A pink marble bar at the centre of a new cafe is now firmly in place as bosses prepare to open this Christmas.

Twin brothers Charlie and Billy Banyard have spent eight months transforming part of the former Merchant Chandler building in Ashford into Itaca's which will serve afternoon tea by day, and cocktails by night.

Beams have been coated in gold leaf, chairs have been custom made, and the building's Grade II-listed features have been restored as part of the renovations to bring the new businesses to the town centre.

While the finishing touches are being made, the brothers are aiming to open the bar the week before Christmas.

Charlie said: "My brother and I, with the help of our step-dad Steve, have been doing a lot of the work ourselves, learning lots of new things and keeping a lot of the key components of the building.

"When we originally made up the concept images, there was a lot of pressure on making it look like that, but I think we have got everything we want in place.

"In the day we will be open from 11am to 4pm, for afternoon tea which can be booked online.

"You’ll get tea scones, finger sandwiches and cakes on a tiered pyramid and in the day, we will do soups, posh sausage rolls, croissants, scones, and loads of different types of cakes, most of which will be homemade.

"Then we will open again in the evenings from 6pm onwards where we will have cocktails, prosecco, wine and champagne.

"The pink marble bar is very rare, there are not many places in the world that will have one.

"That took us a year to design, source and build and it also lights up in the evenings to make it vibrant.

"We chose pink because it is bold and unique and it brings out the flavours of what we are trying to do here with being bold."

The pair will start taking bookings for Tuesday, December 20 and will have a soft opening for drinks the Friday and Saturday before.

This is the first cafe and wine bar the brothers have been behind but if all goes well, they hope to open more modelled on Ashford's success.

"We are potentially looking at opening five across the country but we will see how this one goes, Ashford could be our flagship," Charlie added.

During the week, Itaca's will be open until 12pm and will stay open until 2am on Fridays and Saturdays.

As well as the vibrant bar, there will be rose walls and ceilings in the toilets.

Charlie and Billy first came up with the idea while on holiday in the south of France around four years ago.

They saw the word Itaca's etched into an old church while discussing the idea and the name has stuck ever since.

The brothers also have a licence for outdoor seating which they hope to bring out in warmer weather.

They will both manage the venue in North Street alongside six members of staff.

'We are potentially looking at opening five across the country...'

The wine bar will form part of the redevelopment of that stretch of the town centre which is being renamed Draper's Corner as a nod to the street's past.

Under the plans, the adjacent part of the building, which more recently housed The Collection Ashford, will become Fusion multi-cuisine restaurant and takeaway which will serve a variety of foods from fish and chips, Italian pizzas and Indian masalas.

Above the retail units, planning permission for six flats was granted in 2019.

There will be two one-bed apartments, three two-beds and one three-bed, with a separate entrance away from the retail units.

The ex-Evans store next door to Itaca's is also on the market as part of the development.

Computer-generated images show the long-empty unit could be filled by a national brand such as Costa Coffee, although nothing has been confirmed with the company.