Celebrating 30 years of one of Yorkshire's most remarkable arts spaces and it's based in Pateley Bridge

Opened in 1992 by Harrogate Borough Council and based in Pateley Bridge, King Street Workshops are housed in the building that was once the Workhouse; where the poor and the homeless of the town lived.

A creative workspace for small and artistic businesses in the town, among the skilled people that call it home is award-winning Yorkshire sculptor, Joseph Hayton.

The highly-respected stone carver and sculptor is so enamoured with Kings Street, he moved into the largest studio in 2020 having already been based there the best part of a decade.

He says the collection of small units at Kings Street comprising a mix of studios, galleries and design spaces for working creative artists in the Nidderdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, has a unique role to play.

"The King Street workshops are great because they offer the visitor the unique experience of meeting the artist and maker, as well as seeing some of their finished work,” said Joseph who won the Natural Stone Awards in 2020.

"You can visit the artists working space to see how they create their work and talk through their creative process.”

Hayton, who is renowned for winning a public art commission in 2014 to create Pillars Past, three monumental figures amid the outdoors beauty of the Dales near The Old Railway Turntable, has his own gallery in his unit at King Street Workshops where his bronze sculptures and stone carvings are on display and for sale.

A modern sculptor who embraces traditional techniques but uses processes and practices and even some of the tools, Michelangelo would have been familiar with, it’s this aspect of the workshops, he adds, that is part of the beauty of Kings Street.

"The site has been a dedicated home to arts and crafts for more than 30 years now,” said Joseph Hayton.

"We intend to hold a special celebration June 1-9 where we will demonstrate our skills and show off new work to mark the anniversary.”