Milton Keynes Disappearing Past 

My first job was working at the outdoor newport pagnell swimming pool great job and loads of fun. Used to hang out at the agora as well. Loved milton keynes stacks to do back in the 80s and 90s

Thanks for aharing.! Great to remember some of these places from my childhood. It's such a Shame these iconic buildings get demolished for cheap boxed in new builds. I get some are rarely visited or no longer in use but some of the pre war buildings should of been listed or kept for museum type places in my opinion.

Used to love the Bletchley leasure center. Traveled by bus from newport pagnell to go there.

I remember Happy Day's at Dolphin splash down and popping over 2 Netto to get some sweets. Mellish tower block was a eye sore .

I've been living in Milton Keynes since 1986 and so I was familiar with many of the buildings in this video.What it has shown me is how temporary everything in and about Milton Keynes is.Also it was a shame some great institutions and buildings featured now no longer exist.Seeing MK with two established fire stations demolished makes me concerned as to which fire station is serving MK now.

Places like Milton Keynes were the embodiment of Thatcher's enterprising and 'aspirational' 1980's Britain. Indeed when you mention Milton Keynes to people from other parts of the UK, those who are old enough to remember the 80's immediately think of that decade. MK and the 1980's became synonymous with each other. But the world has moved on, and so has how people shop, and how they use buildings. Places like MK which were supposed to be 'future proof' are now more vulnerable to the tides of change than other older places that weren't planned from scratch. Very interesting video. It would be more poignant for me had I grown up in MK. But it's fascinating nonetheless. To be honest, half the buildings that feature here (and which have gone), were probably at the end of their life cycle anyway. I bet some had asbestos built into them, which would have made their demolition very difficult, and take longer than normal. As a kid from London (where I still live), I remember seeing Ads on TV for Milton Keynes, and then begging my parents to take me there! But they weren't going to go there specifically from London. As luck would have it we had relations who lived near Bedford, so one day when we were staying with these relations, we went on a day trip to Milton Keynes. For me as a kid back then (80's) it didn't disappoint! It felt and looked so futuristic, compared to my area of Edwardian terraced houses in London. I loved it, but my parents weren't so keen on it!! Years later (about 20 years later) I went back there as an adult, hoping it would still seem futuristic and 'exotic', but alas it had become humdrum and dull. Whether this was because it was a grey rainy day, or if it was the fact that I was an adult, so saw it with adult eyes, I don't know. But the magic of MK for me, had gone on that day. I began to see why my parents didn't really like it, 20 years earlier. It's still a fairly unique place, but unfortunately time hasn't been so kind, and it retains a distinctly 1980's feel to it, even today. Not enough investment went into it, to keep MK feeling fresh, modern, and out in front. I feel the last 14 years hasn't helped it at all.....as is the case with so many British towns and cities - new towns or not Maybe sometime in the future MK can become 'the future' again, because these days it often looks like a sign of a previous era, now a distant memory. But this video is intriguing anyway!

Trips down memory lane ❤

Makes me so sad to see what has become of it.....

Can you do another video showing all the nightclubs, pubs, etc that have dissapeared? Starting with the "Spice Lounge" up by the theatre and "Talk of the Town, downstairs in the old point building 👍

Thanks for sharing this. Almost all of those places featured heavily in my childhood. I’m hoping you’ll add The Point to your next post!

Nice work brother 👍

My dad made pine kitchens and furniture out of the wood from Wolverton train station after it was demolished in the early 90s

awesome video! thank you! brings tears to the eyes for sure.

I used to travel from Birmingham to the Sanctuary Music Arena and the Rollers for the all night raves. Best nights of my life raving all night to Jungle Techno music . Shame they knocked them down for IKEA

We arrived in MK(Bletchley) in 1988 from Glasgow so we remember many of these places.

The information about Wolverton Train Station is a bit wrong, the original built in 1838 was on a different site, and demolished a short time afterwards. A second was built on another site behind where Glyn Square is now. In the later 1800s the mainline was rerouted and the one in your picture was built as the third station. We now have a fourth one with the building down in the old car park but platforms in the same place as station 3.

Bloody hell! They're knocking down Melrose Flats. Blimey. Been in Buckingham since 2017, from Bletchley. Don't mooch about West Bletchley as much as I did back in the day drinking in the pubs such as The Wishing Well, White Hart, Dolphin (not so much), Old Swan, Three Trees. I'm talking 15 to 20 years ago when I was stomping those streets on the piss.

I remember roller skating at the Agora in Wolverhampton, in the 80s.

My old school has gone badly downhill since I was there during the 1980s. Stantonbury Campus. They spared no expense in those days. It might have been the best equipped secondary school in the country. When I tell people the things we had people seem to think I am making it up. Nope. We had just about everything a kid could want, e.g., the pool and leisure center, but also how the classrooms were equipped etc. We even had pool tables and a space invader parlour at school. They could not keep that level of funding up I guess. That generation of kids were like lab rats for the government's MK pet project. They might say it did not work, but you have to follow through on things if you want them to succeed. MK is doing okay for itself though I guess. I live in NZ now though.

Who remembers Milton Keynes City FC - whatever happened to them ?

lived in Bletchley all my life 1971 a large family from the village of simpson will always be a bletchley boy not milton keynes

Fascinating! Architectural disaster after architectural disaster. How many terrible decisions can be made over 50 or 60 years?

hate the new milton keynes by comparison with high rise buildings, messed up road systms and crap buses lanes.