Hay bro you need to come to cape town (south africa)... on one of your trips I will come with you and you see the car parking lots there all over the place and Cape Town so cheap and beautiful
I had work colleagues that lived there and stayed overnight once, 25 years ago. It was just the same as your video then. All concrete and quite boring. 😂
Note for Americans and other aliens: Milton Keynes is a new city approximately halfway between London and Birmingham. It was built to be modern, efficient, healthy, and, all in all, a pleasant place to live. Many Britons find this amusing.
I lived in MK for over 30 years. You’ve made a reasonably fair assessment of it. Back in the day it was nicer - everything better kept and very clean. There was also a lot of public art, but much of it has been sold off. There used to be a really good live music scene, but that’s declined somewhat. However, it’s so easy to get to London, so lots of people do that. The other thing that most people don’t realise is that people who live in MK will often tend to socialise in the satellite towns that have been absorbed into the new city - Stony Stratford and Newport Pagnell. There you’ll find historic buildings and lovely old pubs. Thanks for not trashing my old home town. It’s far from perfect, but much better than many make out.
Having spent most of my adult life living in another New Town (Stevenage), I find that British people who have only lived in towns that have grown organically tend to zone in on the negative sides of New Towns. Yes the architecture is a bit bland but it is functional. In Milton Keynes, the Redways cycle network is fantastic and the amount of greenery is enormous compared to some of the UK cities that were created during the Industrial Revolution and still have a legacy cramped streets with two-up, two-down terraced houses whose front doors open up directly onto the pavement. The video doesn't cover the residential areas, which have been cleverly designed within the V and H road grid with comparatively limited access and thus are not used as rat runs by drivers.
Newcastle upon Tyne has a deserted shopping centre called Eldon garden that is still open to the public if you’re looking for a dystopian dump to go to
I used to travel to Milton Keynes for work regularly. It's such a strange place. I kinda like the idea of a grid system and there's definitely benefits of building new towns and cities on the scale of Milton Keynes, we need more places like it. The biggest lesson to learn from it though is that you need less focus on cars. A grid and segregated roads/paths is good but you need a more human scale, buildings closer together to make everything feel less distant.
What's weird is you go up the city centre and think it's the whole of MK. It's literally the greenest city in the UK. Very convenient as well. Better than most places. That was the equivalent of stepping off the tubes in london and calling it sht 😂.
That frog clock is one of my oldest memories of when times were good for me. Every hour it sends a golden ball down the track and then suddenly bubbles!!!
Apart from passing through many times I stayed in Milton Keynes 24 years ago for a few days, I also found it weird but also great tbh. Shopping centre is massive and the indoor skiing is cool. One thing you seeemed to miss in your vid was and that's the auto shopping delivery carts from Waitrose, Sainsbury's etc, they can be seen trundling along, deliver the shopping and then go back to the relevant supermarket and park themselves!
if you had carried on cycling another 5 min you would have come to Willen Lake which is really nice. We have lots of great places, Furzton Lane is nice with a lovely Italian cafe/restaurant and some good places to eat at the Hub as well. Very easy to get around with all the cycle paths.
It's like a load of mid-90s business parks stuck together with two shopping centre's and the Teletubbies set. Oh and a terrible football team nicked from South London.
I spent a lot of time in MK as a kid, that second shopping centre was opened in 1979 and it didn't look much different than it does today - it was like stepping into the future back then!! Shopping centres were not common at all in the 70s / early 80s. The big open area used to have different exhibitions such as big Lego scuptures at Christmas etc - also not common to see. Some of the suburbs of MK are real shit-holes, thats where the real dystopia is! (Look up Netherfield Milton Keynes)
You should have left the run between the train station and shopping centre more. If you'd headed five min either north or south, you would have seen the real face of Milton Keynes.
Went to Milton Keynes once. Spent 45 minutes looking for the City Centre before realising I had walked through it twice but no one else was around. This was on a Saturday.
