[YoungNan]

It was Darren who asked if it was a roller disco   
Sorry, my fault for copying his post (not very well!)  I was just replying to the W H Smiths travel bit. 

[Rochester-bred]

YoungNan, it wasnt a roller disco it was just Scamps the nightclub.

[YoungNan]

Just to add something else, from a vague memory. Does anyone remember the travel agents upstairs in W H Smiths? I seem to remember there was some doors there that, from what I remember, on the opposite wall was a massive picture of a seventies looking girl, complete with 70's hair do. Was this something to do with a roller disco up there or something?????
[/quote]


Yes Darren
There was a W H Smith Travel Agents upstairs. I used to work there 

[kyn]

The holes are there blocked up but no walkway - post updated with picture (taken today on mobile, theres dedication for you!)
The U shaped bit is where the walkway spanned across

Only the section over the road was removed, the walk way still exists at either end.

[kyn]

Pentagon mirrors in the closed café on the ground floor.

[Rochester-bred]

I actually have a picture of myself back in the day in the black uniform with a red rose that we had to wear on the door or behind the bar there, will see if I can dig it out .

[Rochester-bred]

Back in the late 70s/80s I worked in Scamps and the Vann Dam bar and the Pentagon was like my second home. I miss the old atmosphere that used to be in it, as now it`s not the same but back then you had all the regulars who shopped there or even hung around the shops etc. I remember walking in the day it opened as a school kid, I was amazed at a real life shopping centre having only seen them on TV in America. I remembered the ramps, the fountain, having a drink in the Blue Grotto and having my lunch in the Golden Grill, those where the days.

[kyn]

The old orange logo still in place on level 2

[Stewie]

Yes Peterchall, think it came out by a record shop I used to frequent upstairs.

 

[peterchall]

Wasn't there once a ramp from the ground floor to the first floor, about halfway along the main 'corridor'?

[Lutonman]

I looked after the gas installation there at the time of construction and "back stage" was just boring concrete steps and doors.

[selkent]

Hi there, I have been interested to a worrying degree about this shopping centre since boyhood. My mum used to take us there at the weekend, although she preferred Maidstone and its higher quality retail emporia. Although I am now in my thirties I am still interested in the Pentagon and whenever I walk around the place I'm always hoping that a cleaner or security officer leaves some door open so I can take a peek down a hidden service corridor or somesuch.
 There is a wealth of information available at the Civic Centre in Strood. I was surprised to learn that the Pentagon was supposed to be larger than present, and there were also plans to build 120 flats on top of the Brook car park, presumably the intention being that people would live in the flats, shop in the Pentagon and work in Mountbatten House(incidentally it took eleven years to fill that block).
 A previous poster mentioned old signage. In the Brook car park on Level 2 there is an original orange logo sign that was there when I last visited a fortnight ago.
Apologies for the lengthy post but as I say, I do love the place, even though I shouldn't.

[MedwayDweller]

Darrenwolf-

That huge pic of seventies gogo dancer was due to the bar and club called Scamps and Van Damne bar. It occupied what is now the ten pin bowling alley.  Had a terrible reputation and if you search it out is loads on here about it.

[King Chav]

There was a fountain and people would throw coins into the water - unless I imagined it!? My friend Paul and I used to pretend to be The Persuaders and run around the place, shooting imaginary baddies! People probably thought we were most odd...

[King Chav]

Oh, the Pentagon... remember it well! The last time I was in there, I noticed the fountain had gone!