On Monday the nation takes another step on the government's 'roadmap' out of lockdown - and it means we can proudly say Maidstone is open!

After a tough year of on-off restrictions, the County Town's shops, bars, restaurants, hairdressers and gyms can now welcome back customers and get those tills ringing once again.

We want to help celebrate the reopening by sharing the many stories of the great things our local businesses are doing to get back to work, so we are encouraging firms big and small to tell us what they have planned next week.

New outdoor seating for socially-distanced meals and drinks? Special offers on post-lockdown haircuts? New equipment in the gym? Whatever it may be, we want to tell our readers all about it as we encourage people to breathe life into our town centres once again.

Kent Messenger editor Denise Eaton said: "It is fantastic that we are now emerging from lockdown safely and able to start getting back to doing the things we love.

"Our town centres should be the beating heart of our communities, so we are excited to do our small part to help promote local businesses as they get back to work after many tough months.

"We are sure many of our readers are desperate for a trim of those lockdown locks, or eager to meet friends and family for a safe, socially-distanced pint or bite to eat, so we want to celebrate all the great people and places in Maidstone waiting to welcome customers back this week."

We will be covering the reopening on Monday both here on KentOnline and via our social media channels, using the hashtag #MaidstoneIsOpen to help our town centre traders connect with our readers.

If you want to tell us what you have planned next week, then either tweet @KM_newsroom with the hashtag, send us a message on Facebook or email messengernews@thekmgroup.co.uk with details.

Maidstone is open for business, and we can't wait to be back.

Read more: All the latest news from Maidstone