I'm from a nearby town to MK and I'm a pretty regular visitor. So weird seeing you wandering about haha! Your observations are pretty spot on (as always btw.) The Xscape was always soooooo exciting as a kid; you should have gone on the slopes!! Also highly recommend Willen Lake as there's an inflatable obstacle course on the lake! But you're right, it's a dump 😂
There was so much to take in with this one....the weird pyramid, the expensive Haribo, the terrible room, the amazing eggs....what can I say to all that? 🤪 Totally in agreement on the Solero by the way 👌💯
Worth noting about this place, I am from Leeds myself and I travel to Milton Keynes and use this cheap hotel for our business when we have events in Silverstone! cheaper alternative and quite close so you'll often see those car parks filled with ALOT of nice cars around event time! :D
Thanks for another Ed treasure. I love watching your videos. You're naturally funny and a genuinely nice guy. Looking forward to seeing where you go next. Cheers Ed. We love you x
There are modern housing estates built like New Towns. Thamesmead near Abbey Wood in South London, for example. The road from Thamesmead doesn't have a pavement. You aren't supposed to walk along it.
I think instead of only staying 24 hours and stayed at least a week, it would've given you a perfect opportunity to explore a bit further out and around mk. There's more than just skiing and arcade games at the xscape building there's also bowling, a cinema and at the very back of the building there's also indoor skydiving. If you head towards mk central train station there's also an ice skating rink, plus you can have some fun with go karting near Rooksley. Also you can visit the local art gallery in the theatre district. If you went just a bit further than the cricket club you would find that there are various other lakes to explore. For example willen lake (1 of 15 lakes) where you can do all sorts of water sports and other activities as well as checking out the peace pagoda. There's also a theme park (Gulliver's land) which is just across the road from willen. Then you've also got caldecotte lake that also offers water sports and many more green spaces scattered throughout. If you want something a bit more tranquil then there is also the blue lagoon lake near the lakes estate. Another one is Furzton lake with it's hotel and restaurant. It's near the national bowl where concerts are usually held. Ideal if you're here for a show and need somewhere to stay. If you want something else to do there's also Milton Keynes museum with the old steam train on display and the concrete cows or there's bletchley park, also a museum of sorts. It's known for the code breakers, the Turing test (including Alan Turing himself) and the enigma machine. Plus the football stadium (mk dons) which is also where various events take place including a concert or two. You can get so much done in just a day and there's plenty of options for bus travel too. There's tickets for day travel, or a whole week. So getting to everything is very manageable with mostly short journey times. Or if you prefer cycling it's perfectly doable with many cycle paths that's part of an interconnected network known as the red way. There's even Woburn Safari park on the outskirts if you like animals. It's a lot more than just a city of roundabouts.
Lets all be honest... we'd all live there. Quiet streets, modern, good infrastructure. Im going to go just to go in that upsidedown house! Imagine a theme park all to yourself! That's Milton Keynes!
You could not pay may to sleep in that hotel room. A soulless, windowless cube with a rock hard bed and harsh unnatural light. Its like something from the Backrooms or a Resident Evil research facility.
We did a vid on Milton Keynes a while back and had to conclude it's a mix of nightmarish sterile hellscape... with some absolutely gorgeous parks. And little robot delivery guys.
Cant believe you were in my ends!! One Junction up from Luton and it can be nice haha and yes centre MK is dead in the week as we are working to afford to live here😂❤. Keep up the good work, we love the vids as always.
I had no idea Milton Keynes looked like this, actually keen to go see it now. Eurgh the windowless room! Awful! I lived in a horrible flat share once where I didn’t have a window and it was so much more depressing than I could’ve imagined. Never again
Am only 6.5 mins in and what impresses me most is how clean and tidy this place is……..not very busy (I agree) but can’t complain that it’s a shit hole…..👍
12:06 "tear to the eye...". Yeah, that'll be all the jarring and friction on the testicles from that bike, Ed. Great vid, MK looks just as soulless as I imagined it would.
Giving me flashbacks... I spent 24 hours there, stayed in the EasyHotel and ate at Spoons. I had hours to kill before check-in so spent it wandering around the shopping malls
As a 25 yr MK resident, it’s telling that the first place you liked is the horrible Midsummer Place shopping area. A true carbuncle on the otherwise magnificent central MK.
Leamington Spa’s town centre is also a grid system, built by the Roman’s, I heard. And as for Milton Keynes seeming like an alien invasion has happened, I believe that the film The World’s End was shot there, for that very homogeneous reason. Might be why it seemed familiar.
