The iconic diner was part of the original vision for the site at Paintworks. Ashley Nicholson from Verve Properties included a diner in his original sketches which, rather appropriately, started out on the back of a napkin!

Months were spent searching the internet for suitable ideas for the body of the cafe. Plane fuselages, silos and buses were just a few of the options considered. Finally when tracking a converted American school bus, he came across the Airstreams and, like buses, there were not one but three. At that point they were sitting in a field in Pudding Swamp Road, South Carolina, owned by one Billie-Bob Donmar.

From April 2021, the iconic Airstream trailers and terrace are to host an exciting and mouth watering daily street food pop up organised by Bristol Eats (BEATS), along with delicious local coffee from Coffee Club.

The covered terrace and distanced outdoor seating are the perfect spot to sit and eat lunch before we’re able to welcome customers to the diner as restrictions ease. Our aim is to blend the South West’s freshest new street food offerings, along with coffee bar facilities to create a regular street food hub for Bristol at Paintworks.

BEATS started as a true Bristol based street food collective, created by a group of street food traders including Bagel Boys, Kebab Revolution, Meat & Bread, Pizza Monkey, Vee Double Moo, CUPP, Gopals Curry Shack and Viet Vite back in 2013. Since winning the British Street Food Awards, it has morphed into a successful event catering business headed up by Darrin Dart and Heather Simmonds of Viet Vite and Gopals.