April 2025. Gillingham. Kent.
Important to add “Kent”, as its namesake in Dorset is a rather different beast (and all its pubs seemingly named after animals, too).
While the in-laws snoozed at the Dockyard Travelodge I tried to make sense of North Kent’s most derided town, a place folk in Royal Tunbridge Wells have never been to but have firm opinions on.
Here at RetiredMartin.com we look for the best in a place, and always “LOOK UP“, beyond the brash store fronts.
It’s actually Easter Monday, which might partly explain a deserted high street,
and there’s the competing attraction of Gillingham v Wimbledon at Priestfield, one of English football’s most determinedly Old School grounds.
If I’d left Margaret and Michael eating their 3rd tub of artisanal ice cream at the Dockyards I might have made the game, and also squeezed in a pint at the venerable Will Adams, which only opens early on match days.
Reader Alan rates the murals in here,
and now I’ve got an annual pass to Chatham Maritime I’ll have to revisit the Will myself.
Gillingham isn’t a place to visit by car, with some of the toughest parking restrictions anywhere.
The tourist hotels are unprepossessing,
and you have to really search out the art,
but it’ll always have pubs, and just past the Tracey Emin-inspired “Bike”,
we find our next classic IS open, and in we go.
retiredmartin 
I have to admit that , like the Tunbridge Wells folk I have strong opinions about Gillingham but I have only been once ( I can’t remember why,but there was a game of Rugby League played at Priestfield so we had to bite the bullet & make the best of it ) I don’t intend to return .We had an annual pass for the dockyard but only used it once
Pauline
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Rugby LEAGUE?! How is that possible?
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London Broncos in May 2012!
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But why, Priest field, Jon !!!
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I’m with you on this one, Pauline, as despite having spent most of the past 60+ years living in Kent, Gillingham is not a place I ever wish to return to. I can suffer Rochester, for its history, its Charles Dickens features, and several other redeeming features (castle and cathedral), but not its two immediate neighbours.
Chavham, if anything, is even worse than Gillingham, and the only place anywhere, that I’ve ever been spat at openly in the street. (Walking along the High Street, with the previous Mrs Bailey, to see legendary American folk singer, Tom Paxton, perform at the Central Hall).
Come to think of it, Kent would be better of dissociating itself from the Medway Towns, altogether.
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The Broncos have played home matches at numerous different grounds, mostly around London, since the club’s original formation. They are currently based in Wimbledon – Plough Lane.
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Thanks Jon.
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We used to follow them enthusiastically all over the place but interest has waned ( in Broncos, not the game !)
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Don’t forget there’s also a Gillingham (pronounced with a hard g) in Norfolk. It has had a Swan pub since 1753, but as far as I can see it’s hardly a pub at all now, just a restaurant.
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I didn’t simply forget, I’ve never heard of it and I must have driven most of Norfolk.
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