Raglan Chambers, 4 Raglan Street, Harrogate, HG1 1LT 01423 562121 Mon to Fri, 09:00 to 18:00 SRA 8006874
GSB Harrogate formerly Hirst & Capes · Raglan Chambers · since 1817 Call Harrogate 01423 562121
Harrogate, North Yorkshire · since 1817 · formerly Hirst & Capes

A Raglan Street practice with two founding dates, since 1817.

A Harrogate firm inherited from Hirst & Capes in October 2003, and a Leeds firm (Grahame Stowe Bateson LLP) founded in 1981. The two practices have shared one Raglan Chambers address since the acquisition, with a team of eight covering criminal defence, family law, conveyancing, wills and probate from Yorkshire stone walls on the corner of Princes Square.

Call the Harrogate office · 01423 562121 What we do
Since 1817 209 years at Raglan Chambers, between Hirst & Capes and GSB
Duty Solicitor On the Harrogate police-station scheme since 2000
Legal Aid Contract with the Legal Aid Agency since the 1980s
Two regulators SRA recognised body and Law Society conveyancing
Raglan Chambers on Raglan Street, Harrogate: a three-storey stone-and-brick Victorian building with bay windows, dormer roof and a wrought-iron lamp post on the corner of Princes Square.
Raglan Chambers · HG1 1LT Corner of Raglan Street and Princes Square. Two minutes from The Stray.
209 years on Raglan Street under Hirst & Capes and then GSB
1981 Grahame Stowe Bateson founded in Leeds, criminal & family
2003 The October acquisition of Hirst & Capes, Harrogate
8 solicitors at the Raglan Chambers office today
What we do at Harrogate

Four lines of work, taken from one Yorkshire-stone office on Raglan Street.

A general high-street practice with deep criminal-defence credentials, deliberately small, deliberately on one corner. Criminal defence and conveyancing are the spine of the work; family law and the private-client (wills, probate, LPAs) run alongside them, all taken by the same eight solicitors you see at the door.

Criminal defence and motoring

Duty Solicitor Scheme representation across North Yorkshire, Crown Court and Magistrates’ Court advocacy, police-station assistance (day or night, the 07850 581 691 out-of-hours number reaches a duty solicitor), Court Martial, Criminal Appeals, Confiscation Orders under the Proceeds of Crime Act, conspiracy, firearms and fraud. Road-traffic matters are an Andrew Tinning specialism: drink and drug driving, totting-up, exceptional hardship, special-reasons arguments. Legal Aid available subject to the Agency’s financial and merits tests.

Wills, probate and lasting powers of attorney

Will drafting, lasting powers of attorney for property-and-affairs and for health-and-welfare, obtaining probate (a fixed-fee option for straightforward estates), full administration of estates, court of protection deputyships, inheritance disputes and trust law. Richard Crowther LLB supervises. Continuity-of-character work for North Yorkshire families that want the same firm holding the file across the decade, and across the generation.

Family, divorce and child care

Divorce and separation, financial settlements (including pension sharing and second-family arrangements), child arrangements, parental-responsibility disputes, civil-partnership dissolution, care proceedings, child protection, adoption, special guardianship orders, emergency protection orders, domestic-violence injunctions. Helen Doolan heads the department firm-wide; Adam Hall takes care and public-law proceedings from Harrogate. Legal Aid available in qualifying matters.

Residential and commercial conveyancing

Freehold and leasehold purchase, sale, re-mortgage and transfer of equity across Harrogate, Knaresborough, Ripon, Boroughbridge, Wetherby and the wider North Yorkshire catchment. Fee schedule available before instruction; disbursements (searches, Land Registry, CHAPS, ID checks) itemised in writing on day one. Commercial leases and small-business sales handled from the same desk as the residential work.

209 years on Raglan Street

1817, Hirst & Capes opens in Harrogate. 1981, Grahame Stowe Bateson opens in Leeds. 2003, the two firms become one.

The Raglan Street side of this firm has been in continuous practice for over two centuries. Hirst & Capes was founded in the Georgian-era spa town of 1817, the year before John Constable painted Salisbury Cathedral and the year after the Battle of Waterloo, and traded for the next 186 years from Harrogate as a solicitor and (in the Victorian decades) as auctioneer of choice for the town's professional class.

The Leeds side was founded in 1981 as a criminal-defence and family-law practice, expanding through West Yorkshire over the next two decades. The two halves met in October 2003: GSB acquired the Harrogate practice of Hirst & Capes, retained the majority of its staff, and continued trading from Raglan Chambers without missing a Magistrates' Court morning. The bridge between the 19th and the 21st centuries has been a single Raglan Street address.

Today the firm is incorporated as Grahame Stowe Bateson LLP (Companies House OC448194, an LLP from 1 April 2024) and authorised as an SRA recognised body under 8006874. Eight solicitors are based at the Harrogate office. The work the locals still ask for under the name "Hirst & Capes" is the work taken by GSB Harrogate, on the same Yorkshire stone.

