Fremlin Walk is an outdoor

shopping centre A shopping center in American English, shopping centre in English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English (see American and British English spelling differences#-re, -er, spelling differences), shopping complex, shopping arcade, ...

Maidstone Maidstone is the largest Town status in the United Kingdom, town in Kent, England, of which it is the county town. Maidstone is historically important and lies east-south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the centre of the town, l ...

town centre,

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

, England. It opened in 2005 after several years of development by Centros Miller to include of shopping and a 760 space car park. The original owner was

Landsec Land Securities Group plc, trading as Landsec, is the largest commercial property development and investment company in the United Kingdom. The firm became a real estate investment trust (REIT) when REITs were introduced in the United Kingdom ...

Legal & General Legal & General Group plc, commonly known as Legal & General, is a British multinational financial services and asset management company headquartered in London, England. Its products and services include investment management, lifetime mortg ...

bought the centre in 2011 for £92 million. It then passed to M&G Real Estate for £110m. This was then later acquired by Frasers Group for £25m in October 2024.

Location

The main pedestrian entrance to the centre is from the pedestrianised Week Street (one of Maidstone's main shopping streets) to the east. There are other pedestrian entrances from St Faith's Street to the north and Earl Street, to the south. The

A229 The A229 is a major road running north–south through Kent from Rochester to Hawkhurst via Maidstone. It is a former Roman road that ran from Rochester to Hastings. The road is well known for Blue Bell Hill, which connects Rochester to Ma ...

Fairmeadow runs parallel to the

River Medway The River Medway is a river in South East England. It rises in the High Weald AONB, High Weald, West Sussex and flows through Tonbridge, Maidstone and the Medway conurbation in Kent, before emptying into the Thames Estuary near Sheerness, a to ...

at the western end of the centre, but is approximately 2 storeys lower than the shopping centre. The car park for the centre is located below the

House of Fraser House of Fraser (rebranding to Frasers) is a British department store chain with 23 locations across the United Kingdom and 2 in Ireland, part of Frasers Group. It was established in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1849 as Arthur and Fraser. By 1891, it ...

department store at the western end; vehicle access is from Fairmeadow and Earl Street.

Maidstone East railway station Maidstone East is one of three railway stations in the town of Maidstone, in Kent, England, but currently the only one with a regular all-day direct service to London. The station is on the Maidstone line, from , and is served by trains operat ...

is north of the main pedestrian entrance, along Week Street.

History

The site was previously the

Fremlin's Brewery Fremlin's was a brewery in Maidstone, Kent, England. It was established by Ralph Fremlin in 1861, who eschewed the pub trade and focused on bottled beer, on religious grounds. The beer was known for the distinctive elephant logo on the bottles. Th ...

. It closed to brewing in 1972 and the existing building was just used as a bottling depot. Later on, the site was downgraded once more to a despatch depot. The only original structure from when the site was a brewery, is the arch entrance and clock. To fit in with the scheme of 'new life' for the river area in the town, it was decided that the shipping depot should be demolished, and something new put in its place; a shopping centre. There are still many reminders of the site's past. For example, the management office buildings bear the original gold elephant

weather vane A wind vane, weather vane, or weathercock is an instrument used for showing the direction of the wind. It is typically used as an architectural ornament to the highest point of a building. The word ''vane'' comes from the Old English word , m ...

, an icon of the company. Also, the Fremlins clock was replaced with an identical replica provided by Maidstone

Rotary Club Rotary International is one of the largest Service club, service organizations in the world. The self-declared mission of Rotary, as stated on its website, is to "provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, go ...

. The original brewery entrance has been maintained, and now forms one of the pedestrian entrances. One of the original trademark nodding elephants from the original brewery is on display, fully restored, in the adjacent Maidstone Museum & Art Gallery. In September 2016, ''

Britain's Got Talent ''Britain's Got Talent'' (often abbreviated to ''BGT'') is a televised British talent show competition, and part of the global '' Got Talent'' franchise created by Simon Cowell. Presented by Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly (colloquial ...

'' held auditions at the Bandstand.

Retail

The centre has over 50 shops, and these are mainly top high street brands, as well as phone shops, and various shoe shops. There are

cafés A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café (), is an establishment that serves various types of coffee, espresso, latte, americano and cappuccino, among other hot beverages. Many coffeehouses in West Asia offer ''shisha'' (actually called ''nargile ...

coffee shops A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café (), is an establishment that serves various types of coffee, espresso, latte, americano and cappuccino, among other hot beverages. Many coffeehouses in West Asia offer ''shisha'' (actually called ''nargile ...

and bench seating. Since its opening in 2005, Maidstone has made its way into the top 50 shopping towns in the UK, and now stands at 44th in 2013. The centre is anchored by a

department store A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store under one roof, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store mad ...

, at the western (Fairmeadow) end. Other large stores within the centre include

Boots A boot is a type of footwear. Most boots mainly cover the foot and the ankle, while some also cover some part of the lower calf. Some boots extend up the leg, sometimes as far as the knee or even the hip. Most boots have a heel that is clearl ...

River Island River Island (stylised as RiverIsland and abbreviated as RI) is a London-based, multi-channel fashion brand, founded in 1948 by Bernard Lewis (entrepreneur), Bernard Lewis. The retailer has a presence in over 125 of worldwide markets, in stores ...

, Zara and

Superdry Superdry plc (stylised as SUPERDRY®︎冒険魂) is a British clothing company, and owner of the Superdry label. Superdry products traditionally combine vintage Americana (culture), American styling with Japanese-inspired graphics. Founded ...

References

External links

Fremlin Walk website
{{Shopping centres in Southeast England Buildings and structures in Maidstone Shopping centres in Kent Shopping malls established in 2005 2005 establishments in England