Middlesbrough Town Centre Walk | Let's Walk 2020 

Lived from 74 to 78 studying at the Polytechnic (now University of Teesside) Did my industrial training at ICI Wilton Works near Redcar. Beautiful time of my life. Originally from Sri Lanka & retired in Melbourne. Brings back many fond memories.

I’m from the Middlesbrough area and I have to agree with everything you say in the video. Certainly has its fair share of poverty and deprivation but it’s no way the ‘worst place to live’ in the UK. Just needs a bit of TLC and it could be a really great place to live/work. People are generally friendly and it’s 15/20 minutes away from some stunning countryside and coastline. Kind of a diamond in the very rough haha

I was in middlesbrough of 2003/2004.... Great country and I love it

Born in the Maternity Home in 1946 and brought up in Grove Hill and Beechwood. Went to Beechwood School and Acklam Hall. Now live in the south west of Australia, retired but watching that I can't help but get a twinge of nostalgia. House prices are very reasonable. I wonder.

As a Norwegian Boro supporter it was great to be back. I hope I can return in 2021or 2022 to have a new victory at Riverside. I am one of those lucky guys who've only experienced 3 points and clean sheets when I've been to Ayresome Park and Riverside.

As a fair few others here in the comments have said, it's a joy to revisit our birthplace. No matter how long it is since we moved away, some to far flung places, the Boro remains firmly fixed in our affections. I've always referred to myself as a Yorkshireman, on my birth certificate it states quite clearly my place of birth as Middlesbrough in the Riding of North Yorkshire. At a push I will tell those unfamiliar with the geography that I originate from Teesside, but I don't take kindly to being termed a Geordie, lol. I only learned recently of the 'Smoggie' term! The area encompassing the university was a stomping ground when Teesside Polytechnic existed, specifically the student union bar. I was pleased as punch when I learned it had been awarded university status. I occasionally hanker for returning permanently to M/Boro but being 60 and with rapidly failing health I don't see it ever happening. I was overjoyed to be able to 'visit' the town from my sofa. Thank you, you've triumphed again.

I lived in Mbro for 2 years, from 98 to y2k(teesside university),1st year with 15 teens in the same house, i was 21 at this time, as a french student ,then princess street 17, i am very glad to see again this town...sometime in my dream i woke up in middlesbrough at the 2nd floor of my house (rent was like 25-30 pounds/months, i dont remenber exaclty the price) with no heater, frozen, but it wasn't a pbl, it was the normal life (depends where u come from), i remenber buying pasta at 0,18 pounds and get 20 of them for a month of food. People are hard/butted there vs stranger and i can understand it. At this time, there were a lot of teenage mother with troller on linthorpe road at night, some of them a bit loaded, it was insane, another world. I did work too on linthorpe in a fish and ships (from 6pm to 1-2am) stuff, but my english was so bad and i was so shy too, i wasn 't able to understand people perfectly, specially after 11-12pm. It wasn t an easy part of my life for $ but i do have a very good remember/vibs of m'bro anyway, now i am living in rome (since y2k, just after M bro), had to left mbro to make my military service at this time and noway to come back, hard to come back after you get your first real wage (not a big wage anyway^) and when you are in rome in 2000, it is hard to come back to study with a very very low income. "We're middlesbrough" Not sure you will understand all of this, but anyway i am still dreaming waking up in m'bro in the winter (22-23 years later) and i wish i will come back there one day. the atmosphere is so strange/blured /attractive. just a dream,, may be. thank you for the mbro tour "Let's walk", very interesting.

Great video of our town, always been North Yorkshire to me I was born in 1965 it states Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire on my Birth certificate

I love my town. It's certainly improved in the last few years and I think this footage shows that. Thank you for putting this together!

My hometown left in 1968, had a visit in 1979 and again in 2000. Thanks for the video.

You have done a creditable job on my home town that I left almost 45 years ago. Thank you!

I love this video so much. it was like taking a trip back home again. i left middlebrough to live in australia but i do miss it alot. it was so nice to see everything again and see how parts have changed. thank you so much for making this.

Love videos like this, showing lesser known parts of england. I hope more people find this video in their recommendation. Captain cook square looked so empty here, I was there yesterday and it was packed.

I was born in the Middlesbrough area but emigrated in the late 1960s. Since I no longer have relatives in the area, it's been over a decade since I've visited the area. I found this video to be of high quality and very informative. I've learned a lot from it and am encouraged to see the tremendous progress that's been made over the years. Let's hope that the economic issues can also be improved before too long. And I agree that Middlesbrough deserves to be designated as a city. Very well done!

I left Middlesbrogh in 1999 and haven't been back since, how It has changed. Thank's very much for that walk down memory lane where I did have clear recollections and for a most interesting commentary. Excellent!

