Peggy Sue Gerron, wants to open a chain of 50s style diners in memory of the Texan musical legend – and she's chosen Scarborough as the location for the first in the world.

The restaurant, called Peggy Sue's Diner, will feature never seen before photos and memorabilia of Buddy Holly who sang about Peggy Sue in two of his hits.

As a close friend of Buddy – who was killed in a plane crash in 1959 aged just 22 – and former wife of his band's drummer Jerry Allison, Peggy Sue has been commemorating the 50th anniversary of Buddy's death.

After writing her memoirs in a book called Whatever Happened to Peggy Sue? the 68-year-old decided to create a diner where she could display her personal pictures and memories of the tragic star.

And after falling in love with Scarborough, Peggy Sue could think of nowhere else to open her first diner.

Peggy Sue said: "A personal friend of mine suggested we open in England, and I started out looking in York. We came for a day trip to Scarborough and I loved it, I think it is such a great place and I love being able to see the sea.

"When I get out of the car in Scarborough I feel good vibrations and that is what rock 'n' roll music is all about. The place is just a whole lot of fun, and that seems to be a natural thing to me.

"I am really excited about opening the diner. I have a lot of pictures of us in the 50s that I wanted to do something with, and I will be putting them all up on the walls. A lot of them have never been seen before.

"Also, all of the food will be right out of Texas, including a lot of Buddy's favourites such a fried okra, and all the furniture will all be shipped over from America."

Peggy Sue is currently looking at locations along the seafront and in the town centre and hopes to have the first diner open in time for September 7 – Buddy's birthday.

Her business partner Mario Agius, whose firm runs the merchandising for Australia's Buddy show, said: "We were always going to open the first diner in England because it has one of the largest Buddy fan bases in the world. When Peggy came to Scarborough she just fell in love with it.

"We are really hoping to get involved with the local community and get as many people on board as we can, running competitions and offering prizes.

"We will probably open a few more in England, and also in Lubbock in Texas, where Buddy and Peggy grew up."