Traders have been left in the lurch after the company which ran a food hall at the Royal Victoria Place shopping mall in Tunbridge Wells has been threatened with closure.

According to Companies House, Central Market Ltd, which rented space in Ely Court, is to be dissolved.

Its sole director, businessman Joan Franciso Ferras Quintero, 78, has been given two months to argue why his company should not be struck off. In its last published accounts up to January 31, 2020, it owed £127,766.

The news has come as a blow to shoppers who had hoped the venture, which was launched in October 2019, would breathe new life into an area of the shopping centre in Calverley Road which had been left empty for years.

Among the shops which had set up home there were The Argentinian Grill, Wok and Sushi, Bubble Waffles and Crepes, Taste Wells, Frankie and Fries, Staks Souvlaki Bar, Slice'd Pizza, Goupie and Dog House.

A spokesman for Royal Victoria Place said: "We are aware as of January 4 Central Market Ltd has been given notice to dissolve by Companies House.

"We're working with the vendors and will update on plans for the future in due course."

The enterprise was hit hard by the Covid lockdowns.

The company was originally set up by Frenchmen Romain Ribera and Thibault Bouquet de Joliniere in January 2019.

They resigned in July 2020 and Mr Quintero took over the following month. Its registered address is at Coda Studios, Munster Road, London.