Shoppers will be able to use a new bus to get to Bluewater this winter.

Arriva has relaunched a direct route from Maidstone to the shopping centre in Greenhithe for the Christmas period.

The 701 service will start this Sunday (December 1) and will run until Saturday, January 4.

The direct service was introduced during the summer and has now returned – running every 30 minutes from Monday to Sunday.

The 45-minute journey will start and end at Bluewater Bus Station and King Street, Maidstone.

It will stop at Ringlestone Footbridge and Maidstone East Railway Station along the way.

It will run on weekends until Sunday, December 22 and then will run daily until its last day.

The fare for a single journey is still £2.

The shopping centre recently welcomed fashion retailers Bershka and Pull&Bear, as well as make-up store Sephora this week.

Arriva South area director Chris Burley said: "We saw in the summer holidays how popular a route the 701 was for our customers and we wanted to be able to bring it back for the festive period to allow people access to a whole host of shops and entertainment in the run up to Christmas.

“We hope people enjoy the service once again”.