Staff at a desserts parlour are poised to open the doors to customers at the entrance to the town centre.

Kaspa’s Desserts will open within the next week, and franchise holder Clive Priestley says the final touches are being added to the former Pizza Hut restaurant.

It is Mr Priestley’s first Kaspa’s franchise, and he believes the location in the Lower High Street is ideal to attract customers walking into town.

He said: “The team are working very hard to get the place set up as we wanted. It is my first franchise, and hopefully I can open more.

“It is a family run business, I’m working with my wife and my daughter, and we will be here working within the business.”

Mr Priestley, from Maidstone, said doors could open to customers to test how things go during this week, but said the main opening will be within seven days.

He said: “The venue has a real sparkle about it, it’s an exciting environment.

“I think it’s really important to regenerate the lower end of the High Street. It has a great visual presence from the road and is near to Hollywood Bowl and schools.

“I think it’s a prime location, so I can’t understand why it has been empty for three years.”

Pizza Hut shut its restaurant at the beginning of 2013, leaving it empty with whitewashed windows until a new tenant was eventually found.

The closure was soon followed by the exit of Blockbuster across the road, which was briefly converted into a Multisave store until that was closed in 2014 and is now a charity furniture store.

The empty shops prompted fears that the Lower High Street had too many empty shops and units, but last summer the charity DEBRA took on the site for a furniture and homeware store.

At Pizza Hut there were reports that the site would reopen as a motoring themed diner, cafe and bar, but the idea didn’t progress beyond the planning stage.