WORK is finally due to get under way on the first phase of refurbishing Harrogate's famous Royal Baths.
Legal agreements have been finalised and the crumbling western block is ready to be demolished to get the project started.
Quarmby Construction has been contracted to carry out a full refurbishment of the main building.
The go-ahead is the culmination of more than five years of discussions and was welcomed by the chairman of the Royal Baths sub-committee, Margaret Ann de Courcey-Bayley.
"I think I would like to be the one wearing the hard hat and driving the bulldozer as we finally see the removal of the western block," she said yesterday.
"It has been an eyesore for such a long time in this up-and- coming retail area."
Following the demolition of the western block work will begin on the refurbishment of the Royal Baths building, which was built back 1897.
Once the work is finished there will be four commercial units, two of which are already let, and an enlarged Turkish baths with a new entrance from Parliament Street.
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