A new butcher is set to take over a unit that was once a JC Rook and Sons.

Signs for SH House of Meat have been put up at the store in the Mall in Maidstone as it nears its opening date.

The butcher is the latest to call the unit its home since Rooks went into administration in March 2022 closing 11 stores across Kent.

It was taken over in August 2022 by P&R Italian Shop from Tunbridge Wells which also moved into the former Rooks in Sittingbourne.

However, the company sold its two expanded branches, blaming the cost of living crisis.

The store in the Mall then became Eat Italiano in July last year but unexpectedly closed in November.

The new butchers will be the fourth business to take charge of the unit in two years.

The company has been asked for a comment.