An American diner which has stood empty for some time will be demolished next month, as part of plans to rejuvenate a failing Dagenham retail park.

Fatty Arbuckles, in Dagenham Leisure Park, off Cook Road, will make way for a two-storey building providing “active frontage” within the 2,500sq m site, which developers Meadow Partners describe as “under-performing”.

Demolition work is expected to start on Monday, August 3, and continue for three weeks, with details in the planning application suggesting the change could be key for the park’s future growth.

It states: “Demolition and redevelopment of the unit will act as a facilitating development to unlock wider development opportunities at the site.”

Part of a Manchester-based chain, co-founded by former Beatles associate Peter Shotton in 1983, the diner was named after Holllywood director and silent movie star Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle.

The incoming building will join the likes of a VUE cinema and a Mecca bingo hall.

Did you ever eat at Fatty Arbuckles? Will you miss it?

Email mark.shales@archant.co.uk or call 020 8477 3824.