It will be a party atmosphere again in Folkestone as the much anticipated renovated harbour arm opens its gates this weekend.

The new pier has been part of a £3.5 million refurbishment over the past year.

Performances will be on throughout the weekend and food stalls will be open all day on both Saturday and Sunday.

The pier will then open at weekends throughout the summer until the end of October.

Folkestone artist Diane Dever is organising the weekend’s events.

She said: “We’re trying out a few things and we’ve got five pop up food outlets which are in or from the town.

“It’s really about celebrating the work that been done and get ideas about what it can be and share some ideas and have food.

“We want people to come down and tell us what they think.”

From 11am on Saturday there will be family shows by Search Party performing in semaphore and then at noon Acrojou will show their latest production of their acrobatic circus routine.

Music from Shepway DJs will then take the stage to entertain the crowds into the evening.

There will also be temporary food stands from Follies, Crabbie Shack, That Burger (which also serves milkshakes), pie and mash and real ale from The Pullman as well as Dr Legumes offering vegetarian and vegan snacks.

Finally, there is pop-up reconstruction of the Mole Cafe along the corridor which was the famous cafe where soldiers got a final cup of tea before boarding ships to the Western Front during the First World War.

Diane added: “This will be effectively public space and this is something I’m very interested in as an artist.

“The thing about the harbour arm is people will go and see it and I want to see if people will come back.

“Obviously it’s depending on the weather but there’s inside space. It can be raining and you can go and sit inside and watch the weather.”

The pier will be open throughout the summer at weekends from 5pm to 10pm on Fridays and all day Saturdays and Sundays.

But it will close at the end of October until next spring while further permanent installations are completed ready for next summer.