Something random but hotel related. I went to Oslo, Norway for a weekend trip with the partner and stayed in a cheap hotel called CityBox. Didn’t expect much being a budget friendly hotel but surprisingly had one of the best bests I’ve ever slept in. Apparently they get rid of room TVs and kettle to spend on better beds… ever in a Scandinavian country search for a CityBox hotel. P.s. if you want a kettle they have shared facilities in the community areas.
Love the videos, have you thought about visiting Bath? It's a super unique city, kinda feels like a mini country within itself. Also a world heritage site, so could be a good title.
It's the only city in the UK built in the grid system...well that's a lie. When are you English gonna remember Scotland is in the UK too we exist people
I can’t really work out why tbh… but these videos have turned into the best part of my week. And as lovely as you and your videos are, that feels a bit sad.
I'm back checking out some of Britain’s worst towns and cities, this one is supposed to be particularly dystopian, would you live there?
It's giving me G Mod vibes 😁
Hay bro you need to come to cape town (south africa)... on one of your trips I will come with you and you see the car parking lots there all over the place and Cape Town so cheap and beautiful
You should go to Ashton-under-Lyne. It is erm unique.....
Go to leicester west end 😂
I had work colleagues that lived there and stayed overnight once, 25 years ago. It was just the same as your video then. All concrete and quite boring. 😂
Note for Americans and other aliens: Milton Keynes is a new city approximately halfway between London and Birmingham. It was built to be modern, efficient, healthy, and, all in all, a pleasant place to live. Many Britons find this amusing.
Good Omens! :D
MK Ultra...😮
@@ToriPhillips-u6g MK Dons
Founded: 23 January 1967
Nothing new about mk abeg😂
Ed's next video, "I spent the day trying out homosexuality" He has already gave us the hint!
Give homosexuality a chance 😂
Please drop a list of the homosexual places in Milton Keynes. Asking for a friend! LOL
I’d watch that 😂
@@soundman601 Campbell park 😉
B*gger that for a game of soldiers.
I lived in MK for over 30 years. You’ve made a reasonably fair assessment of it. Back in the day it was nicer - everything better kept and very clean. There was also a lot of public art, but much of it has been sold off.
There used to be a really good live music scene, but that’s declined somewhat. However, it’s so easy to get to London, so lots of people do that.
The other thing that most people don’t realise is that people who live in MK will often tend to socialise in the satellite towns that have been absorbed into the new city - Stony Stratford and Newport Pagnell. There you’ll find historic buildings and lovely old pubs.
Thanks for not trashing my old home town. It’s far from perfect, but much better than many make out.
He did trash it he called it consumerist hell the entire time 😂
I don't know why, but this had such Partridge vibes 😂
Serious Partridge influence - must be a fan
@@JoseWhon He's not a fan. He's Fernando Partridge.
shitty zombies
@@modernhorticulture😂😂
“Die, Die, Oooh two out of two, Die” 😂😂
you in the arcade on your own is 100% Allan partridge vibes
💯 Agree 😁 shouting “Die” at the clown 🤡 game 😂
Killing zombies with a boy in care.
I’m from MK and the frog clock is not a tourist attraction 😂 and that’s all one shopping centre
Mate this would be the most pedestrian friendly city in the USA
Best personality on the internet by far.
Next video - a tour of the top 10 dogging spots in the UK.
Having spent most of my adult life living in another New Town (Stevenage), I find that British people who have only lived in towns that have grown organically tend to zone in on the negative sides of New Towns. Yes the architecture is a bit bland but it is functional. In Milton Keynes, the Redways cycle network is fantastic and the amount of greenery is enormous compared to some of the UK cities that were created during the Industrial Revolution and still have a legacy cramped streets with two-up, two-down terraced houses whose front doors open up directly onto the pavement. The video doesn't cover the residential areas, which have been cleverly designed within the V and H road grid with comparatively limited access and thus are not used as rat runs by drivers.
She thought you serious about renting 😂
Apparently some 'influencers' rent the place out for 3 hours+ so they can take pictures of themselves etc, so that's what she thought I was on about 😅
Newcastle upon Tyne has a deserted shopping centre called Eldon garden that is still open to the public if you’re looking for a dystopian dump to go to
The Frog clock has a brother..... Telford Town Centre :) - you should take a trip that way Ed. Keep up the good content
I used to travel to Milton Keynes for work regularly. It's such a strange place. I kinda like the idea of a grid system and there's definitely benefits of building new towns and cities on the scale of Milton Keynes, we need more places like it.
