VIDEO: Last day of demolition at Harrogate’s Beales store

The final day of demolition is now taking place at the former Beales department store in the centre of Harrogate today (March 31).
The high reach machine on the final day of demolition at the former Beales department store.The high reach machine on the final day of demolition at the former Beales department store.
The high reach machine on the final day of demolition at the former Beales department store.

A high reach machine, costing £1,000 a day, was delivered on Friday and has been working on ripping the last of the building’s shell down.

After that there will be a week of ongoing work loading wagons with debris and the old foundations will pulled out before new ones are put in.

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Building work can then start on the £10m cinema complex, including Everyman Cinema, Byron Burgers, Yo Sushi, and other outlets confirmed for the units.

The high reach machine on the final day of demolition at the former Beales department store.The high reach machine on the final day of demolition at the former Beales department store.
The high reach machine on the final day of demolition at the former Beales department store.

This will be complete by the end of January 2016, with the steel frame going up this summer.

Site manager Geoff Colman said: “We were working all weekend to get a good kick at it, and the machine costs £1,000 a day so you get rid of it as quick as you can.

“And with the wind the quicker it is down the better.”

“The layout of the new store is pretty much the same footprint as it was before.”

The high reach machine on the final day of demolition at the former Beales department store.The high reach machine on the final day of demolition at the former Beales department store.
The high reach machine on the final day of demolition at the former Beales department store.
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As well as the cinema and several restaurants in the new complex, there will be three residential units on the third floor.

Demolition work, by contractors Spring and Co and demolition firm F Hardwick, started on the site in early March.

For two weeks a robotic machine separated two parts of the building, one of which has been retained.

The team has now been on site for about 25 weeks, having first put up boards around the site and soft-stripping inside the building.

The high reach machine on the final day of demolition at the former Beales department store.The high reach machine on the final day of demolition at the former Beales department store.
The high reach machine on the final day of demolition at the former Beales department store.
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Planning permission for the new £10m complex, to house a four-screen arthouse cinema along with nine restaurants or bars, was unanimously passed last September, when the 1950s Beales building shut its doors.

French brasserie Côte Bistro and Argentinean restaurant CAU have also confirmed that they will take units in the complex.