John Wesley, right, and his son Chris work Tuesday on the diner they are building at Mystic Lanes on Route 8 in Middlesex Township.

MIDDLESEX TWP — A restaurant from the 1950s until the 1980s is returning to Route 8.

Paul and Ann’s Diner is under construction in the Mystic Lanes Bowling Center.

John Wesley, who owns the bowling center with his father, David, said the family hopes to open the diner before the new year.

“It was just a little burger and fry joint, and that’s basically what it’s going to be again,” John Wesley said.

He said while the original diner owners, Paul and Ann Papera, are dead, their daughter provided the Wesleys with photographs of the former restaurant.

She told Wesley the Papera family, which included three children, came from California and lived in a camper while the diner was built.

The family later added the bowling alley.

“We have a beautiful picture of the diner without the bowling alley attached,” Wesley said. “It’s going to be the menu cover.”

But Wesley said the diner’s interior will not be retrofitted with 1950s booths and a counter because the family wants the seating area to be as comfortable for customers as possible.

Wesley said, “We’re going to fill it up with tables and booths so people can sit down and relax.”

He said the long-abandoned diner did not have any relics from the diner’s heyday, which helped the Wesleys decide to go with a more modern look and feel.

He said bowlers in the newly remodeled 12-lane bowling center can order food and have it served at their lane.

Mike Spreng, chairman of the township supervisors, recalled eating as a young man at Paul and Ann’s with his father,

“It’s something that I saw go away, and now it’s back again,” Spreng said. “I can’t wait for it to reopen.”