A long-running chocolate shop at Chatham's Dockside Outlet Centre has permanently closed its doors.

The Cadbury Outlet store closed on Friday, 24 September after 18 years at the discount shopping centre due to a decision not to extend its lease.

Staff members thanked the local community for their custom in a Facebook post published this week.

John Liptrot, managing director at Cadbury Outlet, said: "I can confirm that Freshstores Ltd the Licensed operator's of Cadbury Outlet Shops in the UK has taken the option not to extend the lease at Chatham Dockside at the end of September 2021 and the shop is now empty and permanently closed."

He added that Freshstores Ltd will continue to operate its 15 remaining Cadbury Outlets across the UK and invest in future expansion.

​The Cadbury store at Dockside Outlet Centre was among the first tenants of the shopping centre when it opened in 2003.

In October 2018 it then moved to a different retail unit with a new store look opposite the former Boomers café.

The shop sold the iconic brand's popular chocolate treats, classic sweets and a range of Cadbury gifts and memorabilia.

​The proposals, drawn up by Lyall Bills & Young Architects and C.F. Møller Architects, were put forward as part of the Council's ambitions to buy the empty office block from the current owners through a process known as a Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO).

It is not yet known whether the CPO has been finalised, but it was first earmarked in 2019 when it emerged that Mapeley Gamma did not wish to sell the building to Medway Council.

An application by Mapeley Gamma to convert the empty offices into 112 apartments was approved in 2018 - however, this never materialised.

Work to build a new slip road on Medway City Estate has begun today, with completion expected at the end of February next year.

The new slip road will take motorists directly from Medway City Estate onto A289 Berwick Way towards Strood, Hoo and the M2 for London and north Kent, bypassing Anthonys Way roundabout.

Lane closures are in place westbound (towards Strood) between Gillingham Gate Roundabout and Frindsbury Hill.

​The speed limit in both directions of the Medway Tunnel has also been temporarily reduced from 50mph to 30mph.

​Medway Council hopes the slip road will "greatly reduce waiting time" for traffic leaving the industrial estate, despite growing evidence showing that building more lanes does not ease congestion in the long-term.

As part of the junction upgrade, work will also include road resurfacing, footway improvements, drainage works, traffic signal upgrades and new street lighting.

It will be necessary to close Anthonys Way, Berwick Way, Vanguard Way and the Medway Tunnel in both directions later this year.

The road closures are scheduled to take place weeknights only between 6 and 17 December 2021, and again weeknights only between 19 January and 2 February 2022, from 8pm to 5:30am.

Local bus services will be diverted whenever the roads are closed and will not be able to pick up or drop off passengers in either direction. Further details are expected to be released by bus operators, including Arriva, closer to the time.

The work on Anthonys Way roundabout forms the latest phase of improvements to reduce almost daily traffic jams leaving the estate in the evening rush-hour.

Measures have so far included the installation of manually controlled traffic lights approaching Medway Tunnel from Pier Road, which aim to create gaps in the flow of traffic during the evening peak period to allow easier exit from the estate.

Additional loading and parking restrictions along Anthonys Way were also put in place in January 2019, as well as new CCTV cameras allowing the public to view real time traffic and plan their journeys.

The junction upgrade is being completed by contractor Jackson Civil Engineering and will cost £1.7 million, which is mostly being covered by a grant from the South East Local Enterprise Partnership (SELEP).

Further information about the work can be found on Medway Council's website by clicking here.

Work to convert a prominent office block in Chatham into flats has begun.

Anchorage House in High Street, Chatham will become 81 flats, comprising a mix of studio, one-bed and two-bed flats after plans were approved in September last year.

The existing 78 car parking spaces will be retained for future residents, with 81 cycle parking spaces to be provided.

Although the proposed car parking spaces fall short of the 121 required by Medway Council's parking standards, the "sustainable location" of the building in close proximity to bus and rail routes was considered adequate to give it the go-ahead.

No improvements will be made to the building's unsightly appearance, despite Medway Council stating that the outright removal of Anchorage House "would be desirable" in its Building Heights Policy adopted in 2006.

​The eleven-storey building has dominated Chatham's skyline since the 1960s, previously being occupied by the government's HM Revenue and Customs department and referred to locally as 'Chatham Tax Office'.

In recent years, Anchorage House was home to various different organisations such as legal firms and training providers.