2:34 "What you looking at".. Classic boro 🤣

As a Boro lad myself, when your video popped up I thought hmmm wonder what's changed, have only been back 'home' a few times over the last 20 years. I certainly did not recognise a lot of the town centre streets, thanks for a very well put together video. I agree with other comments there are numerous parts of Middlesborough and the surrounding area that are well worth another look.

I was born in Middlebrough but I haven't been back for many years. Thanks for this video - there's so much I recognise and also a whole lot of new stuff! Later this year I expect to visit the town after a gap of 30 years. I'm looking forward to seeing the place again with my own eyes!

Thank you for the video. It really looks like a very nice place. My daughter will be attending Teesside University in Sept and she will be travelling from Malaysia . I will not be joining her due to the pandemic and will surely visit. Being her first time, I was pretty worried for her but after watching your video , I feel much better. I feel like I’m in yr video walking around sight seeing .. great job with the video. Thanks so much. Patricia

Nice video walk. I enjoyed the medieval buildings and historical history you gave. Your walks are always awesome and wonderful. Hope to see more soon have a great day. 😀

Man... hats off to you, you're like google earth but in hd ❤️❤️

Generally speaking that was a fair interpretation of Middlesbrough historically, industrially and architecturally speaking.....however the area is deprived and the massive ''council estates'' in the surrounding boroughs are a hot-bed of crime and drug-dealing due to lack of government and council investment since the huge demise of the chemical and steel industry(which you touched on) as we could see in the video the town center shopping area was almost deserted compared to the 80's and 90's. A lot of comments are from people who left the area many years ago so have no idea what its like now, I was born and bred in Middlesbrough and still live here and if I won a substantial amount of money would move away tomorrow. Of course you are making videos of town centers based on what you see on the day and I would guess some revision on history etc, to which you did a great job.......unfortunately my pride in my home time left some time ago along with some of the people who left comments here.............cheers mate I do like your videos.......Stu....👍😮.

the first shots of the town hall and the surrounding area look magnificent, I can see that after the pain suffered middlesbrough has changed dramatically for the better, transforming herself from a dirty industrial town into an international university and world transport hub

I were surprised it were in north Yorkshire then again the North East is a massive constituency. Very well orchestrated and narrated video. Like it alot. Thank you. A town that went from 25 Inhabitants to what it is now is impressive. ❤

Brings back memories of growing up in the 60’s/70’s in thorn street,near the bus station,carefree latch key kids,playing on a building site that became the Cleveland centre,playing in ‘little man’s park’ near the town hall,can vaguely remember a cinema on Gilkes street opposite the green tree pub,then our street got knocked down and moved to a house in Brambles Farm with a bath in it! That was 1974.

😁 hi there ... I really enjoyed your video I'm living here since nearly 6 years ago and it was handle all the information and in a funny way you were describing all 😂 I'm from 🇻🇪 south America originally.

this is really good, i’m planning on moving to middlesbrough soon

I love such videos, makes you think you are in there. I’ll travel there one day 😌

Greetings from the twin town of Oberhausen, Germany

With this lockdown it has been hard to go out to the likes of Middlesbrough and Stockton so I'm sat in watching on the tv Thanks for the upload

to a lot of places in the UK. 53 years of my life has been in Middlesbrough. There is too many pluses compared to minuses. We have the coast line and lovely countryside to escape from town life. We have good social care and brilliant university also a decent football club. Cost of living is low compared to many towns. Love Boro

My grandparents and my dad were born and raised there it’s such a nice place with very friendly people

Love it💞💖💕😊👏👏👏👏

At 4.41 mention is made of a canopy to protect people from the rain, 'which isn't rare in this part of the world'. In fact Middlesbrough is almost the driest place in the British Isles.

I really enjoyed that walk around the centre. It’s what I’d be doing if I could. Would love a walk around south bank if you had the time!

Wow...its been over 45 years since I lived in Middlesbrough, so much has changed !...I see Reas Ices/Cafe is gone, the cinema is still there but doesnt look active, I took the most amazing girl to see a movie called 'Last Snows Of Spring' there ...sadly she dumped me !, I did see the word Dovecot on a shop...does anybody know if that is what used to be 'Dovecot Salerooms' ?, so good to watch this, thanks.

me da left in 1952, was supposed to come with a cousin, but the cousin chickened out...he came anyway...I was born in 1955. We had been back home in 1969 and 1973, and me and my da on a solo in 1977. He was born in 1925, so you can imagine the changes from then...he passed away in 2005. Middlesbrough never left his heart, although he lived many places with a single mother, he always thought of it as home.

At 0:48 Andy Preston the Mayor of Middlesbrough walks past you.

Lived in the Boro from 1966 /2011 it was a great place especially in the 70s and 80s ...a hard exterior but people are fantastic i moved away to York as I felt Middlesbrough had become a dumping ground for immigration and the Drug use Dealers and poverty became unbearable i still work there most days but I don't miss the place 1 bit

3.34,smartfix used to be Angie’s chippy in the 60’s,that and Chris,s barbers that was opposite was were Thorn street used to be…

An instant recognition of 'City status' was if the place had an (Anglican) cathedral. Without that it does become a bit of a rigmarole.

