The Plaza Ices is to give away free ice-cream today (Friday) in the build-up to the Newport Carnival Parade; however, it will be their last day of trading from their van in the town.

Gary and Debbie Hall set up their first shop in Cowes High Street 20 years ago and have been operating in St James’s Street for the last 17 years.

They will be giving out free ice-cream between 1pm and 4pm, but confirmed: “We have really enjoyed trading in Newport, and serving you since 2007. It’s been a location where we’ve always had time to have a chat, where we’ve seen children grow up and for them to now bring their children to the ice-cream van.

“We’ve made some lovely friends and we really will miss chatting to members of the community, visitors and our many regulars.

“It’s been a hard decision, but things move on. Newport has seen big changes recently, especially since Covid, and trade there has dropped off for us.

“It is great to see that the town has seen improvements of late, and there are a lot of people and groups working hard to get people to return to the town. We are fortunate that we can move elsewhere, hence we haven’t been there as often as we’d like recently.

“The IW Council and Island Roads have very recently rejigged the square. This has resulted in us having no room to turnaround in the square. We would either have to reverse into our space or out onto the bus lane. This doesn’t tick the boxes for our own risk assessments.

“We have asked the IW council to return our fees, which we are thankful they have agreed to. We have to put public safety first. Our decision to move on will give St James’ Square businesses more room for tables and chairs plus pop-ups.”

However, there is some good news. They added: “From March 2025 we will be back trading at Princes Esplanade in Gurnard, assisting the National Trust at Compton, and also returning to all our usual shows, events, schools, car boot sales and we can also visit around the streets.”

Over the past 20 years, the duo have served many notable people, including Dame Judi Dench and Queen Camilla, as well as other celebrities over the years. Their first paying customer was actress, Celia Imre.

The pair have broken a number of world records over the years, including Debbie becoming the World’s Fastest Scooper, and were part of the world’s longest ice-cream van convoy, with 84 vans in 2018.