'Eyesore' pizza shop gutted by fire sold

Pizza Time in Ferryhill town centre has remained in a bad state since a fire in October 2022

A former pizza shop has been sold to a catering company, almost three years after it was gutted in a fire.

Pizza Time on Darlington Road, in Ferryhill, County Durham, has stood empty since the blaze, with locals describing the town centre building as an "eyesore" with its smashed and boarded-up windows.

Manager Sam Hassanien said he had been unable to afford to repair the shop since the fire in October 2022.

He said he had sold the property to Sami and Sons, a Middlesbrough-based business, on Tuesday, which he said hoped to turn it into a KFC.

"The insurance we had has been refusing to pay and it was going to cost a fortune to repair," he said.

Pizza Time had been trying to slowly improve the situation, with 10 skips of waste removed.

Mr Hassanien said: "I know people in the village have been complaining and I had been employing people to start doing it up.

"The new owners have money to do that."

'Residents' concerns'

Reform UK's Joe Quinn said he and fellow councillor Paul Mountford had been in meetings with council officials last week to explore ways to improve the property.

"We both understand it's an eyesore and we are working as hard as we can to get it over the line," he said.

Julie Anson, Durham County Council's community economic development manager, said discussions had been held with the owners about a targeted grant, which could be used to install a new shop front.

"We understand the concerns of residents around the building," she said.

She said while the council did "not have powers" to bring the site back into use, its community economic development team had been working with the owner.

The council said it hoped to make the building "more attractive" to a new retail business and bring the empty unit back into use, while creating job opportunities.