The biggest lesson to learn from it though is that you need less focus on cars. A grid and segregated roads/paths is good but you need a more human scale, buildings closer together to make everything feel less distant.
What's weird is you go up the city centre and think it's the whole of MK. It's literally the greenest city in the UK. Very convenient as well. Better than most places.
That was the equivalent of stepping off the tubes in london and calling it sht 😂.
Ed come to Grimsby. I'll buy you a kit kat from one of our many poundshops.
As soon as I saw the video title, I thought "I bet it's Milton Keynes..." 😂
Bruh give Lowestoft, the worst seaside town a go... absolute shambles
Nope, Great Yarmouth might just beat Lowestoft.
Ed "Two sandwiches" Chapman
Here I was thinking Telford was unique having a frog clock, makes both towns even less impressive
That frog clock is one of my oldest memories of when times were good for me.
Every hour it sends a golden ball down the track and then suddenly bubbles!!!
You just became even more Alan Partridge than ever by yourself at the amusements 😂😂😂
It honestly looks better than almost all of Britain, and I'd rather live here than in a small flat in a 'walkable paradise'.
Nothing more sad than 25 year old at an arcade. Ooohhh the shame I'm 38 and I sometimes go to the arcade on my own
Apart from passing through many times I stayed in Milton Keynes 24 years ago for a few days, I also found it weird but also great tbh. Shopping centre is massive and the indoor skiing is cool. One thing you seeemed to miss in your vid was and that's the auto shopping delivery carts from Waitrose, Sainsbury's etc, they can be seen trundling along, deliver the shopping and then go back to the relevant supermarket and park themselves!
“We don’t do per month” whoosh that joke went over her head like Concorde 😆.
‘Fruity like me’ 😂
Oh god Ed, the RUclips algorithm brought me to you. I am now working my way up from your oldest to newest videos. I’m obsessed.
if you had carried on cycling another 5 min you would have come to Willen Lake which is really nice. We have lots of great places, Furzton Lane is nice with a lovely Italian cafe/restaurant and some good places to eat at the Hub as well. Very easy to get around with all the cycle paths.
It's like a load of mid-90s business parks stuck together with two shopping centre's and the Teletubbies set. Oh and a terrible football team nicked from South London.
I spent a lot of time in MK as a kid, that second shopping centre was opened in 1979 and it didn't look much different than it does today - it was like stepping into the future back then!! Shopping centres were not common at all in the 70s / early 80s. The big open area used to have different exhibitions such as big Lego scuptures at Christmas etc - also not common to see. Some of the suburbs of MK are real shit-holes, thats where the real dystopia is! (Look up Netherfield Milton Keynes)
Omg I stayed in that hotel for a wedding in MK in 2019! £25 a night and a wetherspoons outside, what more can we ask for?
You should have left the run between the train station and shopping centre more. If you'd headed five min either north or south, you would have seen the real face of Milton Keynes.
Went to Milton Keynes once. Spent 45 minutes looking for the City Centre before realising I had walked through it twice but no one else was around. This was on a Saturday.
I'm from a nearby town to MK and I'm a pretty regular visitor. So weird seeing you wandering about haha! Your observations are pretty spot on (as always btw.) The Xscape was always soooooo exciting as a kid; you should have gone on the slopes!! Also highly recommend Willen Lake as there's an inflatable obstacle course on the lake! But you're right, it's a dump 😂
Im a bit strange because from what I saw in this video I thought Milton Keyes looked like a nice place?
The sun being out makes a huge difference lol on a cold dark winters day it’s very different
I live nearby MK, and driving around is fucking great, very rarely do I ever feel stuck in traffic. I'll admit though I always need a sat nav lol.
Milton Keynes is a great place. Too bad they didn't build more of them and UK doesn't build new towns anymore due to all the NIMBY objections.
When everyone plays Cities Skylines they always start by building Milton Keynes
pretty much 🤣
Ah, this is too true.
