The franchise company which flouted planning regulations when it opened Costas on the Gloucester Road and Whiteladies Road has been sold to a Kuwait-based company which earlier this year acquired Little Chef.

According to Insider South West, South West Coffee Ltd has been acquired by Kout Food Group in a “multimillion-pound deal”.

Franchise owners Stuart and Lynn Montgomery, of Westbury-on-Trym, opened the Gloucester Road cafe even though an application to convert it from an office was rejected by Bristol City Council because it would be “harmful to the diversity of the local shopping area”.

Undercover police were also stationed in the new cafe on its first day of opening in 2011. Read about this reporter’s scrape with the law.

The Whiteladies Road Costa, in a former newsagent,  did not have permission for change of use from retail to a cafe.

Kout operates more than 130 restaurants in the Middle East. Its London-based UK subsidiary purchased Little Chef in August.

Smith Cooper Corporate Finance acted for the sellers.

The Montgomerys said: “This is a landmark transaction in the Costa brand, not just an important deal for us personally.”