Very interesting

I love my Boro

Passing through on my way to nowhere I stopped off to purchase a suit. I headed for House Of Fraser but on arrival it had gone so I turned around and crossed the pathway to Debenhams but alas it had gone also. I know, tI'll walk along to M&S , alas that had gone to. I realised there was no shop in Middlesbrough to buy a man's suit but I wanted one desperately so I headed for a Charity Shop, there was hundreds of them, I had to pick a demob suit from the 2nd World War as the label said , New Arrival - Just In . Up The Boro.

I would love to see north ormsby too

Is it safe to live here as a student? I will be moving here for Uni at Teesside University and I was thinking of getting a place in Newcastle instead since its just 1hr away

without ielts can i get admission in teeside univ sir my year gap is 9....12th english mark 70% my ug cgpa 7 7% sir....is it possible sir

I was born in Saltburn and lived in the middlesbrough area when it was still north Yorkshire, and as you say, it was a very industrial area with a very strong labour following when Margaret Thatcher and the Conservative government came into power they were the ones that changed the zones splitting the strong Labour hold on the area to their advantage for votes this is why I believe we became Teeside it was done purely for their benefit and the people had no say in the matter

I thought the Transporter bridge went to Texas?

Middlesbrough population is 140k. The 170 is only if you include the greater eston area, which is only a Middlesbrough postal address. 800k in surrounding towns? How far are u going for that. The teesside conurbation is 380k around 500k if you include Hartlepool and Darlington but they're not part of it

We just gonna ignore chavs starting each other “what you lookin at?” 😭

Why is it so quite and not busy

Big up the smoggies!! Boro born nd 🍞 stamford st, jebrough st, town centre, victoria rd, lived in all them roads, boro is a shit hole, im in thornaby now, but the Ne is bad where ever you go

NEIGHBOURS AND LOCAL HISTORY IN THE NORTH OF ENGLAND - NORTON GREEN, BILLINGHAM, DARLINGTON, MIDDLESBROUGH, NEWCASTLE, STOCKTON, YORK & YARM Most people living in the North of England think they know their neighbours and local history but how would you know your neighbour worked for MI6? Most who knew the Fairclough family didn’t have a clue that from the seventies Bill Fairclough was a secret agent (MI6 codename JJ) working for various intelligence agencies. What’s more they had no idea he was following in his parents’ footsteps. Bill's parents met during the Second World War when his father, ostensibly working for Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI), worked secretly on creating bombs to wipe out the Nazi's industrial hinterland. They married in Yarm in 1941. After the war in Europe ended in May 1945, Dr Richard Alan Fairclough continued to work for British Intelligence (MI1). Not long after retiring from ICI in the seventies, Richard Fairclough opened and ran an antiquarian book shop business in Yarm until his death in 1987. The book shop was a bit of an enigma as it was also a haunt for spooks. When not gated at St Peter’s School, York Bill Fairclough spent most of his childhood and early teens in the North East of England. As a child in the fifties he was educated at Red House School in Norton. He lived in Billingham and then in a vast white house (once the home of the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley) in Norton Green overlooking the duck pond. In Bill’s teens, the Faircloughs lived in Middleton St George and later in Yarm. He also lived in flats he rented near nightclubs he helped run during the late sixties and early seventies in Portrack, Stockton-on-Tees and Jesmond in Newcastle upon Tyne. Conveniently for him they were near the offices of the firm of Chartered Accountants he worked for in Middlesbrough and Newcastle upon Tyne. So if you lived, worked or visited any of these places you may well have unwittingly encountered this “spooky” family, been their neighbours or inhabited the houses they lived in. A quick web-search will even disclose some of the addresses where they lived. Mind you, if you live in any of them now, best sweep them for bugs! Details of where the Faircloughs lived and worked are given in most of Bill Fairclough’s bios on the web such as can be found at everipedia.org/wiki/lang_en/bill-fairclough. If you were as fascinated as we were, you can also read the raw fact based thriller Beyond Enkription, the first stand-alone novel to be released in The Burlington Files series (theburlingtonfiles.org/#/reviews). It’s a memorable and distinctively different noir espionage thriller based on his and his family’s experiences in 1974.

I attended the University when it was a "Poly", you missed that bit out on your potted history...

Absolutely spotless. and this is the worst place in britain? i dont see it.

At the moment there are armed policemen surrounding the Crown Court because an Albanian drug gang is on trial for the murder of a Kurdish man. But I had a dream that the gun toting coppers were really there to prevent Chinese communists stealing the Bottle O’Notes by airlifting it away using a Zeppelin style dirigible.

Wow! The cameraman never got mugged!!!

Quality video as allways...but unfortunately Middlesbrough allways reminds me of Eastern Europe under communism.....