A shop that has been empty for nearly a year in Erith is set to turned into a coffee shop.

The Cash Generator store in Riverside Shopping Centre closed in December 2016.

Now the empty store, opposite Wilko, is set be to renovated into a Costa Coffee. 

Riverside Shopping Centre’s management has agreed terms Costa Coffee to lease the unit, and Costa has applied for planning permission.

A planning application for an illuminated Costa sign inside the shopping centre has also been submitted for the council's approval. 

The proposed opening hours of the premises are likely to be between 6.30am and 8pm with reduced hours of 8am to 6.30pm on Sundays. 

According to Costa's application, the presence of coffee shops on a high street encourages 75 per cent of consumers to shop for longer and 68 per cent of consumers would choose to visit another high street if the one they were on did not have a coffee shop.

Riverside Shopping Centre already has a Greggs and a cafe called Mambocino's.