THE former owners of a restaurant and garden centre have given a heartfelt farewell to their customers but revealed future plans to expand their operation elsewhere.

In a surprise move, it was announced that the Rowan Tree restaurant and garden centre on the A78 between Seamill and Ardrossan had been sold by David Castelvecchi and Abi Cox after 20 years.

The former Little Chef premises will be taken over by GRO Coffee owner and founder Gordon Rennie, adding to their existing portfolio which includes Irvine and Ayr.

A £1.5 million investment is planned, with hopes for it to re-open next summer to crowds of eager customers.

David and Abi have revealed that it is not the end of their business, which is now being extended into their Haylie Stores business in Largs.

The pair said: "On Sunday, we closed our doors to the public for the final time. 

"We have instructed Sweeney Kincaid in Glasgow to sell all goods, equipment, stock etc by online auction.

"We now have 20 plus years of kitchen equipment, Christmas and Halloween stuff to sort through

"We are racing the clock now, so we wasted no time last night and got stuck straight in sorting everything into lots. Our team have done a great job helping us today.

"It's good news all round. Gro is expanding into another premises and we are also expanding into bigger premises, so it is a win, win for everyone."

In recent years, land owner Billy Kirkwood had been working on a garden centre project with Rowan Tree and Haylie Stores businessman David.

However, plans were shelved in early 2023 with the greenfield site, situated close to Fairlie Bowling Club, put back out on the market with an asking price of offers over £295,000.