Brian “Gibbo” Gibbons was sad to be removing his fish and chips business, Gibbos on the Wharf from its home at 2 The Strand, beside the wharf yesterday.

His is one of three businesses that have been given until Monday to be out of the building as demolition starts next week.

Gibbos, The Iceman and Diveworks have been operating out of the century-old building on a monthly lease from the council and were last year given notice to be out by the end of April.

Even as he and daughter Nicole Gibbons and their staff look to the future, setting up the new mobile kitchen they plan to open over the weekend at the wharf, he still lives in hope there can be a stay of execution for the building, which many see as an iconic part of the town’s character.

“People come in here all the time and ask me why it’s being demolished. ‘Why can’t the floodwall go around the back like it does now?’ I just say, ‘I don’t know’.

He said he had contacted several councillors and staff members with an offer to purchase the building for $250,000, which he said would be a less costly option for the council than demolishing it, but had not had a response.

He expressed fears the Whakatāne Sportfishing Club, which plans to move its building onto the site, will not be able to raise the finance for the move and it will have been demolished for no purpose.

“It just makes me sad,” he said.

Meanwhile, a sparkling new caravan has been fitted out to offer the same great fish and chips the business always has, under the name, Gibbos on Wheels.

Ms Gibbons said she plans to open it over the weekend outside the Gibbos on the Wharf shop. After the weekend she expects to be somewhere in the vicinity of the Whakatāne boat ramp.