Glasgow restaurant group submits plans for new premises on Byres Road

The DRG, founded in the 1980s when Di Maggio’s opened, has asked Glasgow City Council for permission to convert a shop into a restaurant.

Previously Peckham’s, the unit was last used as a convenience store, named Casey’s, but the new plan states there is currently no demand for retail use.

Family-owned DRG (Di Maggio’s Restaurant Group) runs over 20 restaurants in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Newcastle. It operates Cafe Andaluz, Amarone, Anchor Line, Atlantic, The Citizen and Barolo.

“Introduction of a viable restaurant by an experienced applicant who truly understands this local market will bring increased footfall to this section of Byres Road and help transform the immediate area,” the application claims.

The last long-term operator at 124 to 126 Byres Road was Peckham’s, and the unit was bought in 2017 with “a view to continued operation as a delicatessen” but this venture “failed”.

A Chinese supermarket opened in 2019 before the shop was rebranded as Casey’s in 2022. These operations also failed, the plans state, adding the proposal “seeks to bring a unit which has been unable to sustain a retail use since 2017 back into viable use”.

“The DRG family has a thorough and robust understanding of their market,” the application adds. “They have a successful track record of delivering restaurants which cater for the need/demand. 

“This proposal seeks to respond to an identified need in Byres Road within a unit which is detracting from the major town centre.”

The developers have said the shop was marketed for retail use but there “has been no interest and no rental offer made”.