DEMOLITION has started on the site of the new Fremlin Walk shopping development in Maidstone.

Over the next eight weeks a large swathe of the town's 19th century history will crumble into dust.

Warehouses, homes and shops are making way for the new development set to open in Spring 2005.

Both Market Street and Museum Street will disappear into memory as the remaining buildings are swept away.

Contract staff from Scudder Demolition have also begun dismantling the former Fremlins Brewery.

* See next week's Kent Messenger for a special report on the Fremlin Walk site.