Arts and Heritage

The Woodville, a venue housing an auditorium and studio theatre, is located inside the Civic Centre in Gravesend.

This is Gravesend's only cinema and is located inside the Civic Centre in Gravesend. It has new releases every month.

The cinema has Dolby 7.1 Surround Sound, Live Theatre Screenings and has showings of 3D films.

If you would like to film in the Gravesham Borough of Kent, the Kent County Council Film Office can assist productions to find locations, obtain film permits for filming in public areas and facilitate traffic management requests.

Gravesham is home to the market town of Gravesend, situated on the south bank of the Thames boasting the oldest remaining cast iron pier in the world, a promenade, high street and shopping centres. The wider Gravesham area offers traditional British countryside and villages in the North Kent Downs.

The area has many open spaces including Woodlands Park which is home to the Gravesend Cold War Bunker built in 1954. Nearby, Shorne Woods Country Park offers a visitor centre, café, a sensory garden, picnic and play areas and rolling woodlands, wetlands and meadows.

Cobham Hall is a private school set in 150 acres of parkland. The popular film location provides a ballroom, library, cobbled courtyards, formal gardens, modern classrooms and sports facilities.

The National Trust has two sites in the borough of Gravesham – Cobham Wood and Mausoleum, a vast woodland park home to the 18th Century Darnley Mausoleum and Owletts which is a Charles II house set in beautiful gardens.

Easily accessible to London, the area is near the high speed rail link at Ebbsfleet International and the M2 motorway.

Previous productions which have chosen to film in the Gravesham area include Hetty Feather (2015), Great British Railway Journeys (2014) and Incendiary (2008).

For more information about filming in Gravesham, please visit the Kent Film Office website.

Gravesham Arts Salon (GAS)

Gravesham Arts Salon had its first meeting in December 2016 and since starting as an informal network of creative practitioners working in Gravesham, it is now a constituted organisation initiating and delivering projects under the GAS banner. It has, however, maintained its core intentions to be a supportive space for artists and creatives in the area to share ideas and work and link up with colleagues.

To find out more, please visit the Gravesham Art Salon website

Theatrical Groups

• Gravesend and District Theatre Guild
• Meopham Players
• Cobham Amateur Dramatic Society

Historical Groups

• Northfleet History Group
• Gravesend Historical Society
• Higham Village History Group

Art Groups

• M & C Art Group
• Gravesend Art Group

Floral Groups

• Gravesend Floral Arrangement Society

Library activities

For information on activities within Gravesham libraries please view the Kent County Council website.

Music and Singing

• The Marlowe Singers
• Gravesham Choral Society

Gravesend's Cold War bunker is within Woodlands Park and was originally known as Civil Defence Region 6.

Further information about the Cold War bunker can be found at the Discover Gravesham website.

For information regarding visits take a look at the Visit Gravesend website.

Milton Chantry is the oldest building in the Borough of Gravesham, it was founded in 1321 by Aymer de Valence the Earl of Pembroke and is situated within the Fort Gardens.

For information regarding visits take a look at the Visit Gravesend website.

The Blake Gallery is located in the lower ground area of The Woodville, it showcases a range of art and cultural exhibitions through out the year, for current event listings please visit The Woodville website.

Visit the underground world of New Tavern Fort. Wind your way through the tunnels and hear about how the fort would have defended the maritime route to London against an enemy fleet.

The Fort is now closed for the winter and will re-open in April 2024.

Further information about the New Tavern Fort can be found at the Visit Gravesham website.