It's the pit stop of choice for many a hungry biker but its celebrity clientèle has helped it earn a star-studded reputation among film-makers.

Nell's Cafe in Gravesend is set to have a starring role on the big screen once again.

It's prime location, just off the A2 at Marling Cross, has made the diner a firm favourite among touring bikers and hungry travellers.

But in recent years the greasy spoon has taken on a legion of new celebrity fans by way of its reputation as a filming location for major TV series including BBC's Killing Eve and Idris Elba's comedy In The Long Run .

Last Friday the cafe welcomed production teams from Sky to shoot scenes for the second series of hit drama Temple .

It stars Hollywood actor Mark Strong, who plays a highly respected surgeon, running an illegal medical clinic to treat criminals and other desperate patients who refuse help.

The cafe's current owner, Sandra Hassan, 62, has been running the business for the last four years and welcomed the crew who shot scenes until the early hours.

"They were here until 1 o'clock in the morning," she said.

"He was lovely that Mark Strong. He actually sent a video to my granddaughter.

"She couldn't take her GCSEs and missed out on her prom. He actually filmed a video and sent it to her."

The cafe boss was even more excited to see her diner lit up red "like Blackpool" by crew members as part of the shoot.

She said: "When it comes on the TV you are actually going to see its Nell's cafe because they lit all the signs up."

Nell's has been serving up bulging breakfasts to locals for more than 70 years and is no stranger to the big screen.

Its burgeoning reputation as a filming location has seen people travel from far and wide to pull up a seat at the table where major series like Killing Eve are shot.

But Sandra says while its celebrity calling is a welcome boost and trade is beginning to pick up once again, sometimes she has to say no to certain productions.

"Sometimes I have to turn them down. I have to think of my customers," she said.

The restaurant was closed for just under four months during the the coronavirus lockdown and in that time has undergone a refurbishment inside.

Sandra said: "We were meant to have Paloma Faith here just before lockdown. But then everything just stopped."

Earlier this year the cafe featured as part of a special version of ITV's Long Lost Family in which the identity of Gravesend's Oliver Twist Simon Jeffery was revealed .

The 56-year-old lorry driver was abandoned inside a corned beef box outside the Railway Tavern, now a McDonald's restaurant in Greenhithe in 1963.

TV presenter Davina McCall met with Simon at the cafe to tell him the news about his parents and to share the information discovered about his birth family.

But so impressed with the set up was the former Big Brother host she decided to return three days later, according to Sandra.

She said: "She was lovely and she came back three days later for breakfast. We get quite a few celebrities in here but we let them get on."

If you're wondering what she had, it was the smoked salmon.

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