As customers say goodbye to Bishop's 4th Street Diner a new owner is in the works

Bishop's 4th Street Diner is a busy place in the morning.
Bishop's 4th Street Diner is a busy place in the morning.

NEWPORT — Just a few days remain before one of the city’s most beloved breakfast spots, Bishop’s 4th Street Diner, closes its doors for good.

“This will be historic Bishop’s 4th Street Diner’s last week of operation. Sunday will be the final day,” co-owner Vicki Bishop wrote in a social media post that was shared to the restaurant’s account. “We’d love to see you if you can make it.”

The owner of the property, Colbea Enterprises LLC, has plans to expand the Shell gas station and construct a Seasons Market on the lot where Bishop’s is now, at 184 Admiral Kalbfus Road. The city’s Zoning Board in June approved the company’s request for a special-use demolition permit.

Since the announcement was made of the impending closure, business has been a bit busier at the diner, co-owner Steve Bishop told The Daily News in a phone conversation Thursday morning.

“A lot of support, a lot of customers have been coming in for the last time because they can’t make it later in the week,” he said. “It’s been very touching.”

Vicki and Steve Bishop lease the land and had hoped to extend their stay through a court injunction. But in March, District Court Judge Pamela Woodcock-Pfeiffer ruled the Bishops must vacate the property by Sept. 1.

In February, the Bishops put up for sale the rare aluminum dining car that houses the restaurant, with an asking price of $150,000. It is one of around 2,000 prefabricated metal roadside diners manufactured by the Jerry O’Mahony Diner Company between 1917 and 1952, and only about 20 of them remain in the United States.

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On Thursday, Steve Bishop said he has a potential buyer lined up, but more time might be needed to remove the diner from its location. He said he and his wife are working with Colbea representatives to come to an arrangement.

“Hopefully it’ll all work out by the end,” he said. “I just pray they don’t make us get it off (the property).”

Customers will miss Bishop's

In November 2021, when Colbea first announced its expansion plans that did not include the diner, The Daily News spoke to a number of customers at Bishop’s, including Navy Lt. Joseph Coxen and wife Maria Sewell.

“Every time I get stationed here, this is where I come,” said Coxen, who at the time was attending an officers' training course at Naval Station Newport. “Everyone in my class comes here. It’s right off the base, it’s affordable and it's fast. Besides that, the food is amazing.”

Steve Bishop owns Bishop's 4th Street Diner in Newport with his wife Vicki.
Steve Bishop owns Bishop's 4th Street Diner in Newport with his wife Vicki.

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“That’s true,” Sewell said. “I just had an amazing pancake, just like your mother would make. I love this place. There is nostalgia to it.”

While the restaurant draws a lot of customers from the nearby Navy base, it’s been a popular spot for locals, too.

“I love Bishop’s,” said Sarah Hudson of Middletown. “This is the friendliest place in Newport when you go out to eat, and the food is always delicious. I would be devastated if they tore it down. So many other restaurants are fancy and uninviting.”

“It has that classic diner feel when you walk in here, but it’s not just a feel — it is a classic,” said Jonah Hudson, Sarah's husband. “We’re from the South, where there are Waffle Houses all around. This is the closest thing to them around here.”

Historic dining car came from Massachusetts

What is now Bishop's diner was located on Route 6 in Swansea, Massachusetts, where it was called the Princeton Diner. That was in the 1950s and 1960s. The diner was moved to Newport in 1967 and was later called the Galley Dinner.

The Princeton Diner, shown in 1971, came to Newport from Swansea, Massachusetts. According to owner Steve Bishop, it is one of only 20 O'Mahoney diners still operating.
The Princeton Diner, shown in 1971, came to Newport from Swansea, Massachusetts. According to owner Steve Bishop, it is one of only 20 O'Mahoney diners still operating.

When Tish Warner bought the restaurant in 1989 and ran it with her daughters, she called it The 4th Street Diner. Newport’s Third Street is just around the corner, but there is no Fourth Street.

Warner owned the diner until 1998, when Bishop and his then wife, Nancy, bought it and modified the name to Bishop’s 4th Street Diner. They operated it together until about 2008. After a divorce, Nancy Bishop ran the diner alone until 2018, when Steve Bishop and his current wife, Vicki, bought the business and took over its operation.

“Sometimes I sit in my office and look out the window and wonder, ‘Where did the years go?’ It’s crazy, all the times I’ve had here,” Steve Bishop said Thursday.

When he wasn’t working at his diner, Steve Bishop held a job cooking at Naval Station Newport, arriving each morning at 3:30 a.m. When asked if he and Vicki would ever operate another diner at a different location, Steve said that’s unlikely as he’ll turn 60 in December.

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“I can’t see going and starting something all over,” he said, though he might pick up another job one or two days as week “just to keep busy.”

When Sunday arrives, the final day of operation, and the Bishops get set to shutter the doors around 1 p.m., they’ll celebrate with the staff.

“We’re all going to be hanging around here,” Steve Bishop said. “We’ll put a little food out. It’ll be fun.”

This article originally appeared on Newport Daily News: Bishop's 4th Street Diner, Newport, RI, to close on Sunday, Aug. 14