A town centre restaurant which opened in a former club could become a nightspot again.

Madisons, in Gabriels Hill, Maidstone, launched at what was Strawberry Moons in 2020, but suddenly shut without warning in August.

Mystery still surrounds the closure of the venue, after it cancelled bookings and returned deposits for people who had made Christmas reservations without explanation.

Now a planning application has gone in to Maidstone council for a change of use of the restaurant and café to a licensed establishment – the same classification it had as Strawberry Moons.

There are no proposed changes to the outside of the building.

A planning statement says: "The building is currently used as a restaurant on the ground floor, and it is proposed to convert it into a licensed establishment to complement the existing use of the upper floors."

The floor above is a café bar and nightclub while there is a roof terrace on the top level.

The change of use proposal was put in on November 28 and is still waiting a decision.

The eatery closed out of the blue on August 1.

According to its TripAdvisor page, Madisons is now permanently closed, while social media channels for the restaurant, which ran a popular bottomless brunch, have been deleted and its website has been set to private.

Calls made to the restaurant in August yielded no luck, with a short voicemail message saying: "We're very sorry but Madisons is unable to take any reservations or bookings at this time."

Dialing the same number now leads to "user busy" or "incorrect number" messages.

The planning agents, Faversham-based Design ID Ltd, was approached for comment but a spokesman said they were unable to disclose further details of the plans.