Look local: Discoveries in Maidstone

Maidstone is known as the county town of Kent. The River Medway runs through the centre and there is evidence of settlement in the area dating back to before the Stone Age. The town’s optical services bring it up to date with the latest technology for its patients.

Sanjay Patel, ophthalmic director at Specsavers, has worked at the practice for 23 years. ‘Maidstone is the county town for Kent and has enjoyed exceptional growth and development over the past 10 years, making it one of the busiest town in Kent in terms of volume of residents and visitors,’ says Patel. ‘We have matched this growth too. Since our Specsavers store opened in 1992, we have been continually expanding to cater for the needs of our growing loyal customer base. Some of the expansion was time-based, covering seven days a week and extended opening hours and some was physical expansion of the floor space and number of test rooms.’ Indeed, the practice went from three testing rooms to 14 optometrist rooms.