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Town Centre Management update: Maidstone Business Forum Food leads way in town centre revival


A SMILING sea-creature, moving into the home of the former Maidstone Club, is hop- ing to bring cheer to the faces of town diners. The club, in Earl Street, has been taken


over by the Thai gastro-chain Giggling Squid, which plans to open one of its flag- ship restaurants, followingmajor refurbish- ment later this year. The company, which boasts restaurants in upmarket locations such as Henley,Marlow and TunbridgeWells, has earmarked Maid- stone as a prime location in its expansion plans for the South of England, and is re- puted to be spending more than £600,000 on the refurbishment and re-fit. Cllr Malcolm Greer, who has been instru- mental in talks with several would-be de- velopers in the town centre, said: “This is a very successful chain and they plan to make sure the restaurant is absolutely top class, which shows how much they value Maid- stone as a place to be.” Cllr Greer revealed he would like to see


Job seekers


flock to KIMS MORE than 500 people have al- ready applied for jobs at the new Kent Institute of Medicine and Science (KIMS), which is not due to open until spring next year. The hospital, near J7 of the


M20 at Bearsted, has already signed up some of the world’s top consultants across a range of specialisms, as well as links with specialist hospitals, for both children and adults. The second phase of the de- velopment, which is about to go forward for planning con- sent, incorporates research and development facilities. Cllr Malcolm Greer told the busi- ness forum: “We are likely to be at the forefront of growing stem cells at this rate.” Cllr Greer said about 1,000 people had been inducted in differing trades and said: “Not everyone will be a clinician. We will have a manufacturing unit measuring for arms and legs, for example.”


Flats above store GJ PROPERTIES has applied to establish two one-bedroom apartments on the two floors above the Harts retail store at 11-17 Upper Stone Street, Maidstone. A supporting state- ment said: “The external ap- pearance of the buildingwould not change, other than replace- ment windows and a replace- ment door to the rear.”


Multiple occupancy A PLANNING application has been submitted to convert a single dwelling into a five-bed- room house of multiple occu- pation (HMO) at 61 Charlton Street, Maidstone. The proposal, by Merryhills Properties, would have shared facilities. Maidstone Council will determine the application.


more of Earl Street pedestrianised, allowing the café culture to expand, with more tables and chairs spreading into the street. He has already asked the council for costings relat- ing to new and replacement trees to enhance the street scene, and said: “We want to en- courage more people on to our pavements.” Waterstones’ Earl Street store has also closed in recent weeks and will re-open as a JapaneseWagamama restaurant. News of Earl Street’s latest “eating explo-


sion” was revealed to the town’s business forum, where Town Centre Manager Bill Moss revealed that business was oncemore booming at the heart of the county town. He said a number of empty shop units be-


tween Week Street and Pudding Lane had slowly been filled over the past 18 months to the point they were now 100% full.  Work is going on inside the old Project Blue/Green Room restaurant, a new night- club has opened in the old Loder and Payne store and a new café was due to


open this month.  In King Street, AMF Bowling is to close in August, when a new Hollywood Bowl will open instead in Lockmeadow.  Morrisons has begun work on the ground floor of the old Army and Navy store inWeek Street, while work is taking place on the upper floors to create a series of residential apartments. Cllr Greer said: “We need to have more


town centre housing for older people, who don’t need to have cars, therefore they don’t encounter problems of parking. They have money and need facilities, theatres and shops within walking distance. “There is a desperate need for housing in Maidstone and if we can get it in the town centre, we have a chance to revive the town centre’s economy.” Mr Moss said there were very few in- stances of burglary in the town centre. Cllr Greer concurred: “More people means less trouble.”


Security tips


from Bluewater MAIDSTONE is to take tips from the top in learning how to combat in-store crime. The town centre business


forum heard Maidstone suf- fered more from shoplifting and in-store theft than in Blue- water – despite the latter hav- ing more high-end retail outlets. Peter Cackett, from MaidSafe,


Next plan goes to Government


THE Secretary of State forCommunities, Eric Pickles, has been asked to “call in” the plans to build a huge Next at Home store, near junction 7 of theM20 at Bearsted. Maidstone town centre management’s board of directors voted to op-


pose the multi-million pound development, which went on to get plan- ning approval in June. The board has nowwritten to the secretary of state asking him to look


again at the proposals and to give the benefit of his expertise. However, severalmembers of the council have also written toMrPick-


les, reinforcing the strength of their support for the newstore. Cllr Malcolm Greer said: “Companies who used to invest in Tonbridge


and TunbridgeWells are nowlooking to Maidstone because ofwhat the council is doing with the town. “We acceptwe need to support our retailers, but that means bringing


more housing and flats into the town centres, encouraging entertain- mentandevents, and supporting our independent traders. These are just some of the pointswe havemade to the secretary of state, as towhywe believe the Next store will be good forMaidstone.”


Seeking a cleaner greener hill COSTINGS are being sought to clean up and “green up” Gabriel’s Hill in Maidstone. Now that Jubilee Square is complete, councillors want to see


the roads leading down from their showpiece street looking equally ship-shape. But in Gabriels Hill, the pavements are loose and rocky, with


an unslightly tarmac area at the bottom. Cllr Malcolm Greer has asked KCC how much it could cost to


green up the bottom of the hill, with possible tree planting and better paving. He has also asked for the cost of stone cladding over the mural on


the Gala Bingo building and the application of anti-graffiti paint. He said he would ideally like to see the granite continue down Gabriels Hill, but councillors have already been warned this could cost a lot of money. He told the town’s business forum: “Gabriels Hill is a big plus in moving Maidstone forward, and we need to make it attractive.


said he had been surprised to learn at a recent seminar how much higher Maidstone’s shoplifting losses were in rela- tion to Bluewater. Whilst accepting that some of


the larger department stores had their own security systems and store detectives, he said there were lessons to be learned, particularly in relation to bulk thefts, where oppor- tunist thieves ran off with large quantities of items in one hit. He cited one case where thieves stole four pairs of sun- glasses, valued at £706, and an- other where 1,200 boxes of items were stolen from a town centre store. “Bluewater doesn’t experi-


ence anything like that,” he said.


Station plans DEVELOPMENT of the old po- lice station at Wren’s Cross could open up Lower Stone Street for regeneration, the town centre forum was told. There are three listed build-


ings at Wren’s Cross and an ap- plication to develop the site with a superstore and housing would incorporate the adjacent land, occupied by a carpet shop. Pre-application meetings have


been taking place. Cllr Malcolm Greer said: “The area in general needs ‘greening up’ and this could be the start of a new era for the Stone Street region.”


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