High Harrogate was the commercial and social centre of the spa with accommodation for spa visitors provided in many of the dwellings lining the stray, which became boarding house during the season.
The social prestige of the area was reinforced by its commercial supremacy. The principal shops lined Regent Parade and Park Parade. Several only opened for the season, and contemporary advertisements stressed their connections with London firms.
A theatre opened in 1788 on a site in Church Square, but Harrogate was not really large enough to give it adequate support and it eventually closed in the 1830’s, being converted into two dwellings which still remain as Mansfield House.
In High Harrogate, too, was the spa’s first church. The chapel of St John was built by public subscription in 1749, on land given by the Duchy of Lancaster, and replaced on the same site in 1831 by the present Christ Church. The materials of the old chapel were bought by the Congregationalists, who re-erected them at the corner of John Street and James Street to form their new Providence chapel.
Harrogate lacked the formal promenades of more developed spas, but in their place was the open common called the Stray, which still gives the town so much of its character. Although the Stray extended as far as Low Harrogate, it was of benefit primarily to High Harrogate. In 1793, a racecourse was laid out here to add to existing amenities.