A car park which has been closed since last year after a neighbouring nightclub was engulfed in flames is to finally reopen.

Flour Mills car park in Ashford was shut off after the ex-Liquid nightclub in East Hill was targeted on December 30, sparking an arson probe.

The fire, which was the third to occur at the site in 2024 alone, led to Ashford Borough Council (ABC) shutting the facility amid safety concerns about the landmark.

However, the authority has now announced the 79-space site behind Civic Park is to serve motorists again from tomorrow (Thursday).

It comes after KentOnline revealed last week how ABC was carrying out a structural survey of the ex-club.

This was a detailed analysis of a building's structure, including its walls, floors and foundations.

Following the review, ABC will now reopen the car park, but several hoardings around the former club, including along Mace Lane, will remain in place.

Oliver Davis – who has owned the building since 2021 – had wanted to transform the property into 53 flats.

But he told KentOnline weeks before the latest fire how he had scrapped the plans after commercial tenants showed more interest.

He said the building, which was constructed in 1901 as H.S. Pledge and Son flour mill, is still set for a long-overdue makeover as it will be turned into a “flexible office space”.

Previously, a series of nightspots had occupied the site with Liquid being the last one until it shut in 2014.

Before Mr Davis snapped up the building, proposals emerged in 2017 to turn the seven-storey building into a performing arts centre for Ashford School, complete with a 250-seat theatre, but it never got off the ground.