Almost a quarter of premises in Canterbury are now classed as food and drink outlets, new figures reveal.

A staggering 24% of businesses are keeping the city’s residents and visitors replenished, with sales in the sector booming.

But a 10% year-on-year sales increase across the 149 eateries is in stark contrast to under-performing department stores and clothing shops, which have suffered drops of 3.9% and 5.7% respectively.

The positives of running food and drink outlets in the city are further proved with the unveiling of plans to open a new sushi cafe in the high street.

National retailer Kokoro, which specialises in Korean and Japanese food, wants to move into the site of a currency exchange shop next to The Works.

If the proposals are approved, it would join the list of eateries in the city centre.

Statistics compiled by the Canterbury Business Improvement District (BID) show that sales this February rocketed by 10.1% in comparison with the same month last year.

But department stores and clothing shops are suffering.

The statistics are a sign of the times for Canterbury’s retail climate, with big-name firms bowing out of the city due to profit slumps.

Debenhams has confirmed it will follow in the footsteps of Nasons by closing its huge store, while M&S remains at risk and Fenwick made redundancies last summer.

Long-established clothing chain French Connection shut down in April, and the Gazette understands the premises will become a restaurant in the not too distant future.

Caribbean eatery Turtle Bay is set to open in a three-storey unit in Butchery Lane, and Mexican chain Taco Bell has confirmed it is considering targeting Canterbury.

Stag Coffee recently opened up in the Marlowe Arcade, while Five Guys moved into the city last summer and Sainsbury’s will open a fourth Canterbury store this autumn.

Property specialist, and newly elected councillor, Dave Wilson (Lab), said: “Clearly the city is becoming more and more service-orientated rather than traditional retail. Canterbury faces competition from the likes of Ashford and Westwood Cross, so retail shops need to get ahead of the curve - otherwise, we’d be left with tourism shops and food outlets in the city.

“A lot of the retail shops are quite bland and middle of the road - they don’t offer anything different for the shopper.

“I do think Canterbury needs to focus on the independent traders in the side streets which really do add value.

“I find it slightly surprising that food businesses are doing so well considering what has happened to the likes of Jamie’s Italian restaurants recently.

“I do think for sure the department store market is going, if not gone.”

Footfall in the city centre is also recorded by BID - with a sensor on the front of the high street’s Tui holiday store monitoring the number of people walking through the city. As of this February, the 12-month average footfall was down by 2.6%.

A total of 45 business premises are empty - seven more than in February 2015. Of the occupied units, 44% are independents.

The Kokoro chain has about 20 stores in England, including one in Maidstone.

The planning application to convert the current Change Group unit has not been warmly welcomed by everyone.

John Pearce, who lives above the proposed cafe site, said: “I wish to object in every way.

“This will be severely detrimental to the my flat due to smell created by a cafe and it will also drive the price down of the property I own.”

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