Chapter 10 — The Harrogate Arms

I told Lorraine about my development idea, but that didn’t really interest her. She wanted something she could be involved in too. Her job as a hotel manager lacked adventure for her spirit, and she’d become bored in the position, too, which always signals the end.

During that time, a friend of mine had fallen ill with cancer, and had to undergo a major operation, and he rang me to ask if I’d like to undertake his job at a construction centre for a while. I ended up working there to this day. I was occupied with employment again and occupied, too, with life. The phone rang at work one Tuesday morning. It was Lorraine. ‘I’ll send you a text; go to the link, and tell me what you think?’

The link was to a place called the Harrogate Arms, a traditional pub nestled in some woods in Harrogate. It was very picturesque and had five bedrooms to let.

I met with Lorraine later that day, and we drove down to the place. It was a very old building, and very beautiful, too. Behind the pub there was ample land for caravans, and there was also a barn, which could easily be converted to living quarters. To the east side, there was also land to develop into a number of chalets. The place offered great development opportunities. But there was one problem: I didn’t have a clue about the hotel and catering industry, and Lorraine had designs on changing the name from a pub, developing the property, and rebranding it as The Harlow Carr Hotel, which she did.

The idea was that I could live there and Alex could too, and there’d be ample room for the dogs and the cat. It was adjacent to the woods, and when told by Lorraine that I wouldn’t have to work in the hotel, and that my only duty would be maintenance tasks, and that I could carry on working at the college, it all seemed so real.

The only obstacle now was to sell my house and raise the necessary funds to buy the business, and time was of importance, as we thought someone else could buy it. I checked the ‘quick sale’ market, but the prices were dire, and in the end Rakiya agreed to buy it, and she applied for a mortgage.

In the past mortgages were relatively easy to secure, but after the crash, banks became wary of taking new mortgages into their portfolios, and the restrictions and criteria became almost draconian. In addition, the length of time in the mortgage application seemed interminable, and this only gave rise to deep anxiety in both Lorraine and me.