New owners have been found for Ashford's County Square shopping centre – just as H&M and Next confirm they are BOTH leaving for good.

The shock double blow is set to create a gaping hole at the mall, which was put on the market for £13.5m last year.

But the new team in charge, who are keeping their identity under wraps, say they are committed to improving the site and are prepared to put in the time and investment needed to do so.

Omid Rezaei, of London-based real estate investment consultants Landswood de Coy, which is working on behalf of the owners, says food and drink outlets or office space could fill part of the closure-hit extension.

H&M and Next are to follow Debenhams and River Island in leaving the second phase of the centre, which cost £60m and opened in 2008.

Mr Rezaei told KentOnline's sister title the Kentish Express: “Our client is looking at different options – it is in no one’s interest for it to be sitting empty.

“It is a volatile market and there’s a lot of things that are outside their control.

“There is no definite answer – they have got to find the right tenants and work with them; they are looking at a number of possibilities and it depends on demand.”

Mr Rezaei ruled out any residential element at County Square, saying the Park Mall shopping centre – which Ashford Borough Council has earmarked for development in its long-term plans – is “better placed” for such a project.

He said bosses are still keen to find big-name retailers to fill the empty units, but would consider splitting up the three-storey former Debenhams to cater for smaller firms.

Any office space could have its own entrance, potentially from Elwick Road, while the possibility of adding food and drink outlets to the centre “is being explored”.

Mr Rezaei added: “A lot of centres are becoming destinations – Elwick Place on the other side of the road has done well and there is no reason why that can’t continue.

“The vibrancy you get with food and leisure is definitely something to explore.

“But it is not something that will happen this week or overnight and our clients are very well aware of the wider market conditions.”

Mr Rezaei says the new owners “did try to retain Next as best they could, but unfortunately couldn’t convince them to stay”.

Although an exact date has yet to be revealed, Next says its two-storey shop will be shutting “around autumn time”.

“We can confirm that our County Square store will be closing,” a spokesman said.

“Unfortunately we can’t disclose any more information at this time.”

Last week, H&M confirmed it will be leaving County Square this Sunday.

It neighbours Next and both stores face the hole left by Debenhams, which pulled out of the centre in January 2020.

River Island also quit the mall in the same year, and has since been replaced by a Jobcentre.

A spokesman for ABC said the authority “has no control over who decides to move into the centre”.

“With the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic speeding up the trend of shoppers transitioning to online retail, and having had a considerable impact on town centres across the country, Ashford is feeling the effects of these changes like many towns,” he said.

“The news about H&M and Next are big blows for the town centre, and the council will be working with the new owners to seek to retain existing stores and work to attract new businesses into the centre as they bring forward their plans.”

'People shouldn’t assume we’re going to go back to the high streets or shopping malls of the 1990s...'

The spokesman added that the council is not responsible for setting business rates, but is “supporting town centre businesses by offering discounted and free parking”.

Following the closure announcements, Ashford MP Damian Green says the loss of the stores “is a blow and there’s no point trying to disguise it”.

“It just shows generally the state of the high street around the country – it is incredibly difficult even for big, successful chains to make money so they’re all retrenching,” he said.

“I think it shows that the long-term future will be a small number of big, anchor stores and a lot of local destinations, either specialist stores or entertainment and food and drink venues.

“The mix is going to change on the high street and in places like County Square.

“You have got to find things people can only do out of their own homes these days, because more and more people do their food shopping from home and increasingly people do clothes shopping as well.

“You have got to find reasons for people to actually physically turn up.

“It is all very sad and, like everyone else, I hate seeing empty shops in shopping malls or on the high street.

“There are parts of County Square that are working perfectly well and are pretty successful so there’s clearly enough demand and enough footfall in Ashford to keep it going.

“It’s just a question of getting the right mix.

“People shouldn’t just assume that at some stage we’re going to go back to the high streets or shopping malls of the 1990s.”

The Kentish Express asked Primark to respond to the continued speculation it could fill the abandoned Debenhams.

A spokeswoman said: “We continually review opportunities for expansion of the Primark business however, as you’d expect, we don’t comment on speculation about where or when we might open our next stores.”

For a long-read archive feature looking back at the history of County Square, click here