The iconic Airstream diner at Paintworks

Charlie who operates The Tube Diner at Paintworks is passionate about food having come from a family of foodies, all cooking from a young age. He has catered at many festivals over the years including Glastonbury and managed a successful country pub in West Dorset. Charlie plans to offer a great selection of breakfast and lunch items, pancakes, smoothies & shakes, freshly made sandwiches, salads and daily specials. 

Charlie will be running the diner in association with Bocabar who will be providing logistical back up which we feel is important if this is to remain a viable enterprise going forward.

How it started

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.