lee58uk

i live near MK i would never live in it, its good for shopping and night life but real good to leave at the end of the day, crime & and race hate is big prob there, the vilages around it are very nice stoney stratford is very nice looking place and expensive in the old parts,

i grew up in bedford well kempston, it not worse than MK for crime etc its the same ruff! flitwick is ok and amptill nice big park there to, used to go to the army cadets there

kezzabird

Hi folks I have lived in MK since I was 1 year old, I'm now 35.
Yes its true we have race hate going on mainly in Wolverton which isn't a nice place to live any ways. Apparently there is a long dispute going on between 2 pakistani familys and they are resorting to roaming the streets armed with weapons, but the police are on the scene very quickly and are on the case. We seem to have a lot of immigrants from Africa and Somalia and the council put them all together on Fishermead and OldBrook mainly, which I think is a bad move as they tend to gang up and cause trouble. As someone said it has good areas and bad areas the same as any city anywhere in the world. I think the good areas outway the bad, just stay away from the bad area's. The police have issued asbo's in the city and seem to be ontop of things in the heart of MK (The main Centre). I personally have not witnessed any major trouble, but I have read loads in the local paper.

On the upside we have got loads of stuff for kids, adults and teenagers. As someone has already said our shopping is second to none, we have a ski dome that knocks up real sno. 2 big cinema complex's, countless leisure centres. A wonderful theatre district with fantastic shows and panto's at xmas time. Here you will find loads of clubs restuarants and bars. Plenty of open spaces for dogs and kids to roam. We have beautiful countryside right on our doorstep. We have two major lakes that are used for sailing, canoeing, dragon boat racing, and wake boarding. And another at Tongwell which is used for water skiing. Stony Stratford is the place to go if you want pubs, there you will find the Cock and Bull pubs where the cock and bull saying originates. The Old George which I think is the oldest building in Stony and is reputed to have gohsts!?! Stony is a lovely area very oldywoldy and seem to have affordable houses compared to the villages around MK.

Employment is good here due to loads of business estates, not that you would know, as they are hidden by trees. We have the biggest Toys r us in europe, a huuuuuuge Ikea ( you need a navigation system to find your way around this place). 3 Tesco's one of which is absolutely massive! A huge Asda. Morrisons and Sainsburys are currently building a superstore to replace the one in the Food Hall at the moment.

If you want to commute to London from MK the roadworks on the M1 pose a real problem causing major delays as someone said is ongoing for sometime. Your best bet is to use the trains.

I am running short on time now but I could tell you loads more stuff if your interested.
Kerry

The_Effys

Totally agree with above post ^.

Yes MK has problems just like any other large town or city. It isn't perfect... Where is?

There are loads of things to see & do all around the city for all age groups as mentioned above.

The old 'concrete jungle' saying is outdated & you would know if you lived here that MK is a very green city with lots of parks & lakes.

Train services to London is superb with a train every 10 mins from MK & every 15mins from Bletchley.

I love MK & would quite happily live here for the next 30 years... if I wasn't emigrating to Australia As mentioned before avoid the bad areas - as you would do in any place you settle & you will be fine

There is only 1 thing wrong with Milton Keynes in my view... it's in the UK!

Chris.

eurotramp

We had to give up on MK..because we could not get a secondary school place for our 12 year old...there are not enough schools around for the amount of houses getting build...there was just one school with a free place..with a 19% GCSE result..
I got a bit worried about the crime as well..I have a 9 and 12 year old girl and I would not been happy with the personal attacks..even over day.

I think we going to leave the country again..is just not worth the hassle

kezzabird

Good move thats wot we're doing!!

Do you know which country yet?

eurotramp

It will be Germany.....I'm German
I love Britain...and it was me who wanted to come..kids and hubby are brits...I love the countryside, the pups and the history ..but living next to London is no fun and we cant buy a house..its dirty, bad traffic and crime..had enough

kezzabird

Don't blame you! We are off to Tasmania the island at the bottom of Australia. Very low crime rate down there and very under populated so its nice and quiet!

Lynne

I don't particularly like Milton Keynes as such but there are some really nice areas around it. I lived in Newport Pagnell for 15 years plus and loved it. There are a lot of small villages around but sadly from what I have seen it is getting very expensive.

I have never been impressed with the City Centre Shopping Mall basically because during the time I lived there (1979-1995) the variety of shops was limited (too many of the same thing) and stores changed regularly due to the high rents. Anything major, we bought in Northampton.

dingbat

Have you been there???

kezzabird

Yes went last year. sorry for the delay in replying just got back from a hen weekend in Spain!!!

I absolutley fell in love with the place its beautiful and green and mountainous I'm told very similar to NZ, although I've never been to NZ so can't compare. They have the best schools in the whole of Aus and I think its just a fab place to bring up our 3 year old. We've talked about it and although theres not much for teenagers, we've decided that we could move to the mainland by the time Alex becomes a teenager to prevent the inevitable boredom for him. The trouble is its soooooo far away from home not easy to just jump on a plane, its 3 plane rides away!!!

Have you made any plans to move to Germany yet?

Kerry

austin_d_powers

MK is a great place to live. Easy to get around by car. Walk/Bike paths everywhere, away from the roads. Easy access to M1. Can not comment on the schools. How great you think MK is will depend on the house/area you select (can afford).

eurotramp

Since we could not get a school place for my daughter and the house we liked is sold...was in Furzton ..nice 4 double bedroom house for 305k..we not going anymore
I really liked the house

Kitten24

We live in the Bucks area and I don't think there is anything wrong with MK, although I must add I don't live there myself. The houses are more affordable than High Wycombe (Where we currently are) so quite a few people commute between the two. Milton Keynes is always joked about as Roundabout City due to the large number of roundabouts. It has a fab mall though and I always go there to do my Chrimbo shopping. Aylesbury house prices are cheaper than Wycombe too, but they have shot up in the last while too. Marlow is quite expensive, but very beautiful. High Wycombe is quite expensive and the prices will only be going up once they have finished revamping the town centre. They are currently breaking everything down and rebuilding a huge mall as well as redoing all the roads and buildings in and around the town centre.

eurotramp

I love Marlow...not so sure about HW..whats the crime like? Houses a quit cheap in HW..compare to the surrounding..I think prices will start going down soon every were ..what is Chrimbo shopping?

Shame it didn't worked out with MK..I loved that house

Kitten24

Crime depends on the area you live in. I wouldn't go to the park with my children where we are living currenlty. High Wycombe used to be cheap, but it has gone up loads in the past year and will only do so more when they have finished with the revamping. Currently you can't even get a 1 bedroom flat for under £150k.

We're hoping the house prices will crash so we can afford to buy (hate renting!), but it just doesn't look like they're going to allow that to happen.

Chrimbo shopping = Christmas shopping. I am just a Mall junkie though, which is probably why I love MK.