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A far cry from Soviet-style shopping centres, this is the first "European" one I've seen in Russia. Built specifically for that purpose, it is clean and spacious with lots of daylight.

The shops are modern, with friendly and attentive staff who will give honest advice. There are sports shops such as Nike and Adidas, lots of clothes shops and a food court with a choice of several different cuisines. It's easy to spend hours (and hundreds) in there.

Not a bad shop, not the biggest but has enough films to tide you over for a while, unless you're a super-elitist movie freak. Has a nice selection of games.

The people that run the place are excellent - they really know their stuff and they're happy to tell you all about it. If it's quality you're after, this is it.

A huge shop with its' own car park (which is a huge bonus, as parking in Chatham lately requires a good knowledge of georgraphy and Tetris).

As you walk in, the right side of the store is full of stationery, with all sorts of things from printing paper to desk organisers.

The left side focuses on office supplies such as furniture and cameras.

As far as I'm aware, Dockside was built as Medway's answer to Bluewater. Unfortunately, I would have to say it failed.

In itself, it's not bad but there is no lure of labels like there is in its' big sister. There is a Clarks but that's about the only place I can think of. Others are outlets, which is all well and good but they just seem messy and dingy.

The food court isn't bad, with a Burger King, a jacket potato place and one that serves great sandwiches. There are also a couple of great home stores.

The main thing that lets Dockside down is the lack of people. It has failed to be popular and sometimes walking around it is like being in a zombie video game. There is a Nandos just down the road but the ill-fated Dickens Centre next door doesn't help much either.

There is a cinema but if you're using public transport, you're all out of luck. Despite having three (THREE! Count 'em!) bus services that stop next to Dockside (the 100 to St Marys Island, the 140/1 to Chatham Maritime and the dedicated Dockside Shuttle), you'll be lucky if you get to your movie on time (or lectures, as I found out when I was attending university across the road).

Not a particularly high-end place, but it has everything you need and more - shops that take up two floors include New Look and Wilkinson. Others include Boots, Superdrug and WHSmith, there are several mobile phone places, a Claire's Accessories, a few card shops and a Sainsburys. For food you can either eat at BB's (which is a coffee and sandwiches place), Subway, an Italian cafe near it (which has quite a lot of seating, something which Subway severely lacks), a bakery, a hot dog or a meal deal from Boots.

The shops on the top floor aren't as great as the ground ones but you do have yet another New Age shop, a "Legends" style cafe, a menswear place and a store that sells cut-price DVDs - if you're after old classics, you might be able to dig out a gem there.

There is also a fabrics shop and a few jewellers, as well as a few standalone stalls in the middle of the wide walkways.

The major bonus of the Pentagon is that it is also the hub of Arriva buses - any exit on the first floor leads to the big bus stop, which is all around it and makes it very easy to travel. There is also a large car park.

If you're after a shopping centre that isn't all about brands and labels, this is for you.

The shops that I remembered are a wig shop (maybe?), a key cutting and shoe repair place, which is always useful but there are a few shops of those kind on that end of the High Street, not to mention one in the Pentagon just down the road. There is also a hippy type shop that sells New Age stuff like poppers, posters and statuettes and a shop that sells models of cars, planes and stuff like that.

Unfortunately, a lot of the units stand empty and it gives the place a dilapidated look. If you don't mind the lack of glamour, you'll probably find what you're looking for, seeing as none of the units are particularly big.

The shop is decent enough and there seems to be a wide variety of football shirts, both home and away, for competitive prices.

Unfortunately, the choice of womens' apparel seems to be poor if you're after Adidas rather than Mackenzie.

To be honest, I was disappointed with the staff. You do get weird looks if you're not in there wearing a tracksuit and some of them had no idea about things like processing a gift voucher. However, they might have just been new or something so I'll give them leeway for that.

Having revisited Simply Italian, I am much more immpressed than before! At the door, we were greeted by 'real' Italians (it always helps if the people who cook and serve your food and run the place are the appropriate nationality, it makes you feel like they know what they're doing) and seated promptly despite having no reservation on a Friday night (though make no mistake, it was busy in there).

The seating was great, the table for two was just the right size to not struggle with balancing your plate, cutlery and wine glass and far enough from other tables to not be overwhelmed by noise from other customers. I didn't have to worry about knocking the chair behind me every time I stood up either.

We got served quickly, with the waiting staff attentive enough to not leave us seating empty-plated for long after finishing our starter. The food was hot, the strawberry wine was excellent and the prices were decent. All in all, a great way to start off your night in Rochester High Street.

A year back, if you were looking for me on a Friday or Saturday night, this is the place you would find me. Now, I wouldn’t be seen dead in there.

The basics: The place used to be a car manufacturing plant I believe and there are still heavy chains hanging across the place. The walls are covered in what is mostly a bad attempt at artistic graffiti. There are three floors, 6 bars, a laundrette, a hairdresser, a tattooist, an Internet radio station and a beer garden. During the day, only the ground floor is operational. There are no windows, so the place is pretty much always a murky cavern. Expect to stick to the floor if you stand in one place for more than several seconds. Avoid draft beer and stick to bottled; the beer lines are rarely cleaned. You’ll also have to trek up a flight of stairs that smell of vomit from the weekend to get to the toilet. Oh, and the place is usually empty.

On Monday nights, the Tap is packed as it’s £1 per drink up until midnight. They open at 8pm so get there early and feel the irony at being given a disapproving once-over by the art students in silly clothes from the nearby art college, a far cry from the chilled out atmosphere that used to prevail a few years ago. Expect overcrowding, spilling your drink all over yourself and long queues in the toilets.

Friday and Saturday nights are when all the bars are open;

Ground floor has either a DJ or a CD on.
Pool room has a jukebox and four new-ish pool tables.
Garden bar has no beer pumps and you can’t smoke under the canopy. There is a free BBQ on though.
Middle floor is relatively quiet.
Cage room (Torture Garden this ain’t; the names comes from the gate locking the room at all other times) has bad local bands on Fridays and metal music on Saturdays. Also no beer pumps.
Top floor has a mishmash of stuff on Fridays, from Linkin Park to Faithless and is usually a bit of fun. On Saturdays it’s 60’s onwards music.

If you’re not too picky about cleanliness and service then you will probably enjoy the place. The good side is that you won’t have to dress up; jeans and a t-shirt is fine. The downside is that the staff will hate you, the bouncers are hit-and-miss on the understanding scale and you’ll be overlooked in favour of friends, staff on their day off and regulars while waiting for 30 minutes at the bar.