Saturday, April 26, 2025

New life in store for former Friendly’s on Richmond Road

The Friendly's located at 1803 Richmond Road, seen here in 2014, closed in November 2014. (WYDaily/File photo)
The Friendly’s located at 1803 Richmond Road, seen here in 2014, closed in November 2014. (WYDaily/File photo)

The former Friendly’s location on Richmond Road will finally see a new tenant, and its “not another pancake house.”

A new restaurant has put in a business license application for the former Friendly’s, located at 1803 Richmond Road in York County, the York County Business License Office said.

The application called the business “Not Another Pancake House.”

Facebook posts show the location is being renovated by Five Brothers Pancake and Steakhouse, which closed its former location at 6495 Richmond Road in Lightfoot last September.

The York County property information system shows the property was bought by Diros Inc. in February 2019 for $815,000.

Friendly’s closed in November 2014. It first opened in 1976.

RELATED STORY: Richmond Road Friendly’s Closes Its Doors

Five Brothers Pancake and Steakhouse closed Sept. 4 after 13 years “of love and support,” the restaurant said in a Facebook post.

“But don’t worry we will reopen in a new location, it will just take some time,” the business said.

The restaurant’s sister location is the Astronomical Pancake House.

Since then, the business has made several posts on Facebook, some showing renovations at the former Friendly’s location.

Representatives from Five Brothers were not immediately available to provide additional information.

The York County Business License Office said there was a business license application on file for the 1803 Richmond Road address.

Posts and comments on the Five Brothers Facebook page said renovations are still in progress, but the business is aiming to open sometime in May.

A March 9 update showed the location with new floors, fresh paint and new light fixtures.

Sarah Fearing
Sarah Fearing
Sarah Fearing is the Assistant Editor at WYDaily. Sarah was born in the state of Maine, grew up along the coast, and attended college at the University of Maine at Orono. Sarah left Maine in October 2015 when she was offered a job at a newspaper in West Point, Va. Courts, crime, public safety and civil rights are among Sarah’s favorite topics to cover. She currently covers those topics in Williamsburg, James City County and York County. Sarah has been recognized by other news organizations, state agencies and civic groups for her coverage of a failing fire-rescue system, an aging agriculture industry and lack of oversight in horse rescue groups. In her free time, Sarah enjoys lazing around with her two cats, Salazar and Ruth, drinking copious amounts of coffee and driving places in her white truck.

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