Medway offers a mixture of shopping experiences that can be found in historic high streets, town centres and modern indoor shopping centres.

Step back in time in the ancient cathedral city of Rochester, a place cherished by Charles Dickens.  The historic Rochester has maintained much of its Victorian charm – with its wide pavements, ornate lamp posts and buildings of great architectural and historic interest. It is unique for the absence of the usual high street names and boasts a wide choice of independent speciality shops where you can find that unusual gift or souvenir to take home.

There are ample of places to eat and drink on the high street from the quaint old world to modern style bistros, to cafes and inns serving value for money lunches.  There's a chance to buy locally produced goods every third Sunday each month from the Rochester farmers' market.

Chatham lies at the heart of Medway and is the largest of the three of towns. In the centre of Chatham shoppers will find a fully pedestrianised High Street and the Pentagon Shopping Centre with nearly 100 shops to choose from, indoor bowling alley and fitness centre. 

Naturally Chatham’s most famous attraction is The Historic Dockyard, dating back more than 400 years to the age of sail. Today it is one of the world’s most important maritime heritage destinations and a prospective World Heritage Site along with its defences. On the attractive marina front at Chatham Maritime next to the dockyard is the Dockside Outlet Centre. It is a great place for visitors to shop and purchase designer clothing, household items and accessories at discounted prices.  

As one of Medway's popular shopping town centres, with around 200 shops, Gillingham has an excellent choice of brand names to choose from, including New Look, Boots, WH Smith, Somerfield, Aldi, Bon Marché, Wilkinson and Iceland to name but a few. Shoppers can also enjoy traditional street markets that operate in the town centre every Saturday and Monday, offering a wide range of quality goods.

Also in Gillingham not too far from the main town centre, is Hempstead Valley Shopping Centre.  The centre is home to 50 popular retailers all under one roof, including the largest Sainsbury's in Kent and M&S with a food hall, plus many more leading names. A farmers' market is held on the 2nd Sunday of every month offering a variety of locally produce goods and throughout the year special instore promotions take place.

 Leisure plays an important role in Gillingham's success and a number of excellent sport and leisure centres can be found here including Medway Park the new £11 million centre of sporting excellence and of course, Gillingham is home to Kent’s only football league club, Gillingham FC.

Check out the search facility on this page for a full list of places to shop in Medway...

.