Author's product rating: 
| Advantages: |
Reasonable selection of shops |
| Disadvantages: |
Generally drab apperance |
| Recommend to potential buyers: |
no |
I bordered briefly on this shopping centre in my general review of Maidstone, but having found it in a category of its own, I couldn’t resist the chance to enlarge on my feelings about this heap of bricks and mortar, the building of unreached potential that blights my home town.
~ The Chequers fails to bring together under one roof what would be preferred for a town shopping centre. You would perhaps expect the magnificence in design and overall appearance that is found within Bluewater or Lakeside, but unfortunately Kents county town of Maidstone fails to provide anything remotely close in its shopping centre.
~ Known a number of years ago as the Stoneborough Centre, realistically the only thing that has changed with the times is the name. A small amount of refurbishment was carried out in the transition from Stoneborough to Chequers. Some additional escalators were added, and some skylight roofing fitted in places, but the main features stayed the same. This was never going to be enough to compete for the status of the premier shopping centre in Kent.
~ There are 3 main entrances and 3 shopping levels to the Chequers Centre, but several others through the shops that front the High Street, and the car parks that form part of the dreary setup. These main entrances give you a choice of which shopping level you have the ‘pleasure’ of sampling first. The biggest entrance fronts the High Street, and takes you to the upper floor of shops. Direct access to the middle shopping level is through the bus lane, but I wouldn’t recommend, it unless you are arriving by bus, as you will battle against the flow of shoppers laden with bags. The other entrance is at the bottom of Gabriels Hill. Small, and leading to the rather lacking ground floor experience, I stick to the High Street entrance.
~ You may well experience a long wait to get into either of the carparks unless you set out pretty early in the morning, but should you decide to enter the centre having parked in one of the two carparks then beware. If you choose the rooftop car park you can enter at the non-shopping level and descend via the escalator. Or you can use the lift and choose level 3, 2 or 1. Should you park in the multi-storey car park and take the lift, the shopping levels are for some reason different, numbered 4 and 2. Choose 8, 7, 6, 5, 3, or 1 and you will end up at another level of carparking. Confused? I’ve shopped in Maidstone nearly all my life and it still confuses me!
~ The ground floor shopping experience is rather disappointing. The largest unit is Wilkinsons. A cheap and cheerful ’department store’ that you will inevitabley find over crowded and understaffed. Shop there only if you have a spare half hour to queue at the till to pay. There is a shoe repairer/key cutters, and dry cleaners on the ground floor too though, so if you don’t mind shopping naked, in bare feet, drop your stuff off before going in Wilkinsons and by the time you’ve finished shopping, your outfit and shoes will be ready and waiting for you.
~ You may feel like a little treat after Wilko’s so depending on what takes your fancy, there’s a hairdressers - appointments not always necessary, or a pub, Strawberry Moons - of course appointments never necessary (during average opening hours that is). They offer a good range of light snacks, hot drinks, and the essential for a stressed shopper, loads of alcohol.
~ Modernisation and Maidstone are two words that simply do not go hand in hand, so don’t expect glass fronted lifts or fancy stairways to embark on your journey to the next floor. The average escalator, cold concrete stairwell, or dingy, decrepit lift will escort you up a level.
~ The middle level of the centre has more to offer. You have the ‘quality’ restaurant MacDonalds, or Bakers Oven. Offering a variety of hot and cold dishes, and the best cream buns ever - their coffee is not the best. There is a trendy coffee shop on this level, but I avoid it. Busy, and situated in the middle of the walkway, I don’t like the open style of it. Nothing worse than trying to relax with your coffee and having the world and his wife (mistress/girlfriend) glare at you as they walk by.
~ For clothes shopping there are a few options. BHS have a double level store which includes a small bridal section in addition to the standard range of slightly dated fashion wear, casual clothing, and various accessories. Mark One, or MK1 as I believe it calls itself now, is reasonable and cheap although primarily for women, and aimed more at the younger generation. The shop itself is laid out badly, and be prepared to do battle for the bargains. Coat hangers at the ready! Peacocks does a fair range of clothing, again more for the female shopper, and often limited in sizes.
~ Gamleys has a large unit on this level with a good range of toys and games. But remember when you deposit your children at the lego play table, this is only supposed to be while you browse, you do have to take them home again. Normally under protest and dragged from Gamleys screaming, gobstoppers and a vast array of other sweet treats can be bought to pacify the the most anguished child, or parent, from the Pic ‘n’ Mix stall or Forbuoys opposite. Save Thorntons for when the children are not around.
~ In terms of food produce, the boring but essential weekly shop is limited within the Chequers. Sainsbury’s recently re-located to a purpose built store adjacent to the centre, leaving Iceland as the only ‘supermarket’, and Rooks, the meat specialist, to take the strain. Both are great shops with quality goods, but could benefit from being bigger to cope with the extra demand since Mr.Sainsbury decided to whip away his store.
~ Boots have a double level store in the centre, on this storey promoting it’s cookware range and optical care facility. At the back of the store you will find the photography and ’entertainment’ sections. A range of cameras, films and developing services are offered, at quite reasonable prices, but the ’entertainment’ is lacking with a very small range of CD’s and the like.
