Nearly 55,000 shoppers flocked to Ashford’s improved County Square shopping centre in its first three days leading up to Easter Sunday.

The much anticipated opening last Thursday attracted nearly double the number of shoppers to an average Thursday, pulling in 19,500 compared to 11,000.

Footfall for the opening week was up by almost a quarter compared to the same week last year.

Frances Burt, commercial manager at County Square, said: “The opening day of the newly extended centre was extremely busy and the comments received so far have been positive.

“The entire centre was buzzing over the weekend despite the weather and we are all very pleased with how things are going.”

After a delay with the final signing off from fire officers following teething problems with the CCTV system, Debenhams opened its doors at around 9.45am last Thursday.

The rest of the shops, including Next, River Island, H&M, New Look and Jane Norman, opened at around 11.15am.

After entering Debenhams for the first time, Ellie Davis, of Littlestone, said: “At the moment it’s just fabulous. We really needed something like this in Ashford. You don’t know where to go first in here."