Sandsend Stores near Whitby reopens as Mary's Sandwich Shop

Sandsend Stores, the heartbeat of this tourism hotspot, is now called Mary’s Sandwich Shop and is run by brothers Gabe and Cameron Hill and their childhood friend, Jack Cooper, the team behind the burger brand Mad Mary’s.

The team, from Whitby, have taken over the shop – owned by the Mulgrave Estate – which had been closed since March following the retirement of previous tenant Alex Miller.

Robert Childerhouse, Mulgrave Estate Manager, said: “We are delighted that the reopening and rebranding of the former Sandsend Stores has proved to be such a success.

"Cameron and Gabe’s vision for Mary’s Sandwich Shop is very much welcomed and supported by the Mulgrave Estate and the local community.

“The estate is proud to be offering new business opportunities to young, up-and-coming and professional entrepreneurs to help sustain a sustainable estate community.

"It’s so important that such a popular seaside resort like Sandsend has a thriving shop to service tourists and residents alike.”

Cameron added: “We’ve been open about two weeks now and everything’s going really well.

"There’s been a lot of local support, seeing faces from when we were running the burger horsebox and meeting a whole lot of people that have just been passing through.

“It’s been great getting to know more people from Sandsend and holidaymakers saying they’ll be back anytime they’re in the area.

"We hope we’ve created somewhere relaxed and fun, where people can come whether they want a night out with friends or just a solo coffee by the seaside.

“It’s just good to see people in and using the building after two months spent refurbishing the place, seeing all things we’ve made actually being used.”

Gabe added: “We got our 5* food hygiene rating, a great recognition of the work we put into updating the building and making it ready for the level of food prep and output we’re hoping to be making over the long term.

"It’s brilliant to now have the space and infrastructure to be able to play around with new recipes and experiment more than I could before in the horsebox.”

Jack Cooper, who has joined Cameron and Gabe as a partner, said the business is growing its drinks offering, with a rotating selection of craft beers and a solid line-up of natural and organic wines.

He added: “We’re also steadily growing the shop offering, with more fresh fruit and veg, great sourdough from our bakers over at Koselig and a range of nice deli treats.

"Overall, it’s just good to be back cooking and making drinks for people again.”

Cameron added: “It feels like people are really enjoying what we’ve done with the place, the atmosphere we’re trying to create and how we’ve expanded beyond just the burgers.

“Everybody’s loving the new daytime sub menu, we’ve got some great coffee from our friends over at Dark Woods, outrageous pastries from our other friends at Koselig, local teas from the Whitby Tea company and so much other good stuff from so many other good suppliers.”

Dougie and Irene Raine started working at Sandsend Store in 1965, before acquiring the lease of the business nine years later, staying there for 34 years.