In the bleak midwinter as Gustav Holst might have said. All the shops have been closed down, as the Specials might have said. Long lines patiently await vaccinations at Filey Surgery, shoot it up, as Sigue Sigue Sputnik might have said.

Lockdown Three is clearly taking its toll on your Filey correspondents.

However, closed the town might largely be, but several developments are coming to fruition.

On Belle Vue Street the redevelopment of the site of the long-gone Royal Hotel is rapidly taking shape. An artist’s impression of the completed apartments has appeared and we have to say they look pleasing on the eye. A good addition to the street and definitely an improvement on the sometimes scruffy car park that was there previously. Shame there wasn’t room for a little greenery, but then again someone might have parked a car on it.

Artist’s impression of the Belle Vue Street development

The ever-popular Charlotte’s is having its Vinery completely rebuilt. Fear not, the famous vine has been safely wrapped to protect it from the frost.

Rebuilding of the Vinery at Charlotte’s

The former Youth Club on Brooklands is being converted to ‘luxury apartments’, what else? Scaffolding is up and workmen are making good progress. Five flats and a house will be the end result. Whilst it is great to see a historic building being brought back into use, concerns about the inevitable car parking were dismissed by Scarborough Council. For the time-being the car parking free-for-all will continue, but despite the councils (Filey, Scarborough and North Yorkshire) sticking their collective heads in the sand, the issue will have to be addressed at some point in the near future.

New apartments being developed on Brooklands