(Credits: Far Out / Alamy)
Mon 9 March 2026 7:00, UK
In 2015, Dartford Borough Council finally marked a slice of Rolling Stones history by commemorating the moment Mick Jagger and Keith Richards bumped into each other as young men in the Kent town’s railway station.
Not that it was correct. While deserving of rock heritage recognition, the blue plaque’s erroneous caption stating the two “went on to form The Rolling Stones” rubbed hardcore fans the wrong way, no less than original bassist Bill Wyman, who labelled the error “disgusting”. As any Stoneshead will know, it was Cheltenham-born Brian Jones who founded the band, eager to form a blues outfit and chose their immortal name after a Muddy Waters number.
However, rock lore was certainly forged on October 17th, 1961. Crossing paths at Dartford railway station, Richards spotted his old Wentworth Primary School classmate on platform two with some Chuck Berry and Waters records tucked under his arm, prompting him and Jagger to start chatting over a shared love of R&B. The two clicked. Before long, the future Glimmer Twins were hanging out with fellow Dartfordian Dick Taylor of later Pretty Things fame, jamming as the Blues Boys and paving the road toward their British Invasion explosion.
Dartford’s Heritage and Tourism has tried its best to bring rock fans to the little Kent town. Lying just over the Bexley Greater London border in Southeast England, but considered zone eight on the Transport for London map, Dartford proves tricky for any council to capitalise on its rock mythos.
It’s not Liverpool, both an attractive city in its own right and an essential locale of Beatles lore. Dartford sits in the capital’s commuter belt, boasting an utterly unremarkable suburban character; its only other claim to fame is the Dartford Crossing bridge, which connects to Essex, and its proximity to the Bluewater Shopping Centre.
Yet, for the dedicated, a stroll down High Street in the centre will reveal Amy Goodman’s The Glimmer Twins piece, two bronze statues of Jagger and Richards mid-rock that were met with a mixture of bafflement and derision. To be fair, it’s a better job than the two Jaggers lurking at Dartford station’s entrance and nestled deep in Central Park, looking more like Michael Jackson from a distance but featuring a cool little nod to the Vox AC30 amp pioneered in town, sporting its own plaque at 119 Dartford Road.
If you have a few hours to kill or have a car, you can stroll by the essential streets of Jagger and Richards’ childhood. Both were born at Livingston Hospital on East Hill and lived about a ten-minute walk from each other, Richards spending his early years at 33 Chastillian Road near Jagger at 39 Denver Road. The two lost touch as teens, Jagger moving to Wilmington and attending Dartford Grammar School, now the site of The Mick Jagger Centre performing arts theatre, and Richards a student at Dartford Technical High School for Boys while living at 6 Spielman Road in the Temple Hill area, marked by an unofficial plaque by its front.
Once friendships had rekindled and the two moved to London, Dartford was left behind, bearing next to no presence in the Jagger-Richards songbook like Liverpool’s suburbs’ place in the Fab Four canon. The Rolling Stones connection has been celebrated on their behalf, though, the council giving the thumbs up to as many as 13 commemorative street names, including Satisfaction Street, Ruby Tuesday Drive, and Cloud Close.
Despite living and playing all over the world, you just can’t take the humdrum Southeast suburb out of the pair. Even in recent years, Richards has been spotted sporting a “Straight Outta Dartford” t-shirt when playing some of the biggest stadiums on Earth, still happy to serve as the small Kent town’s cultural and musical ambassador.