Also, Cities has ruined me because now when i see aerial shots over places I'm like 'oh, i can build that in cities' 😂
Don’t know why this video is titled this Milton Keynes is a lovely place
The lack of banter of the woman filming you in the house 😂
There was so much to take in with this one....the weird pyramid, the expensive Haribo, the terrible room, the amazing eggs....what can I say to all that? 🤪 Totally in agreement on the Solero by the way 👌💯
2.50 a pack of haribos 😂😂
Absolute bargain!
@@EdChapman23 City Haribos one step up from simple town ones I suppose
Worth noting about this place, I am from Leeds myself and I travel to Milton Keynes and use this cheap hotel for our business when we have events in Silverstone! cheaper alternative and quite close so you'll often see those car parks filled with ALOT of nice cars around event time! :D
Thanks for another Ed treasure. I love watching your videos. You're naturally funny and a genuinely nice guy.
Looking forward to seeing where you go next.
Cheers Ed. We love you x
4:56 thats where they sometimes add catwalks or mini christmas markets or christmas land and just general other things.
"It's the only British city built in a grid layout" Bros never heard of Glasgow
like going to London and spending the entire time in Trafalgar Square
You remind me of a young Alan partridge😂
The big open space in shopping centre was Middleton hall. They have events and stuff in there. Comic con recently
“Not sure what’s the point?”It’s the bit at the top 😂
There are modern housing estates built like New Towns. Thamesmead near Abbey Wood in South London, for example. The road from Thamesmead doesn't have a pavement. You aren't supposed to walk along it.
Live here and nice thing about place that you can cycle everywhere through parks and paths.
The big open space by John Lewis is where we have our indoor Christmas exhibit!
I think instead of only staying 24 hours and stayed at least a week, it would've given you a perfect opportunity to explore a bit further out and around mk. There's more than just skiing and arcade games at the xscape building there's also bowling, a cinema and at the very back of the building there's also indoor skydiving. If you head towards mk central train station there's also an ice skating rink, plus you can have some fun with go karting near Rooksley. Also you can visit the local art gallery in the theatre district.
If you went just a bit further than the cricket club you would find that there are various other lakes to explore. For example willen lake (1 of 15 lakes) where you can do all sorts of water sports and other activities as well as checking out the peace pagoda. There's also a theme park (Gulliver's land) which is just across the road from willen. Then you've also got caldecotte lake that also offers water sports and many more green spaces scattered throughout. If you want something a bit more tranquil then there is also the blue lagoon lake near the lakes estate. Another one is Furzton lake with it's hotel and restaurant. It's near the national bowl where concerts are usually held. Ideal if you're here for a show and need somewhere to stay.
If you want something else to do there's also Milton Keynes museum with the old steam train on display and the concrete cows or there's bletchley park, also a museum of sorts. It's known for the code breakers, the Turing test (including Alan Turing himself) and the enigma machine. Plus the football stadium (mk dons) which is also where various events take place including a concert or two.
You can get so much done in just a day and there's plenty of options for bus travel too. There's tickets for day travel, or a whole week. So getting to everything is very manageable with mostly short journey times. Or if you prefer cycling it's perfectly doable with many cycle paths that's part of an interconnected network known as the red way. There's even Woburn Safari park on the outskirts if you like animals.
It's a lot more than just a city of roundabouts.
Lets all be honest... we'd all live there. Quiet streets, modern, good infrastructure. Im going to go just to go in that upsidedown house! Imagine a theme park all to yourself! That's Milton Keynes!
I mean, it wouldn't surprise me if they built a beach!
No I wouldn't, too many chains, also no proper local pubs or community!
@kawaiilotus would make coming home to visit that much more special, especially if at Christmas time
Speak for yourself. It looks like a corporate hell-hole.
Always a good day when Ed uploads.
You could not pay may to sleep in that hotel room. A soulless, windowless cube with a rock hard bed and harsh unnatural light.
Its like something from the Backrooms or a Resident Evil research facility.
We did a vid on Milton Keynes a while back and had to conclude it's a mix of nightmarish sterile hellscape... with some absolutely gorgeous parks. And little robot delivery guys.
7:18 “Die!” I found that hilarious 😂
You didn't go to the nice parts, bean hill, fishermead, Springfield, coffee hall majestic areas
And conniburrrow. No crime happens there.
Cant believe you were in my ends!! One Junction up from Luton and it can be nice haha and yes centre MK is dead in the week as we are working to afford to live here😂❤. Keep up the good work, we love the vids as always.
