A charity has confirmed it will open its third shop in Ashford, with outfitting work under way in a shopping centre.

YMCA already has branches in Park Mall and Brookfield Court, however the youth support group will now take over a unit in County Square, filling the ex-BrightHouse site.

A spokeswoman confirmed no closures are being made and that all three shops will run at the same time.

The new store also comes with more jobs, with an online advertisement offering the job of store manager with an £18,408 annual salary.

Stephanie Chapman, YMCA's retail area manager for the south east, said: "The people of Ashford love a good charity shop and they're all incredibly generous with their donations.

"It's because of them that we're able to get a third shop.

"The County Square shop has been in the pipeline for a few months and hopefully we're opening by June.

"People can expect the same sort of set-up and items as you'd normally see in one of our branches."

When asked about the number of volunteers needed to run the new branch, she noted "there's never a minimum or maximum number of volunteers, we'll accept all offers of help" and that "it's entirely up to the volunteers which store they work at".

Crews have already been seen working in the former BrightHouse unit, which sits next to Poundland.

BrightHouse was the UK's largest rent-to-own company but went into administration in March last year.

Its demise was blamed on Covid and non-payments from customers, coming after a number of campaigns against the company over its business practices.

Earlier this week, it was confirmed a temporary jobcentre will fill County Square's former River Island branch, while a pizza takeaway will open in the ex-Warren's Bakery unit.

Read more: All the latest news from Ashford