Ashford Retail Park’s latest addition, Costa, opened its doors for the first time on Friday to thirsty customers.

About 100 shoppers enjoyed the treats on offer while visiting the retail park in Sevington just off junction 10 of the M20.

Guests included the Mayor of Ashford, Cllr George Koowaree, as well as employees from other Costa coffee stores who came to check it out on it’s opening day.

Speaking about the opening, store manager, Rosa Barlow said: “It was really fun. We had quite a good turnout.”

It is the third Costa Coffee store in the Ashford area and has created nine jobs. The other Costas are located in Ashford High Street and inside Tesco at Park Farm.

The cafe comes as latest part of a major revamp of the Ashford Retail park, where other stores such as B&M and Dreams have recently opened.

Rosa added: “A lot of people are giving us great feedback to us having a store here because there are lots of other stores here.”

Costa plans to continue recruiting over the coming months.

Rosa said: “We are always happy to take in CVs and for people to apply online.”

Costa Coffee is the fastest growing coffee shop chain in the UK, employing 17,000 baristas worldwide.