When the first venues at the Riverside development in Canterbury opened two years ago, it was hoped this could mark the start of a new era for the city’s entertainment offering.

With newly built flats for 500 students just yards away and another 189 affordable houses nearby, you would hope the leisure complex - built at a cost of £23 million to the taxpayer - would now be bustling.

But when I visited on a mild Friday evening during Freshers Week, I was disappointed by how empty it was.

Boom Battle Bar, possibly the main attraction now, wasn’t packed – though they did actually have people laughing and joking inside which, combined with loud music, led to an occasionally raucous atmosphere.

It was where I decided to set up camp, enjoying a few drinks with friends before heading out into Canterbury city centre… where I found all the students.

A couple I spoke to who live in the student accommodation didn’t even seem to really know what was on their doorstep.

The Riverside’s outdoor cinema, which was brought in this year, had a decent-sized crowd of a wide variety of ages. The now-20-year-old cult classic Napoleon Dynamite was the film being shown.

But the other units seemed to be struggling to attract people.

I’d have thought there would be more effort to encourage young people enjoying life in Canterbury for the first time to make the 30-second walk down from their flats to the area.

Perhaps the issue is that Riverside was never designed as a student-focused project. The leisure complex, built on a former coach park and Serco depot off Sturry Road, was intended to breathe new life into the Kingsmead area of the city.

Back in 2018, the city council said Canterbury had been “crying out for this style of development for a very long time”.

Bosses hoped the attraction would encourage tourists to increase their stay in the city by walking along The King’s Mile or river to reach the development.

But judging by my visit, Riverside is not yet fulfilling this potential.

I returned on a Wednesday evening - a more traditional student night out - but it was even more empty.

So what’s missing from this ambitious and tidy regeneration scheme?

Variety is one. There are three places to eat; Boom Battle Bar, which isn’t really a restaurant; Sekkoya, which received a less-than-glowing review from The Guardian’s Grace Dent; and The Korean Cowgirl.

Don’t get me wrong, I really love the food at the latter – but it’s not a cheap meal, with burgers starting from £11 and milkshakes costing £10.

While there are meant to be 12 units all occupied offering a wide choice of food, drink and entertainment, there were only seven open – one of which is the five-screen Curzon cinema.

The council will point to nine of the units being rented out, with the remaining three in the process of being taken over by tenants unknown.

The businesses facing out towards Sturry Road also seem to have contrasting fortunes.

Fireaway Pizza was a hive of activity but only among food delivery drivers, while Asian food store Starry Mart was ticking over - but gaming business Sidequest appeared very quiet.

As for the Curzon, for the couple of hours I was there, it welcomed a very gentle trickle of customers rather than floods of crowds.

I just don’t think there is currently the sort of attractions students or those living in affordable housing can engage with on a regular enough basis.

The Northgate ward is one of the city’s poorest areas with a higher-than-average level of deprivation. For many, expensive nights out aren’t a priority.

Two beers and a cider in Boom cost £18.50 – not awful but closer to the city are two Wetherspoon pubs where it’ll be an awful lot cheaper.

Parking and location are also big issues.

While Riverside is walkable from the city centre, there are lots of other restaurants that might entice you to stop on the way.

Furthermore, if you wanted to catch the train and walk there, it would take 14 minutes from Canterbury West and 22 minutes from East. So the development needs to provide a strong pull.

I also suspect the council’s parking charges can be a bit of a turn-off, with £2.70 an hour at the underground car park steep in comparison to other facilities in Kent – i.e Bluewater or Westwood Cross, both of which are free.

I wondered that Friday: “If it’s not busy tonight of all nights, when will it ever really get going?”

It has often felt like one step forward, two steps back for Riverside.

Craft beer specialist Brewdog was set to fill one of the units but pulled out – leaving a noticeable gap in what the area could offer from the start.

Then bosses came close to filling all of the units before both the excellent but underused Riverside Social and Heavenly Desserts had to shut – the latter falling victim to a suspected arson attack.

Workers in the food and drink hall admitted to me in January it wasn’t as busy as they hoped, and within days it closed for “decorative work and staff training”. It has not yet reopened.

I wish I could believe that’s all it was, but in any case, there’s no sign of life anymore.

The shame is they’ve actually done quite impressive work to transform the Kingsmead site from a former rubbish depot into an attractive destination.

In her Sekkoya review, Grace Dent may have said “only a non-sentient being” could describe Riverside as a “vibrant new lifestyle district” when it’s actually just an “elevated patch of concrete” but I don’t think that’s fair.

Yes, it could do with a bit of colour, a few flowers maybe.

I think the real question is has it been a big waste of money? The eye-watering cost certainly attracted critics.

The cost to the council isn’t anywhere near as dramatic as the £115 million valuation of the whole site, but even £23 million is a large amount to be spending.

This matters because, as we reported earlier this year, Canterbury City Council has the highest level of debt of all district and borough councils in Kent at £157 million, equivalent to £1,007 per person.

Since 2010, local authorities have seen government grant funding reduced by 40% in real terms. In turn, they have been encouraged to make commercial investments - like in Riverside and the Whitefriars shopping complex in Canterbury - to provide an alternative source of income.

But MPs on the Public Accounts Committee warned high levels of council debt will see residents face an “extreme and long-lasting” impact on local services.

We also revealed last year how the council had missed out on £743,000 of potential rental income due to unfilled units at Riverside and Whitefriars.

A similar taxpayer-funded regeneration project in Ashford - the £75 million Elwick Place complex - has also struggled, with just four businesses now remaining.

However, city council bosses remain confident investing in Riverside will pay off, with the development “now returning a net income in respect of revenue”.

A spokesperson said: “Trade continues to build consistently at Riverside, and we also now have solicitors instructed on two new lettings and a further unit under offer.

“With the introduction of the outdoor cinema this year and the scheme continuing to grow and establish itself as part of the city's leisure offer, we can only see it becoming more successful over time.

“Riverside is a major regeneration project for the city that has generally had the support of residents along the way. We are very pleased to see it nearing completion.

“All the businesses are there for everyone to use and enjoy. Ultimately it will be for residents to decide whether they think this has been a project that was worth the investment and has improved the leisure offer in the city.”