A BUSY cinema has been given permission to build an extra three screens to accommodate hundreds of new customers.

Bosses at the Cineworld complex on Eureka Leisure Park applied to build an extension to help meet demand.

The project will increase the number of screens showing films to 15 and is aimed at serving 650,000 admissions a year – a figure which could increase with the current regeneration and growth of Ashford.

Ashford Borough Council granted the project planning permission and said it still believed a further 250,000 customers would use cinemas in the town centre.

As part of the plans to build an extra three screens, cinema owner Life II will also build two more restaurants and 80 extra car parking spaces.

Members of the borough council planning committee gave the scheme their approval two weeks ago.

A council spokesman said: "This development is another sign that Ashford continues to buck the national economic trend.

"Planning committee members saw the need for an extension to cinema provision in the borough and backed the development at Eureka Business Park."

According to an ABC survey, the cinema can currently meet the needs of 2,100 customers at any one time, while a nightclub next door caters for 1,800 people.

But the leisure park's four existing restaurants can only cater for 498 visitors and offer "limited scope and choice".

Bella Pasta, TGI's, Harvester and Prego are all understood to be interested in taking over the two new restaurants that would be built as part of the cinema extension plans.

Developers now have three years to begin the work.

Planning permission had been granted for a similar extension in November 2007, but the company said it was unable to carry out the work due to the financial crisis and downturn in the economy.