Mock Tudor buildings in Pudding Lane.

In Pudding Lane, above the greengrocers shop, there is an impressive building with weathering and butterfly bushes moving in on the parapet.

Further down, there are some mock Tudor buildings but the historic site is the frontage of Fremlin's Brewery at the end of Pudding Lane in Earl Street.

At ground level, there is still some old street furniture with some old granite setts which never wear out and kerb stones. These had to be tough igneous rocks because carts came to pick up barrels. To the right of the Fremlin's entrance, under what was Museum Street, a Roman cemetery was recently found.

In the Roman period, the Maidstone area was spread with villas and farmsteads. Several villas, cemeteries, road-side burials and coin hoards have been found indicating that Roman Maidstone was an important trade centre. The current Fremlin’s development has uncovered more Roman remains.

There were many little breweries at the end of the last century, the river being useful for transport and water for the beer production.

The only break in production came towards the end of World War Two, when a shell hit the Fremlin's water storage tank at the top of the building. Fortunately, there were no casualties as the incident took place at night. It was claimed that the bottling plant was the nearest factory to enemy-occupied Europe.

In the mid 1950's, it was Kent's second largest brewery with over 600 public houses. In Kent they used to grow a lot of hops for brewing, but as lager beer became more popular, they started buying imported hops.

A bus stop in Pudding Lane.

In the 1960's, the town used to have a distinct brewery smell on most days. There was also a sweet-making factory by the river making Trebor Mints and Sharp's Toffees, so you can imagine the two different smells used to be rather strange on some occasions.

After bottling ceased the old brewery was used as a distribution depot by Fremlins until its demolition in 2003. In the early 1970's, Fremlins was itself taken over by the brewing giant Whitbread.

Fremlin Walk will become a new 35,000 sq.m shopping centre.

Former frontage of Fremlin's which will be part of a shopping centre.	Fremlin's golden elephant weather vane.	Old House