The Upside Down house (and photos) was hilarious.
I had no idea Milton Keynes looked like this, actually keen to go see it now.
Eurgh the windowless room! Awful! I lived in a horrible flat share once where I didn’t have a window and it was so much more depressing than I could’ve imagined. Never again
“You’ve got great eggs, thank you for letting me swallow” 💀😂
The giant area outside John Lewis is used for a huge Christmas Market. It's incredible there!
It’s a great evening when we get an upload from Ed 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
"The place was designed to facilitate a zombie
apocalypse" 😂
Ambled around milton keynes saying dystopia for the day and didn't go to the scifi museum
I can’t believe you didn’t eat your ice lolly with a knife and fork 🤪
That upside down house is nicer then my flat 😂
@@MANIC3420 same 😂
2 sarnie's from Pret ???? Ed living that good life now.
I presumed one was for his breakfast the next day, but apparently not.
Am only 6.5 mins in and what impresses me most is how clean and tidy this place is……..not very busy (I agree) but can’t complain that it’s a shit hole…..👍
The most diabolical looking poached eggs ive seen lol, but for 3 quid and you said they tasted nice fair play 🤷♂️😂
Agreed. Looked snottery 😀
12:06 "tear to the eye...". Yeah, that'll be all the jarring and friction on the testicles from that bike, Ed. Great vid, MK looks just as soulless as I imagined it would.
loving the partridge esk moments in the arcade
Giving me flashbacks... I spent 24 hours there, stayed in the EasyHotel and ate at Spoons. I had hours to kill before check-in so spent it wandering around the shopping malls
Just subbed I've been ill and binge watched all your content great stuff
The YT algorithm suggested your channel, I watched two videos and saw a Solero in each. That's it, I had to subscribe 👌🏻
As a 25 yr MK resident, it’s telling that the first place you liked is the horrible Midsummer Place shopping area. A true carbuncle on the otherwise magnificent central MK.
Leamington Spa’s town centre is also a grid system, built by the Roman’s, I heard.
And as for Milton Keynes seeming like an alien invasion has happened, I believe that the film The World’s End was shot there, for that very homogeneous reason. Might be why it seemed familiar.
The World's End was shot in Welwyn Garden City and Letchworth Garden City.
Not that far away and also kind of planned communities.
Ed in a hard bed, loving eggs, giving biking a go, expensive Haribo, all you need to know!!
ed i fucking love your fucking videos, fav youtuber and personality, love your raw humor and lovely voiceovers, such a king.
My favourite RUclipsr walking past my office, not something I thought I'd be watching today!
Something random but hotel related. I went to Oslo, Norway for a weekend trip with the partner and stayed in a cheap hotel called CityBox. Didn’t expect much being a budget friendly hotel but surprisingly had one of the best bests I’ve ever slept in. Apparently they get rid of room TVs and kettle to spend on better beds… ever in a Scandinavian country search for a CityBox hotel.
P.s. if you want a kettle they have shared facilities in the community areas.
The Christmas Exhibit goes in that open space by John Lewis
Hey Ed, just started watching you today! Such lovely Yorkshire charm. Speaking from a Yorkshire lass myself! Typical Yorkshire humour 😂
Love the videos, have you thought about visiting Bath? It's a super unique city, kinda feels like a mini country within itself. Also a world heritage site, so could be a good title.
I visited MK once and genuinely the frog was the highlight of my day, what a charming lil fella
They have the Reggae Land Festival at the start of August with lots of classic bands. Tickets are cheap too. lol
In one of the shopping centers theres q bunch of massive plastic cows... I'm surprised you didnt see/show them
What a soullessness place
It's the only city in the UK built in the grid system...well that's a lie. When are you English gonna remember Scotland is in the UK too we exist people
I can’t really work out why tbh… but these videos have turned into the best part of my week. And as lovely as you and your videos are, that feels a bit sad.
you can feel the dystopian prison being built around us, cbdc and digital is will be switched off if you think for yourself
Partridge personified. I love it.
That upside down house looked like the bees knees.
I was genuinely impressed 😂
Go to Jaywick next haha
Did Milton Keynes with a e scooter, turns out I always lose my sense of direction there and genuinely don't know which way is forward 😂