A social supermarket opens on the Pentagon's first floor in October: £1 fruit and veg bags, no referral or membership needed, open to any Medway resident.
A community supermarket is opening on the first floor of the Pentagon Shopping Centre in Chatham this October, and anyone who lives in Medway will be able to shop in it.
Medway Council announced the project on Monday 24 August. It will be run by SEK Community Food Shop, part of Social Enterprise Kent, with the council providing the start-up money from its Crisis and Resilience Fund.
What it will sell, and who can use it
From the council’s announcement, the shop will offer:
- budget-friendly groceries, including a £1 fruit and vegetable bag
- surplus food redistributed rather than thrown away
- a community space where people can meet council, community and partner services
- advice on budgeting, energy costs and the financial support available
The rule that matters most is the one about access. The shop will be open to all Medway residents, with no need for a referral or membership. That is a real difference from a food bank, which normally needs a voucher or a referral from an agency.
Rebecca Smith, chief executive of Social Enterprise Kent, said the Chatham shop will be the organisation’s third social supermarket branch, and that the branches “are about more than food”.
The two branches that already run this way
The model is not new, and you can check how it works before it opens. Social Enterprise Kent’s SE Kitchen social supermarkets already trade in two Kent towns, and the organisation says of them that “anyone can shop here, no membership, referral, or sign-up required”.
| Branch | Address | Opening hours |
|---|---|---|
| Ramsgate | St Georges Church Hall, Broad Street, CT11 8QY | Mon and Tue 9am to 4pm, Wed 10.30am to 4pm, Thu and Fri 9am to 4pm, Sat 9am to 12.30pm |
| Ashford | 22 Bank Street, TN23 1BE | Mon to Sat, 9am to 5pm |
Both are closed on bank holidays. Hours for the Chatham branch have not been published.
Where the money comes from
The Crisis and Resilience Fund is government money, run by the council. Its Crisis and Resilience Plan 2026 to 2028 sets out four strands: crisis payments, housing payments, resilience services and community coordination. The council has allocated £1.1 million to crisis payments alone for 2026/27.
The supermarket appears in that plan in its own right. The council writes that it is opening it “with Social Enterprise Kent in the Pentagon Centre, Chatham, providing affordable food and household essentials to further help residents manage the cost of living”.
Cllr Vince Maple, the council leader, said the fund was designed for exactly this sort of scheme. It offers immediate support, he said, “but there is also a focus on helping them to build resilience through the wrap-around services which will be in place”.
How much food support Medway already gives out
The council’s own plan carries a figure its press release left out. Medway Food Partnership, which brings local organisations together on food insecurity, has 191 members from 89 organisations, and the plan lists among its achievements:
- supporting 20,000 families and households with food parcels each year
- helping 2,200 children develop cooking skills and healthy eating habits
- delivering more than 400 cookery courses across Medway
Twenty thousand households a year is the context for a £1 vegetable bag on the first floor of the Pentagon.
Why that floor of the Pentagon
The shop is going in next to the James Williams Healthy Living Centre, which opened on 16 March 2026 in what used to be a gym on the Pentagon’s first floor. The council put £15 million into that project and the NHS contributed £13.4 million. It is named after Medway’s former director of public health, who died in 2023.
The pairing is deliberate. Cllr Teresa Murray, deputy leader and portfolio holder for public health, said putting the supermarket “in the heart of Chatham, right next to the newly-opened James Williams Healthy Living Centre” is fantastic. She tied it to Medway’s work towards becoming a Marmot Place, the public health programme aimed at cutting health inequality.
What it means for you
You cannot use it yet. October is the month the council has given, and no opening date, address detail within the centre or opening hours have been published. Social Enterprise Kent’s chief executive asked people to watch its own channels for the date.
When it does open, you will not need a voucher, a referral or a membership card to shop there, and you will not need to prove anything about your income. If you live in Medway, you can walk in.
If you need help before October, the council’s financial welfare support pages cover crisis payments, housing payments and debt advice, and the plan notes that Medway’s 15 libraries can help residents access those services in person.
More Medway local information: council tax bands, bin collection days, parking in Medway.
Have your say
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