Yorkshire’s hospitality industry is an important part of the economy - Carl Les
Every year at Christmas time a good friend very generously gives us a voucher for a tasting meal at the pan-Asian restaurant “88” at Grantley Hall, the luxury hotel and multiple restaurants complex outside Ripon.
I came across Grantley Hall for the first time as a newly elected County Councillor in the Tony Blair years when his government introduced so-called Best Value reviews where councils, at that time free to spend and raise council tax with no caps, were put under an obligation to look at selected services in a heavily prescribed way.
Many councils, especially Conservative ones, were doing this anyway, certainly North Yorkshire County Council was, being led at the time by a retired accountant and auditor, although not completely in the required reporting style that New Labour introduced. As the criteria was not necessarily the cheapest, but ‘best’, many reviews didn’t save any money, often the concluding recommendation could be paraphrased as ‘we`re doing quite a good job but with more money we could do better’.
The Grantley Hall review was different. I was one of the review team made up of a small number of Members, ably assisted by a young member of the finance team who has gone on to senior roles in the council’s administration.
Signed over to NYCC from the West Riding of Yorkshire Council in 1974 in an earlier version of local government reorganisation, this former stately home was situated in a lovely valley on the River Skell a few miles outside Ripon on the road to Pateley Bridge. It was being used as a mainly community and occasional corporate training facility, including overnight accommodation. Having suffered from years of corporate cost cutting, not only was the roof leaking, but the single glazed windows were letting cold air in and warm air and cash out at an alarming rate.
It was serving a purpose, but not the core purpose of the Council, so the recommendation was to dispose of not only the asset but especially the incumbent financial liability. This we did, although with some resistance from some who had more of an emotional rather than a financial view of the aged property. After a number of iterations, it was acquired by Valeria Sykes who has invested heavily in it and transformed it into the quality facility it is now.
I mention Restaurant 88, not because it is an excellent restaurant which it undoubtedly is. Other excellent restaurants are available, as they say. In fact we are fortunate in North Yorkshire that we can eat out at quality restaurants and pubs every night of the year, if we could afford to, without having to visit the same one twice.
That is a real credit to our hospitality industry. I believe we have more Michelin stars outside London than any other recognisable area. The reason to mention 88, is to focus on the talent, the training and the abounding enthusiasm of the young staff who work there.
There is a real buzz about them, a buzz that I used to enjoy myself in working in a business that employed similar cohorts of young people starting out on that great adventure into the world of work.
Challenging but exciting at the same time. Being on time, smart, polite, cheerful, enthusiastic to be part of a team but individually earning your own money for the first time. It’s said that one in three Americans have worked in a McDonalds or similar at some time in their life, and in the Leeming Bar area there weren’t many families especially in the 60s and 70s whose young members hadn’t worked a summer or just weekends at ‘the motel’ or the pie factory. So congratulations to Mrs Sykes whose ambition and drive to create a world class hotel is clearly filtering down into the enthusiasm in her young team.
I was disappointed to have to turn down an invitation, for the second year running, from Philip Bolson, a veteran in the hospitality world, to attend the graduation of the annual cohort of the Hospitality Junior Board, this year the third time this event has been held.
Hosted by the University of York St John, this initiative is about training and developing young managers for the hospitality sector, a core sector in the economy of our region, recognising that young managers are the future of the industry as they will be the place shapers in what is to come.
All sectors of the economy are facing tough times. We must prepare for the future, try to shape it rather than have it shape us. As one of the Kennedys said, “Don`t ask if change is coming. Ask rather how you can influence that change”.
I hear a lot at the council meetings of the Yorkshire Agricultural Society about ‘Future Farmers’. This hospitality junior board is a contribution to another major part of our economic landscape in North Yorkshire. I’m very proud that North Yorkshire Council, amongst many others, is a sponsor of this excellent initiative.
Coun Carl Les is the leader of North Yorkshire Council.