~ Jessops (photographical needs), has a small unit in the centre but you’d be better advised to use their other, larger store in the High Street. The Stationary Box has, surprise surprise, a range of stationary goods. As one of the smallest shops, good bargains can be found only if you can actually get inside. Fads was replaced by The Sony Shop, but is currently an empty unit. Harveys offers the home accessories such as curtains and bedsets, but there are better places out of town.
~ The public toilets (the only ones in the whole centre), Arriva bus office, and a handful of benches basically complete the picture for level 2 of the Chequers. Access to the bus stops is direct from this storey, although access actually to a bus is a different matter. Despite relatively recent attempts at improvement, the ‘bus station’ (if you could call it that), is badly organised and chaotic to say the least. The scheduling is dire and you’ll encounter long, disorderly queues for various buses due at the same time, to the same stop.
~ Next port of call for your shopping, if you are brave enough to continue, is officially called level 4, although level 4 is also the rooftop car parking according to one set of lifts. Take the escalator upwards and you can’t go wrong...er, go in the wrong direction I should say. If you are hoping for some redeeming qualities to this centre, then the best advice is to head back to the carpark and get out of Maidstone altogether, then you won't be too disappointed.
~ Chiappini’s (excuse my spelling, i’m not entirely sure on that) has a coffee shop on this level. The prices are reasonable and the cakes are quite nice, but if you get as highly strung as me during a shopping trip to the Chequers, quite frankly caffeine will just increase your irritation of it all. Saying that though, they do offer a range of cold drinks, but nothing unique or out of the ordinary. There is another cafe on this level, but it’s impact on me has been such that I cannot remember the name.
~ Pizza Hut, well I think it’s Hut (but could be Express), sits at the main High Street entrance, just opposite the nameless cafe. Personally, I can’t think of anything worse than having hundreds of shoppers walk past the large glass windows gawping at me eating, but as a gawper myself, it’s usually packed with customers, so I guess it’s okay.
~ Clothing and footwear is catered for in a slightly better manner on this upper level. Miss Selfridge, Next, and Morgan lead the way in fashion retailers, and Adams offers a good range for the kiddies. Bon Marche is aimed at the more mature shopper (I will no doubt soon be using it myself, as the dreaded 30th b/day comes round), and Clarkes offer sensible shoes. Although some menswear is sold within some of the bigger clothes shops, in general mens fashion is not really that widespread in the Chequers.
~ The upper floor of Boots boasts large perfume and make-up counters including their own ‘17’ range which in my experience has always proved a value buy. You will also find a dispensing chemists and over-the-counter medicines, health foods, and a baby/toddler section with a good range of Boots own products, cheaper than the ‘big name’ brands. There is a small coffee shop too, although I haven’t tried it.
~ Poundland, maybe one of the better known pound shops, has a reasonably sized unit in the centre, but the shelves are very often bare of the bargains and over laden with the tat that is simply not worth even the meagre pound being asked for it. Saying that, it’s always worth a look as you never know what you may find from one visit to the next.
~ The only shop attempting to suffice our musical entertainment needs is Virgin. Formerly home to Our Price, (but finally catching up with what people really want), the service is fast and efficient, and the prices are okay. But this unit, due to size, is unable to hold enough stock to keep a shoppers attention for long. With HMV just 5 mins away from the Chequers Centre, Virgin’s potential to satisfy is rivalled.
~ EB (Electronics Boutique) is not a bad shop, selling games for consoles and pcs, and opposite is Dixons concentrating more on home entertainment ‘hardware’ goods. You will also find a small mobile phone store, H Samuel the jewellers, a perfumery, card shop, one hour photo developers (more often than not taking over 2 hrs), and a newsagents on this level.
~ There are two other shops worth a mention. Superdrug is a pharmacy type store offering health and beauty products, a good own brand range of make-up, and small gift ideas. Spoils (kitchen reject shop) is great, primarily for cheap kitchen/tableware, but also for ‘novelty’ items such as inflatable sofas, bananas, and pigs, amongst other things. The purpose of these, I don’t know, but they always have them in stock (maybe ‘cos they just can’t sell them for love nor money?).
~ I shouldn't forget to say there is also Vision Express and Specsavers, a regularly out of order photobooth, and a couple of machines offering internet services at something rediculous like £2 for five mins. I think that just about sums it all up.
~ Looking at the shops alone, the Chequers Centre isn’t a total write off, but a number of bigger names have chosen to trade outside the restrictive opening hours (8:30 - 5:30ish) of the centre and can be found in nearby Week Street. Marks and Spencer, Woolworths and WHSmiths to name just a few, thrive away from the dreary refines of Kents county town shopping centre.
~ I find the biggest let down is the overall look and feel of the Chequers centre itself. There is so much that could be done to make it more pleasing to the eye, to give it a warmer feel of which you may grow to love rather than despise. The concrete stairwells would benefit from a lick of paint, and the lifts, tucked away in the far corners of the centre, perhaps could do with re-location, and a modern design makeover. That, at least, would be a move in the right direction.
~ Another issue is security. That could do with tightening up too. The menacing youths that congregate around the escalators, spitting on innocent passers by, do nothing for the image of the Chequers centre. They are not adding anything to a shoppers trip except making it less enjoyable than it already is.
Just a handful of the many things that need addressing before I could honestly suggest that shopping at Maidstones Chequers Centre will offer the pleasant and heartwarming experience that I do believe it infact has the potential to.