“On Tuesday 3rd June 1890 at 3.00pm precisely, the Cairn came under the hammer, an estate known as The Cairn with gardens, tennis courts, stables and a coach house, sold by Messrs Hirst and Capes.” The Cairn Hotel, Harrogate, on its own published history
1817 Hirst & Capes is founded in Harrogate as a Georgian-era spa-town practice serving the professional class of a fashionable destination on the edge of the Yorkshire moors.
1890 On Tuesday 3rd June 1890 at 3.00pm precisely, "Messrs Hirst and Capes" conduct the auction of The Cairn Hotel on Ripon Road, "the estate known as The Cairn, along with gardens, tennis courts, stables and a coach house". The same firm acts as solicitor-auctioneer for much of Victorian Harrogate.
1981 Grahame Stowe Bateson is founded in Leeds, originally specialising in criminal defence and family law for West Yorkshire. Over twenty-two years the firm becomes one of the most-instructed criminal-defence practices in Leeds.
1998 Andrew Tinning qualifies as a solicitor after reading law at University College London and the College of Law at York. One of his earliest cases is a Yorkshire armed-robbery series later featured on Crimewatch.
2000 Andrew joins GSB in Leeds to practise exclusively in crime, remaining on the Duty Solicitor Scheme in Harrogate. The North Yorkshire following he builds becomes the reason the firm opens an office here.
2003 In October 2003 GSB acquires the Harrogate practice of Hirst & Capes. Most of the existing Hirst & Capes staff are retained. The combined firm trades from Raglan Chambers, 4 Raglan Street, from this point on.
2004 Andrew Tinning is made partner.
2023 Helen Doolan is promoted to partner and becomes Head of Family and Child Care firm-wide. Grahame Stowe Bateson LLP is incorporated at Companies House on 14 July (number OC448194) in preparation for the LLP transition.
2024 On 15 February 2024 the Solicitors Regulation Authority authorises Grahame Stowe Bateson LLP as a recognised body under SRA number 8006874. The firm trades as an LLP from 1 April.
2026 209 years since Hirst & Capes opened in Harrogate. 23 years since GSB inherited the Raglan Street address. A team of eight at this office under one Yorkshire-stone roof.
The Harrogate team

Four named partners, eight named solicitors, one Raglan Street door.

The Harrogate office is anchored by the partners below, each leading a distinct line of work and supervising the matters in that line. Continuity of character means the partner you spoke to in October is the partner who reads the file in May.

Andrew Robert Tinning LLB

Partner, Criminal Defence and Motoring SRA-approved manager since 2004

Reads law at University College London and the College of Law at York, qualifies in 1998, joins GSB in Leeds in 2000 to practise exclusively in crime, made partner in 2004. Stays on the Harrogate Duty Solicitor Scheme through the Leeds years and the following he builds in North Yorkshire is one of the reasons the firm opens this office. Particular expertise in road-traffic matters: travels the country to preserve clients’ driving licences.

Richard John Crowther LLB

Partner, Wills & Probate Qualified 2006, joined GSB 2007

Heads the Wills, Probate and Trust work taken from Harrogate. Will drafting, lasting powers of attorney, obtaining probate, full administration of estates, court of protection, inheritance disputes. Many of the wills under administration at this desk were drafted at the same desk by his predecessors twenty or thirty years ago.

Helen Doolan

Partner, Head of Family and Child Care Qualified 2009, partner since October 2023

Promoted to partner in October 2023, Head of the Family and Child Care department firm-wide. Care proceedings, child protection, domestic violence, financial settlements (including pension sharing), arrangements for children. Supported at Harrogate by Adam Hall, Solicitor.

Abbi Whelan

Partner, Crime and Regulatory Qualified 2005

Fraud, Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) confiscation proceedings, conspiracy, firearms offences, health-and-safety and environmental investigations. The Crown Court advocacy you want when the case is bigger than a Magistrates’ morning.

The two-inheritance practice

Crown Court advocacy and Victorian probate. Same desk, same address.

Most Harrogate solicitors descend from one tradition or another. GSB Harrogate descends from two. The 1817 Hirst & Capes private-client lineage handled the wills, probate and conveyancing of the spa town’s professional class for 186 years before the 2003 acquisition. The 1981 Grahame Stowe Bateson criminal-defence lineage brought police-station and Crown Court advocacy with it, and a Duty Solicitor Scheme attendance that Andrew Tinning had personally maintained in Harrogate from 2000 onward. Today the two lines sit at the same Raglan Chambers desk.

