TOP designer labels are being wooed to Chatham by a 19th century Dutch barge. The Maaike Maria, built in Rotterdam in 1888 and now moored in Chatham Maritime Marina, has become the marketing centre for the £63 million Dockside Outlet Centre being created from the old dockyard boiler shop.

Dockside Developments bought the barge from Edmund Nuttall, an engineering company that cleared St Mary's Island of contamination and naval waste. The barge was previously moored in St Katherine's Dock, near Tower Bridge, London.

Director Steven Reeves said: "We needed a marketing suite and we wanted something different. The Maaike Maria is ideal and is also close to the shopping centre."

The iron barge is no stranger to Chatham Maritime. In the 1990s, it was used as a marketing suite by English Partnerships to promote the site. Its local role has since been taken over by the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA).

More than 50 representatives of Britain's biggest brand names recently sampled the delights of the elegant sailing barge. As well as the 19th century experience, they were also flown by 21st century helicopter over Medway for a bird's eye view of the area.

"The message to them was that Chatham is not what they might think it is, but a very nice place," said Mr Reeves. The level of retailer we are talking to does not exist in Chatham today. We are talking quality ladies' fashion, quality men's shoes.

"They will create a critical mass that will attract people from a long way away and hopefully spend shedloads of money in the centre and in the town centre."