One of the UK’s largest food halls is to open in North Yorkshire with the creation of more than 60 jobs.

Graham Watson who has owned Crimple garden centre in Harrogate since 2013 has personally invested £4million to create a 20,000 sq ft food hall with a 160-seat restaurant.

Crimple Food Hall will feature more than 50 specialist producers, offer a 12-metre long butcher’s stall, a juice bar, bakery, patisserie, deli and cheese counter, fresh fruit and veg, milk float, food to go, in-store produced ready meals, pizzas, and fresh fish, a horticulture shop, and a grain store.

York Press:

The family-owned business, run by Graham and Tori Watson who are joined in the business by their two daughters, overlooks the Crimple Valley just outside Harrogate town centre.

The design of the building references agricultural buildings through a series of interconnected barn-like forms, defined by the Crimple Valley location. It also made sure the timber-clad building had a highly sustainable agenda.

Graham said: “All the refrigeration equipment has been designed to maximise efficiency and has been fitted with a heat recovery system which produces 1,275 litres of hot water per hour.

"This water provides all the hot water for the whole site. In addition, the engineering plant has been designed to balance the refrigeration requirements across the system resulting in further energy savings.”

The distinctive saw-tooth roof form allows for natural ventilation and also hosts PV panels to feedback power to the grid, while the actuated windows keep the temperature constant without wasting electric on heating and cooling.

Graham added: “Even the shopping bags are edible, although you may prefer to compost them. We have shopping bags made from potatoes.”

Set to open in November 2021, the new Crimple Food Hall and restaurant will create more than 60 jobs in the region.

The restaurant and garden centre will open from 8am to 5pm, and bar until 7pm, with the restaurant and bar to offer late-night dining in 2022. The food hall will open from 8am to 7pm. On Sundays all areas will open from 10am to 4pm.