Kentish Express Ashford & District
Steakhouse set for summer opening
A Miller & Carter steakhouse catering for 170 diners is to open on the site of a former social club after plans were finally approved.
The restaurant will be built on scrubland off Canterbury Road in Kennington between the Holiday Inn hotel and M20.
Construction is set to begin in January after Ashford Borough Council (ABC) waved through the scheme earlier this month - 20 months after the planning application was submitted.
Now bosses at the Mitchells and Butlers company - who already operate Harvester and Toby Carvery restaurants alongside their Miller & Carter steakhouses - hope to open the restaurant next summer.
It is set to be open seven days a week between 8am and 12.30am, employing between 50 and 60 staff on the site of the former Houchin sports and social club.
Property developer Richard Gillam, who bought the scrubland four years ago and applied for the planning permission, says he is delighted the scheme can now go ahead.
“We made the application in January 2018, so it’s been the best part of 20 months,” he said.
“The planning officer who was about to consent it left the council, which delayed it.
“The delay was unnecessary, but we have got there in the end.
“We could be ready to start construction in November or December, but we will go for January and plan to open in summer 2020 - Miller & Carter is very keen to open it.”
Last year, the discovery of protected dormice and slow worms had threatened to stop the development, but Kent County Council’s ecological advice service said a new mitigation strategy submitted by the applicant was “robust” and the authority did not object to it.
Mr Gillam, who lives in Shoreham-by-Sea, says he has built a new home for the slow worms and planted a hedge which it is hoped will lead the dormice from their current home to a new habitat away from the construction site.
When built, the restaurant will feature a 66-space car park, a bar, and seating for 172 diners.
The two-storey building, which will feature toilets and staff facilities above the restaurant, will be built at a slight angle facing traffic travelling towards the town centre from Kennington.
A new entrance will be installed off the A28 for drivers to access the restaurant, with work expected to start on the junction this week.
Mr Gillam, who does not own the former playing field behind the plot, had previously spoken to Starbucks and Greggs about opening a site next to the steakhouse, but is concentrating on getting the restaurant built first instead.
Mitchells and Butlers already operates about 1,700 restaurants and pubs across the country, and is one of the largest employers in the UK with more than 44,000 staff on its books.
Its steak is aged on the bone for a minimum of seven days, then matured for a further 21.
The company has a number of steakhouses across the country, including in Sheffield, Edinburgh and Exeter.