Whitby's award-winning French bistro Mademoiselle's forced to shut and reveals holiday lets plan 'as rising costs unviable'

Sue Duck and her partner Richard Hutton run the French bistro Mademoiselle’s on Skinner Street, but have now closed their doors for the final time and have submitted plans to Scarborough Council to convert the ground and lower-ground floors into three holiday lets.

“After much heartfelt deliberation, we have decided not to reopen the bistro,” Ms Duck said. “The ongoing staffing situation is just impossible and the thought of another season facing this problem on a daily basis was just too stressful to contemplate.”

The internal layout of the two-storey building would be changed from a restaurant to create three one-bedroom holiday lets across the ground and lower-ground floors, complimenting two that already exist on the first floor.

No alterations would be made to the building’s exterior, which is Grade II listed in an area with many Georgian and Victorian-era buildings.

Whitby Town Council has officially objected to the plans, raising concerns over the loss of a retail shop on a street that is known for its “diverse and predominantly shopping area” and lack of parking.

They said the plan would also detract from the “character and appearance” of the area.

Ms Duck said they were noticing the “increase in prices of all food and general supplies on a daily basis” and it had “got to the point where we could no longer pass on these costs to our customers.”

“We could sustain this for a period of time, but it was very worrying for the future,” she added.

Mademoiselle’s first opened in 2017, after converting from a shop, with the first-floor holiday accommodation in use since 2008. It won a Tripadvisor Travellers’ Choice Award in 2020 and 2022 and was listed in the Waitrose Good Food Guide in 2020.

The bistro closed at the height of the Covid pandemic and after reopening, Ms Duck decided to explore alternative uses to “give us more options,” adding that the building will be listed for sale “in the very near future”.

“Richard and I have put our absolute heart and souls into creating this business,” she said. “The customer footfall is amazing and if we were to open our doors tomorrow I would have no doubt that we would be full every evening, which makes the situation all the sadder.

“We are very lucky in Whitby that we have a beautiful town that people want to come and visit.”

The plans are out for consultation and can be viewed here.