A well-loved historic attraction, feared closed for good, is set to reopen following a major restoration project.

Lewis Hunt and Mica Dougan have revealed plans to transform the Canterbury Tales attraction into an educational interactive experience.

The couple, who already run the popular Escapement escape rooms in Margate and Broadstairs, hope to open the doors to the revamped centre dedicated to the works of Geoffrey Chaucer by the end of August.

The site, located inside 900-year-old St Margaret’s Church, has been shut since previous operators announced its permanent closure in April 2020 amid speculation at the time it was in response to the challenges of the pandemic.

It was empty for several years after Continuum Attractions gave up the lease before the diocese, which owns the church, started to consider other options for the property.

“Our trade is in escape rooms so we thought we should go and take a look and see what we could salvage,” said Ms Dougan.

“They said we could come but we’d better hurry because it was going to be gutted that week.

“So I jumped in my car and flew over to Canterbury, we looked around the set and it was stunning.

“Yes, it's 35 years old but it was built properly and was quite well maintained. There are areas that need updating and the technology was pretty dated.

“As we were walking around, I said to them are you sure nobody would want a lease?

“It seems criminal to let this go. But they told me that despite advertising it nobody had come forward and with lockdown, they doubted anyone ever would so it was going to be stripped out and potentially become a shop or a restaurant.

“Straight away I put my money where my mouth is and said, I’ll take a lease. I’m sure people will think we’re going to make it an escape room but we’re not, we’re going to keep it exactly how it was and just bring it right up to the 21st century.”

The original Canterbury Tales - which opened in 1987- was an interactive tour through Chaucer's tales in which visitors walked the darkened streets between London and Kent meeting both wax works and costumed characters along the way.

While the new and improved tourist destination will keep that formula, it will bring it into the modern day by adding state-of-the-art animatronics, holograms and projections that Mr Hunt and Ms Dougan hope will take it from an interactive to a truly immersive experience.

They also aim to improve accessibility with technology by making the content of the tour adaptable to suit different visitors, both through changing language and shifting to meet audience needs.

Another new element will be the historically accurate tavern - which will serve just era-appropriate ale and mead for guests to try.

This area - which leads directly to the immersive street market-cum-gift shop - will only be open to paying visitors on regular days but the pair also plan to use the space to hold special events including roleplay experiences.

Despite their plans to update the attraction, having wired more than 20km of new cable into the property, the pair hope to keep the same spirit people remember from visiting the centre as children.

The memorably spooky faces peeking from trees remain as well as much of the set representing Westgate Towers.

However just one of the original waxworks remains as the rest were sold off by the previous leaseholders, leading to a bizarre sight of the lifeless medieval figures lining the street in 2020.

Mr Hunt, who also designs special effects for leading attractions and theme parks globally, has laid out his ambitious plans for the site in a Kickstarter campaign.

While the first phase of their project, returning the centre to its former glory as a tourist spot and education centre, is fully funded and getting ready to open, there is considerably more to the pair's plans.

The second phase focuses on trying to break away from its previously fixed tour that once completed, guests are unlikely to return to.

To achieve this they are planning to introduce special events including murder mystery experiences, tabletop gaming gatherings and even medieval minigolf.

“It was previously quite scary and that captured the time period but we hope we’ve captured that while also making it more comical, more family-friendly and more interesting,” said Mr Hunt.

“The smells were iconic, I’m sure people will remember them, and when we got the building we found the cans of scent and unfortunately I didn’t realise they had gone off and opened one. It was the horse manure one as well and it was genuinely the worst thing ever.

“We are a business and not a charity but we are trying to salvage an iconic historical attraction that holds some importance to people.

“That's always the intention, we’re thinking how do we save it rather than how do we turn it into a money-spinning engine. How do we keep it so that it lasts for another 35 years and doesn't get destroyed?

“It is the only museum of its kind about Geoffrey Chaucer’s work, which in Canterbury has incredible historic relevance and importance.”

“It's going to be an attraction that has gone from a big group company like Continuum to basically just Mica and I.

“Yes, we’re business owners but we really want people to know we’re in it for all the right reasons.”