The Mall Maidstone
The Mall Maidstone is a covered shopping centre in Maidstone, the county town of Kent. Together with the Fremlin Walk shopping centre, which is uncovered, it is one of the two primary shopping venues within the town centre.
The centre has 535,000 square feet (49,700 m) of floor space, ranking it as the joint 60th largest shopping centre in the UK according to a 2008 survey by Retail Week.
The Mall Maidstone was built in the late 1970s as the 'Stoneborough Centre,' with a 7 storey office block on the top, named 'Stoneborough House.' In the 1990s, the shopping centre was rebranded as 'Chequers Shopping Centre,' to coincide with works on the main entrances and refurbishment work that was going on at the time. The office block above retained its original name. In 2006, the centre was purchased by The Mall Fund, who once again set about refurbishing the centre with their own, distinctive pink corporate branding. An agreement was subsequently signed that Maidstone Borough Council would move into the office block on top of the centre, after extensive refurbishment of that, and the construction of a 'Gateway' reception area. The council signed a 99-year lease and took up residence in May 2007, with the block renamed 'Maidstone House'.
Today, the Mall Maidstone hosts a wide variety of shops, from independent retailers such as butchers, JC Rook and Sons, to big chain names like Sports Direct and BHS. It is a key part of the town centre, also containing the Chequers Bus Station, retaining the old name, which serves as the main bus terminus for the town.
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Coordinates: 51°16′23″N 0°31′34″E / 51.27306°N 0.52611°E
Retrieved from : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mall_Maidstone
