A dance and gymnastics studio is to open in a former smokehouse which closed after just five months.
Friends Zara May, Vicki Lucy and Jasmine Reeve launched Galaxy Dance & Gymnastics at Ashford’s Stour Centre in January, running classes six days a week.
But the trio have now found their own space at the former DJB Smokehouse site in Park Street, opposite The Panorama.
The three-storey building has sat empty since April when the restaurant closed following a two-star hygiene rating and complaints of food running out on Mother’s Day.
Ms May will run the ground floor, utilising her 11 years of teaching experience on apparatus including the beam, bar and vault.
Ms Lucy will also coach gymnastics, while Ms Reeve, from Sandwich, will teach ballet and tap classes on the building’s first floor.
The top storey is due to be used as a parent lounge.
Ms Lucy, who lives in Ashford, says she cannot wait to open the doors on Saturday, August 30.
“Having our own venue is great as we can be flexible when it comes to running our classes,” she explained.
“The Stour Centre has been great, but we had waiting lists and they just didn’t have the capacity or were able to let us use it whenever we wanted.
“We’ll still continue to use them for annual competitions, but with our new studio we can also have several people alongside us teaching everyone, whether that be for syllabus classes for ballet exams or just for fun.
“The main thing we want to do is build something together.”
The team hope to have more than 300 boys and girls on their books once the studio is up and running.
They will run several classes – including some for adults – with more than 10 ready to launch from September.
The trio say they will be joined by about a dozen self-employed coaches working on a self-employed basis.
The property was home to the Downtown Diner restaurant before it closed more than 10 years ago.
The American-themed eatery was replaced by the Press Rooms before becoming Po Thai in 2016.
When this shut during the pandemic, it remained empty until ambitious businessman, Dominic Browne, transformed it into DJB Smokehouse last November.
However, the barbecue restaurant closed after just five months in April.
Ms May, an NHS worker, says the team plan to be in Ashford for the long-term as the site is costing five figures to refurbish.
The 30-year-old Ashford resident and mum-of-three explained: “We got the keys and work started at the end of July.
“At the moment, we’re finishing off the carpentry and electrical work and then we’ll move onto the painting, so we’re watching it come to fruition.
“Parents have even been helping us paint which we’re really grateful for.
“So we’re excited and have come a long way – the three of us couldn’t have done it without each other.
“It’s a dream to open a building like this and we just want it to be a hub for all things dance and movement.”
Classes will run from 10am until 9pm on weekdays, plus on Saturday mornings until early afternoons.
Sundays will see the space be used for non-teaching classes and replaced with functions such as birthday parties.
