To wonder why there is so much snobbery about Milton Keynes?

Also, a huge proportion of the population are "incomers" (as I am) so there is no local snobbery about being "not from round here" that one might see elsewhere.

I've lived in MK for 9 years now and love it. Prior to that, I've lived in: -

Oxford - beautiful, history, dreaming spires blahblah, but absolutely fucking awful traffic, and forget parking anywhere near the centre.

London (zone 2, SE) - nice enough, fun as a young adult with decent income, great access to all sorts of cultural things, but after we moved out, our landlord sold our 2 bed flat for 200K more than we paid for our 4 bed house in MK.

Small market town in Shropshire - lovely place to raise children, idyllic, safe, but almost everyone leaves for uni and never returns.

MK doesn't have the cultural or historical clout of Oxford or London, but it is far more affordable, accessible, and functional. Has pretty much all the shops and nearly all the activities most people could want. Schools are mostly decent, traffic and parking are good, and it's well connected.

As for "made for people on housing benefit" - there are some of the older estates that were primarily council housing, but the majority of the more recent ones are nicer and mainly build for private ownership. Crime is not a particularly big problem compared with other similar sized cities, I think? My kids are a bit young to worry about county lines etc, but I don't think it's a huge deal here.

People just like to be dicks about anything remotely different.

Reading this thread makes me want to move to Milton Keynes!

I have heard of a black family escaping London for MK in an attempt to keep their children safer than the streets of London.

It’s the butt of many jokes but when they do surveys on the shittest places to live, there’s always other towns that are mentioned higher.

The people who don’t live there don’t realise how much greenery there is in a town that’s considered a concrete jungle. I always assume that the people who diss it are those who prefer not to live in the suburbs and pay a premium to live rurally and drive to amenities like shopping centres when needed despite Mk being designed for drivers.

There are some very rough areas but there are some great areas too.

Some bits of it are really cute and quite rural, there's a canal and a cute pub just round the corner from my mates house, but it feels like the countryside. But you need a car. Obviously if you like period architecture, Georgian, Victorian etc then you're not really going to get it.
But I'd say you'd get more space for your money and it is only 30 mins out of central London with very regular trains. If I had kids or maybe when I'm older I would definitely consider it.

I live on the outskirts of Trowbridge and tell people I live in Bradford On Avon.

It happens.

I’ve seen some awesome bands play there. I have nothing but fond memories of it.

So what if it’s ‘new’ and has no history. Nor does anything else when it’s first built.

It's a marmite town. One of DS's close uni friends liuves there but is always so embarrassed to admit it. DS has to go there about once a week for work and says it's horrible. But I have been there twice and thought it was rather lovely with lots of green space and wondered why people hate it so much. I even like the cows.

Agree.

There are places that people go on about that I wouldn’t want to live in but I would never go out of my way to say how ridiculous they are or it is sh*t because it’s not my preference.

It’s just choosing to be rude.

I always notice a lot of druggies hanging around outside the shopping centre. A PP mentioned many people being on housing benefit. Is there a lot of unemployment and crime in MK? County lines gangs, too?

Cos it’s shite

I can think of one truly amazing thing Milton Keynes has going for it: It’s not Bedford!

It's not true that there's zero local history or interest. Yes, MK was purpose built but it was built up around several existing small towns and villages, swallowing them and making them part of MK. So there are ancient churches, tudor houses, old pubs, Bletchley codes etc. Not everything is 1960s or newer. And not sure if you just meant history when you said 'interest' but MK museum, MK Theatre, the Stables, MK Gallery and more is around if you look for it. There is lots of culture.

Your friend has clearly never been to Canary Wharf.

I think it depends on the person. I have lived in Swindon, Coventry and just outside of Milton Keynes. I have lived in the Cotswolds too.

I have zero snobbery about it. There are pros and cons to them all - the Cotswolds isn’t my favourite but socially it would be considered the nicer place.

MK was the place to be when I was a teenager because it was the only place close by with decent shopping. I don’t visit their often nowadays but I don’t have a negative view of there at all.

I think MK has a dystopian feel to it because it's so artificial.
It was built using American grid-style street development so for example all the roads are straight, which is really unnatural in the UK, there's no local history or interest to it.

It's also been basically built for people on housing benefit 😂 sorry.

So I'm just saying I understand why there is "snobbery" about it! I couldn't care less if you want to live there though.

Used to live near MK and miss the shopping, theatre, The Stables venue, parks etc. it appears to be a concrete jungle from the roads, but it has hidden depths.

I used to know a woman (now dead) who honestly couldn't believe that anyone would want to live anywhere other than Worthing - to the point where she was quite affronted when someone she knew didn't live there.

People are funny about where an "acceptable" place to live is. Every so often there's a thing in The Sunday Times (or similar) which says that Lewes is a wonderful place to live in. It has its charms but the pavements are tiny and driving / parking there is hellish.

The Barbican is sometimes raised as an example of a concrete jungle but it is a great place to live if you want a flat and have youngish children - there are lots of green spaces and the children can safely call in on their friends without worrying about cars or random strangers. It's really expensive though.

I can see the appeal of MK for a family with older primary / younger secondary aged children.

Some people get real joy from thinking that their lives and tastes are, in some way, superior to someone else’s. An easy way is to look down at particular streets, towns or cities. People in Liverpool and Birmingham get it, as do people on the border of Peckham / Brixton and places like East Dulwich in London. Even some streets get sneered at.

I had this when I was moving house / job. For some reason, a colleague thought I was moving to MK and tittered about this in front of me. Something along the lines of ‘why would you choose to live there!’

I totally ignore people like this. It says more about their own character than anything else.

Kind of YABU. 'Inoffensive' - talk about damning with faint praise

My PIL live there. The little bit they live in is quite nice, but I'm very much not a fan of the overall place, aesthetically speaking. I know it has all kinds of practical things going for it, but I certainly couldn't bring myself to live there. I find it soulless and depressing.

I live in London but go to MK a lot for various reasons. I used to be a snob about it but it's a really pleasant place with lots going on culturally, lots to do and very easy to get around. It's almost like an American city - lots of wide tree lined streets, plenty of parking, lots of cycle paths and good shopping. I guess if you want period properties and city quirks it's not the right place for you but YANBU.

ETA as a PP said it is diverse and I find it telling that the places certain London folk are snobbish about are ethnically diverse places like Slough, Luton, Liverpool etc. The same people who congratulate themselves on living in a 'vibrant, diverse' part of London because there are some French people in their toddler group.