Waterstones has revealed when it will return to a closure-hit shopping centre - six months after it left the site.

The bookshop pulled out of Ashford’s County Square in June having occupied a spot next to Superdrug for more than a decade.

But now bosses have announced the chain will return on Friday, December 6.

It will fill the former Jobcentre Plus and River Island unit two doors down from its old spot.

In a statement, a County Square spokesman said: “We are thrilled to announce Waterstones will be opening its doors on Friday, December 6 just in time for your Christmas shopping.”

Meanwhile, the bookshop’s former unit will be taken over by Specsavers.

The opticians will move from its current spot next to EE into the vacant space on Monday, December 2.

New signs have been put up, and workers are inside kitting out the unit.

Recent closures at County Square include The Body Shop, which shut in February, and Peacocks, which left a month later.

Earlier this year, KentOnline revealed how the centre’s multimillion-pound extension could be turned into 200 homes.

County Square’s owners put the site forward in a “call for sites” planning process led by Ashford Borough Council to identify suitable building plots.

It remains unclear exactly what the scheme will involve, but Q+A Planning Ltd, which put together the plan on behalf of the site’s owners, says it is “being promoted for a mixed-use development” that would take three years to complete.

The new Waterstones unit is not set to be included in the scheme.