A former JC Rook & Sons unit is to become a fishmongers and street food bar - two years after the popular butchers fell into administration.
Jenkins & Son, which has been trading in Deal High Street for 80 years, is leaving its current home next to Dial A Pizza to move to the larger site close by.
The unit has sat empty since the family-run butchers collapsed in 2022, causing 150 job losses.
For the past nine months, builders have been carrying out repairs and renovations to the store to allow the fishmongers to open on Tuesday, June 25.
The ground floor is being split into two sections. One half will be a traditional fishmonger and poulterer while the other half will be a street food bar and grill with 24 seats.
It means customers will be able to have fresh fish dishes cooked in front of them by head chef Peter Keyes.
Marketing co-ordinator Sacha Taylor said: ”The company has been running since 1940 and has gone through a number of changes. We do more than just fresh wet fish.
“We have outgrown this shop because we now do home-cooked food made by our chef which people can take away.
“We are bursting at the seams so when the Rooks unit came up a couple of years ago we made a bid for it.
“It has taken a while to buy it as it has been quite complicated, but we have now taken on that 1,000 sq m building to move into as a fishmonger and poulterer like we are now, but additionally we have created a kitchen grill area, a bar and a seating area for street food.
“We have applied for an alcohol licence and hopefully if that is granted we will be able to sell alcohol on the shop floor too.
“That’s a new venture for us and we are quadrupling in size. The idea is to give people new ideas on how to use fish in everyday cooking.
“The concept eventually will be that people can pick up a piece of fish from the fishmonger, walk across to the chef and get them to cook it however they like.”
It took Jenkins & Son 14 months to buy the building, and builders and electricians are currently on site to get the new store ready for opening.
“Eventually we are going upstairs too because there is room for possibly having a restaurant and seafood bar with a roof terrace,” she explained.
“The upstairs will not be for a year or two, it depends on how everything goes. We are also looking to do pop-up and sushi events.
“We have always done them, but we have had to use other people's venues. Now we can do them in our own shop.
“Eventually we want to do cooking classes so we have lots of ideas for the future.“
Owner Darren Jenkins, a fourth-generation fishmonger who began working at the shop aged 14, says the ex-Rooks building also has sentimental value.
“This was my dad and my grandfather’s dream shop,” he explained.
“They were always jealous of this shop because it was so big, they always said they wished they had a shop this size and now we do.
“It's a natural progression for us, we are a bit nervous but we flourish out of our comfort zone.”
It is not yet clear who will take over the current Jenkins & Son unit when it closes, but it will be rented out to a new business.
JC Rook & Sons was one of Kent's oldest and biggest butchery firms with 11 shops across the county.
It has been established for more than 55 years after opening its first butchers in Dover in 1965. But following the pandemic, the firm went into administration.
