12/3/2018 | Restaurants

North Yorkshire roadside diner finds new lease of life

Diner 168, a roadside restaurant close to the town of Thirsk in North Yorkshire, has been sold through specialist business property adviser, Christie & Co to a local land developer.



Diner 168 is well established having been operating since 1992 and provides capacity for up to 60 covers, plus a 45 space car park. Sitting in a prominent position on the main connecting road between the A19 and the A1, the diner is ideally located, capturing strong levels of passing trade through the busy area and is adjacent to a petrol filling station, which also draws further custom to the site. 

Having started the business 26 years ago, the previous owners bought the land specifically for the diner, and built the site from scratch, managing Diner 168 successfully and profitably since its inception. Now looking to retire, Peter & Sandie Gordon comment, “It is with a heavy heart we say goodbye to our diner – this business has been our focus for the last 27 years. We’ve just welcomed our second grandchild into the world and our want to retire and spend more time with the family has heightened! We’d like to thank our loyal team of staff and equally loyal customers for their help over the years and wish everybody all the very best for the future.”

The site was purchased by Cliff Court Developments, a local developer which specialises in refurbishing sites and letting them to corporate tenants. They plan to undertake a significant refit of the site and have an agreement in place for Starbucks to occupy it once complete. CCD comments, “We have rolled out a number of these schemes now and the response has been great. Diner 168 is in an ideal location – we use this road a lot ourselves and know how busy it gets. We’re sure our tenants will trade very well from the unit once the refurbishment is complete.”

David Cash, Senior Business Agent at Christie Co who handled the sale, comments, “As part of our closed marketing campaign for our clients, we were able to tap into our comprehensive database, gathering interest from a range of potential buyers and ultimately finding the right deal with a multi-site developer who has relationships with a number of end-users, providing a new lease of life for the site. We wish Mr & Mrs Gordon a very happy retirement and are sure that the new owners and tenant will trade well from the site as Peter & Sandie have done for many years.”

Christie & Co sold the freehold interest of Diner 168 off an asking price of £395,000.