Argos has announced the closure of its long-standing branch in Chatham High Street. The store's closing date is Wednesday, 26 January. It coincides with the completion of the new Argos warehouse and distribution centre at the £24 million M2CityLink industrial park on the Medway City Estate. Sainsbury's, which bought Argos in 2016, is axing 420 standalone Argos stores by March 2024 as part of a restructuring plan to reduce its costs by £105 million. This will leave only about 100 standalone Argos branches across the country, with more stores opening within existing Sainsbury's supermarkets instead. An Argos spokesperson said: “Our Chatham Argos store will close next week and colleagues were offered opportunities to redeploy to alternative roles within Sainsbury’s. "Customers can continue to shop with us at our nearby stores, including via a new Argos Click and Collect point at the nearby Sainsbury’s Chatham supermarket and at our Argos Strood store." Argos declined to reveal the number of redundancies that will be made, but it is understood that some staff have been redeployed to the new Medway City Estate distribution centre. Argos occupies a building that was built in the 1960s as an Edward Bates department store and a Sainsbury's supermarket.
In February 1976, Sainsbury's relocated to its new larger store inside the Pentagon Centre, closing the nearby branch in the High Street. In 1979, Edward Bates was sold to the Bentalls department store group, which took over the entire building. Bentalls occupied the building until 1984, before Argos later moved in. Plans for the future of the site are unknown at this time. JD Gyms confirms it will be opening a new branch at Hempstead Valley, making it the company's first in Kent. The state-of-the-art gym will be kitted out with more than 250 machines, as well as a large free weights zone, a sprint track, a spin studio and saunas in luxury changing rooms. It will also have racks and lifting platforms with "top of the range" Olympic lifting equipment from globally renown brand Eleiko. More than 300 classes a month will be hosted at the gym, all of which are included within the membership. A JD Burn and boxing area will be introduced for high intensity, bootcamp style fitness classes exclusive to JD Gyms, with personal trainers also available. JD Gyms, which runs more than 70 gyms across the country, revealed that its new Hempstead Valley facility is set to open at the beginning of April.
A spokesperson for JD Gyms said: "We will be looking to open in spring but there are no dates confirmed just yet. "JD Gyms Hempstead Valley will give you a truly cutting edge fitness experience at an incredibly affordable price, with 200 discounted memberships available." The first 200 members can sign up to benefit from an exclusive offer of £5 for the first month and no contract by clicking here. The gym will be open 6am to 10pm weekdays and 8am to 8pm weekends. It will be located outside the shopping centre with an entrance next to the underground car park near Sainsbury's. Last year Future Chatham revealed that JD Gyms was set to open a gym in Chatham, although these plans were later scrapped by the award-winning operator. Find out more about the new gym by visiting the JD Gyms website or by following the branch's Facebook page. Residents are being invited to have their say on ambitious plans to overhaul The Paddock in Chatham town centre. Medway Council has revealed design ideas for the park, which sits between the bus station and the Pentagon Centre, forming one of several projects to be funded from a pot of £9.5 million from the government's Future High Street Fund. Proposed improvements include a new central space with a focal water feature, new planted areas and more seating. The plans could also see the level of the park adjusted to improve accessibility and upgraded paving at the end of Military Road to create a pedestrian-friendly route to the Brook Theatre and the Great Lines. Two large areas of existing grassy lawn will be retained for people to sit out and enjoy, while the proposed water feature could be turned off to accommodate various outdoors events throughout the year. With a budget of £1.5 million for the makeover, Medway Council says the planned improvements will help make Chatham town centre an ever better place to live, work, learn and visit. A council statement says: "The improvements are designed to celebrate the area's heritage as well as make the area more accessible and easier to get around for both residents and visitors. "The brief for The Paddock highlighted the need to connect this visual, historic and cultural landmark back to the city of Chatham and to become a new destination space. "The Paddock will be designed to take in consideration key elements including hosting a different range of activities that involve the community and the visitors throughout the key, have a strong identity that merge and highlight the local history and the contemporary life of Chatham." Dating back to the early 20th century, The Paddock was one of three purpose-built open spaces created by the former Chatham Borough Council, including the nearby Town Hall Gardens and Victoria Gardens.
The historic Edwardian park also had unusual uses throughout the years, including car parking and a now-demolished restaurant known as Paddock Restaurant. Initial plans for the new bus station in Globe Lane sparked protests because of the number of trees in The Paddock that would have been uprooted to make way for it, prompting councillors to approve an alternative smaller scheme that exists today. British architecture studio HTA Design is assisting Medway Council with the park's redesign, which has an estimated deadline for delivery by March 2024. HTA Design has advised on a number of major projects in Medway to date, including the masterplan for the Great Lines Heritage Park and most recently the 1300-home development at Rochester Riverside. Submit your thoughts by completing Medway Council's online survey before midnight on Friday, 14 January 2022. |
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