A high street unit which has been vacant for five years after housing a travel agent for almost four decades will become a new restaurant.

Plans were submitted to Ashford Borough Council (ABC) by Japanese and Korean-inspired food chain Kokoro in October.

The site earmarked is the former town centre TUI branch on the corner of Ashford High Street and Bank Street.

The proposal planned to see the 18th-century and Grade II-listed building become the company’s latest sushi-themed restaurant.

Now, less than two months later, planning officers from ABC have given the green light for the business to join Ashford town centre.

Kokoro was founded in Kingston in June 2010 and currently has 73 branches in the UK - including five others in Kent in Bromley, Canterbury, Maidstone, Sevenoaks and Tunbridge Wells.

Among its sushi offerings are dishes like sashimi but it will also serve hot food such as tofu and chicken katsu curry, teriyaki and noodle and rice dishes alongside sides like gyoza, edamame and salads.

Planning documents submitted with the application say the restaurant "will offer a socio-economic framework for the community" and that "it will enhance and add to the street scene and public offer in the area and benefit the area of Ashford High Street".

Further information adds the ground floor diner will provide between 10 and 30 seats like other Kokoro restaurants.

The 99.5sq m plot will also be open from 11am until 9pm seven days a week, with takeaway options likely to be on the cards once trading.

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The company’s plans for starting work on the site and an opening date have not yet been confirmed.

The unit previously served several travel companies since trading as Lunn Poly in the mid-1980s.

The company though left Ashford in 2002 and ceased operations altogether in November 2005.

This led to the shop becoming a Thomson branch where it remained for more than a decade.

In 2015, TUI, which acquired Thomson several years prior, announced the latter would be dropped from its website, agencies, and aircraft. TUI then began trading at the unit in 2017.

However, the branch moved to County Square Shopping Centre in 2019 to replace the now-closed Thomas Cook Group following the company's liquidation.

It has meant the corner plot has remained vacant ever since.

The announcement comes just days after KentOnline revealed the owners of a new Korean restaurant want to breathe new life into a struggling part of the town centre.

Seoul Sarang opened in New Rents on December 1 in a move bosses insist will increase footfall - despite six shops there due to make way for a 92-bed hotel.