In August of 2024, the Canterbury Riverside’s Curzon opened for business. The website describes itself as an “exciting new leisure and residential quarter”. The Riverside boasts an interactive bar, cinema and dining opportunities.
In January of 2024 emergency services were called to the Riverside complex at about 2:20 am. A resident of the flats included in the Riverside complex called the emergency services after seeing a cloud of smoke from her bedroom window. “A Decent sized fire” was started at Heavenly Desserts. A police officer from the scene commented upon the fact that the store had fallen victim to vandalism recently, having racial slurs sprayed on the property. This has led some to think that this Heavenly Desserts has become a target.
On the 26th of April, Grace Dent posted a scathing review of the Riverside’s restaurant, Sekoya. She described the restaurant’s food as “the sort of food invented for British people that you’d have got at a Cantonese restaurant back in 1994”. She goes on to call the food cheat and accuses the restaurant of “diluting pan-Asian hits and serving them in their safest possible form.”
The staff at the Boom Battle Bar at the Riverside have been given extra training after a customer was served a “dangerously raw” chicken burger. The customer’s brother went online to speak about how this ruined their brother’s birthday. The person then went onto say that they “weren’t even offered the refund for the chicken burger – we had to go up and chase them.”
Despite these instances, the Riverside still seems to be thriving. Many took to defending the complex in the comments under Grace Dent’s review as well as the Kent Online article reporting on the raw chicken burger, and many will continue to happily attend the restaurants, cinema and bar.