Empty lingerie shop will reopen, owners insist

Couple will also have outlet at new store for independent traders

An Ashford lingerie shop has been emptied and to-let signs have been hung in its windows – but the owners insist they will be reopening in the near future.

Xanadu, in the High Street, is shut and all the stock has disappeared from inside the shop.

But Julian Silver, husband of Jacqui Singer, who owns the shop, said it will be business as usual very soon.

He said: “No, we are not closing. We have currently shut the High Street store but it will be reopening in the near future, in the next couple of weeks.

“It’s a very complicated story, but Xanadu will be reopening. It is closed due to an ongoing, internal dispute.”

Mr Silver said they were also looking forward to opening their next venture in the former Merchant Chandler building on the corner of North Street.

The shop, which is owned by the Arcadia retail group, has been closed since April 2014 but is set to receive a new lease of life as a department store for independent traders.

Decorators have been working both inside and outside the building for months, but Mr Silver said they have had their work cut out.

He said: “We are hoping it will be open in early November but have been held up because of building work.

“We have had to do signifi- cantly more than we originally anticipated and it’s taken much longer than we thought.

“But all the new bathrooms are going in at the moment and it’s getting there.”

Mr Silver explained the shop will be selling lingerie “but not necessarily seductive stuff” along with clothing, bags and shoes.

He added: “Eventually we want to put a restaurant in there.

“The very front part of the building that is above Evans, that used to be a restaurant so we hope to turn it back into one.

“We are doing a tremendous amount of work to it and we get lots of people passing and saying they are pleased we are doing something with the building.”

‘It’s a very complicated story. It is closed due to an ongoing, internal dispute’

Xanadu, in Ashford High Street, has temporarily closed

The former Merchant Chandler shop in North Street, Ashford