KENT'S newest visitor attraction proved so popular it had to turn people away just two days after opening.

The £62 million Dickens World at Chatham Maritime opened on Friday after a six-week delay. But on Sunday afternoon the rainy Bank Holiday weather helped create a massive queue which snaked around the building.

Bosses closed the queue at 3.30pm so that those already waiting to get in would be able to do so before the last entry time of 5pm.

Even so, not everyone was happy. One woman, who didn’t want to be named said: “We waited three hours in the pouring rain and were then turned away."

The complex is themed around the life, books and times of Charles Dickens who spent much of his life in Kent and based many of his novels on the county.

It features one of Europe's largest dark boat rides, the haunted house of Ebenezer Scrooge, a Victorian schoolroom and 4D high definition show and Fagin's Den.

Animatronics and a Victorian Music Hall will open in August.

See Friday’s Medway Messenger for full report.