  • Hirst & Capes side. Wills, lasting powers of attorney, probate, residential and commercial conveyancing, court of protection, trust and inheritance work. Some of the wills under administration at this office were drafted at this office by predecessor solicitors twenty or thirty years ago.
  • GSB side. Police-station representation under the Duty Solicitor Scheme, Magistrates’ and Crown Court advocacy, road-traffic and motoring matters, fraud and POCA work, Court Martial, Criminal Appeals. Legal Aid contract held since the 1980s.
  • And one bridge. Family law (divorce, financial settlements, child arrangements) and child-care proceedings, sitting between the two lines and drawing supervising partners from both.
Cathcart House on the corner of Raglan Street, Harrogate: a three-storey honey-stone Victorian townhouse with a bay window, balustrade and dormer, the same Yorkshire-stone construction as Raglan Chambers two doors down.
Cathcart House · Raglan Street Yorkshire honey stone, the architectural language of the Harrogate professional quarter.
Make an enquiry · one working day

Tell us what you need. We will respond within one working day.

A short enquiry form for an initial response by telephone or email. Once we understand the matter we can quote a fixed fee where the work supports it, or hourly with an estimated total where it does not. If the matter qualifies for Legal Aid we say so in writing on day one.

  • Initial response within one working day from receipt
  • Written engagement letter before any chargeable work begins
  • Visit Raglan Chambers, 4 Raglan Street, Mon to Fri 09:00 to 18:00
  • Out-of-hours police-station Duty Solicitor: 07850 581 691

Send an enquiry

We reply within one working day on weekdays. Alternatively, telephone the office on 01423 562121 or email harrogate@gsbsolicitors.com directly.

Visit us · Raglan Chambers

On the corner of Raglan Street and Princes Square. The Stray opens up two minutes south.

Raglan Chambers sits in the Victorian professional quarter of central Harrogate, in a block of stone-and-brick period buildings shared with The Tannin Level restaurant, two other long-standing solicitors’ firms and several letting agents. Reception is straight in from the Raglan Street pavement.

Raglan Chambers

4 Raglan Street
Harrogate
HG1 1LT

  • Telephone01423 562121
  • Out of hours07850 581 691
  • Emailharrogate@gsbsolicitors.com
  • HoursMon to Fri, 09:00 to 18:00. Closed Saturday and Sunday.
  • ParkingShort-stay on Raglan Street; long-stay at West Park Stray car park, HG1 5LE (4 min walk).
  • NearestBettys Tea Rooms, Montpellier Quarter (5 min); The Stray (2 min south); Harrogate Magistrates’ Court (12 min).
Raglan Chambers, 4 Raglan Street, HG1 1LT. Corner of Princes Square, two minutes from The Stray. Open in Google Maps ↗
Frequently asked

Five questions we hear most at reception.

What does GSB stand for, and are you the same firm as Hirst & Capes?

GSB stands for Grahame Stowe Bateson, the surnames of the three partners who founded the firm in Leeds in 1981. In October 2003 GSB acquired the Harrogate practice of Hirst & Capes, the Raglan Street solicitors that had been trading on this same street since 1817. The majority of the Hirst & Capes staff were retained at the time and the office has continued to trade from Raglan Chambers ever since. So yes: when locals still ask for "Hirst & Capes", they are asking for us. Two founding dates, one Raglan Street address.

Where do you take instructions from geographically?

Harrogate first, the wider North Yorkshire catchment (Knaresborough, Ripon, Boroughbridge, Wetherby, Pateley Bridge and across the Vale of York), and into the West Yorkshire side of the practice through the other GSB offices in Leeds, Bramley, Middleton and York. Criminal-defence work covers Harrogate Magistrates’ Court and the police-station Duty Solicitor Scheme. Conveyancing and probate is taken from across the county, and the LPA work from anywhere a client can reach us by post or video call.

Do you take Legal Aid work, or only private work?

Both. GSB has held a contract with the Legal Aid Agency since the 1980s and continues to take Legal Aid instructions in criminal defence (including police-station representation, Magistrates’ Court and Crown Court work), in child-care and public-law family matters, and in qualifying private-family matters subject to the Agency’s financial and merits tests. The decision on funding is taken in the first appointment, in writing, before any chargeable work begins.

I have been arrested or asked to attend a voluntary interview. What do I do now?

Telephone the office on 01423 562121 during working hours and ask for the duty solicitor. Outside working hours the out-of-hours number is 07850 581 691 and reaches a duty solicitor directly. Tell the custody sergeant or the interviewing officer you wish to be represented by GSB Harrogate; we will then take instructions and either attend the police station in person or advise by telephone, whichever the matter calls for. There is no charge for the initial police-station representation if the matter is covered by Legal Aid.

Where can I park, and how do I find the office?

Raglan Chambers is on the corner of Raglan Street and Princes Square, in the Victorian professional quarter of central Harrogate. The Stray opens up two minutes south, Station Parade is three minutes east, and Bettys Tea Rooms in the Montpellier Quarter is five minutes on foot. Short-stay on-street parking is available on Raglan Street itself and the nearest long-stay car park is West Park Stray (HG1 5LE), a four-minute walk. Reception is straight in from the Raglan Street pavement.