31 Coach Road, Sleights; Centre: Building built up to ground floor level; Centre right: Work progressing at 31 Coach Road; Right: House almost built

Left: Roof complete by the end of July 2015; Left centre: Scaffolding removed by September; Right centre: Front door now in place; Right: Windows all in

It was around early December that work was started on a new road from the back of Fairfield Way, which would eventually link up with Enterprise Way. It wasn't until May 2015 however that give-way markings were laid for traffic approaching the back of Fairfield Way from the existing access road, replacing the sweeping bend. The road would, when complete, run along a 'corridor' between the two industrial estates. Work came to a halt into Summer of 2015 when concrete barriers were placed at the start of the new section of road with no further progress made to the road itself. Sometime in early 2018 this road was named "Thistle Way" and work on a new steel-framed building was started, which was complete by the end of 2018.

Left: The new link road with work starting from Fairfield Way; Right: The the new road didn't go very far at this stage

Left: The new give-way road markings, also with markings indicating the entrance to Whitby Seafoods on the extreme left;
Left centre & Right centre: The end of the road for the moment, before the road will be built to meet with Enterprise Way;
Right: No more work carried out but concrete barriers placed at the start of the new section of road

Above from left: "Thistle Way" street sign; The new steel-framed building; Building complete

It was at the end of this year that The Shepherd's Purse, health food shop closed down for good. Next door - owned by the same people - The Sanders Yard restaurant was given a refurbishment at this time. The business started in 1973 when Rosie & Pete Budd decided to open their house to the public after much success making patchwork dresses for businesses. They then went on to expand the business, selling whole foods & extending next door into 95 Church Street. The textiles side of the business went by the wayside & so the business moved out of the 94 Church Street premises. The business was passed onto their three Daughters; Michelle, Kim & Sophie. The premises was next occupied by Scarborough business Ancient Warrior, which opened in May 2015, selling gothic items.

Above left: Shepherd's Purse shortly before closing; Right: Ancient Warrior moves in to 95 Church Street

The co-op customer car park was taken over by yet another company, but this time the regulations etc were to be left as they were previously, just with new signage. New ticket machines replaced the old ones with the new company 'Horizon Parking' taking over from Star Parking.