Leisure in the Milton Keynes Area

What this section contains:

• Key message about Leisure activity in the Milton Keynes area.
  
  
• Digest of supporting facts.

Key Message

The Milton Keynes area has an enormous range of arts, entertainment, sports, leisure and shopping facilities for residents and visitors.

Suporting Facts

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With Milton Keynes becoming the fastest growing town in the UK and economic growth at twice the national average, the Theatre District, Xscape and the range of shops, bars and other leisure activities are all helping to capitalise on the rapidly growing band of ABC1's with disposable income.

With the local population younger than the national average, in fact over a third are under 35 years of age, there is incredible scope within Milton Keynes to cater to an affluent market.

A city with one of the highest proportions of young people in Europe, Milton Keynes has a growing number of facilities, including a nightlife of clubs, cinemas, bowling, skating and other activities. There is an active youth arts project at MADCAP, music workshops and a regular fashion show at Stantonbury Campus Theatre.

The Theatre District is Located at the heart of Milton Keynes and consists of the Theatre, Art Gallery, a collection of clubs, bars and restaurants.

Music / Theatre
The Stables, a music charity founded in 1969 at the same time as the new city, proudly proclaims to be Milton Keynes’ first live venue. Some of the world’s finest artistes have performed here. The Stables auditorium offers excellent
live music for all tastes - jazz, blues, folk, rock, classical, pop and world music. The purpose-built auditorium seats 396 people and is the perfect place not only for concerts, but is also available for conferences.

Milton Keynes Theatre opened in October 1999, and offers the best touring drama, music dance and entertainment from large-scale West End musicals, to smaller, more intimate drama. The auditorium ceiling has been carefully designed to accommodate various shows and can be lowered or raised depending on the scale of the production. The seating can also be moved around within the auditorium to vary the capacity from between 900 and 1,400.

The Milton Keynes City Orchestra is a professional orchestra resident in the city, presenting high quality concerts. This is a rare feature for a town of MK’s size.

The Milton Keynes Bowl has gained a reputation as a popular venue for outdoor events. It is a completely no-seat venue and can hold up to 65,000 people and there are plans to expand the size further. It has staged a wide variety of pop concerts by artists such as Bon Jovi, Greenday, Oasis, REM, Michael Jackson, U2 and David Bowie.

There are now two multi-screen cinemas; Odeon at The Point, a ten screen venue in the city centre, and Cineworld, offering 16 screens at the Xscape complex.

For more information about music / theatre click here

Art

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Milton Keynes Gallery opened its doors in October 1999 (together with its neighbour Milton Keynes Theatre) and has since attracted over 215,000 visitors.

In addition to exhibitions on site, MK G also commissions artists to make work in and around the city as part of its offsite programme.

• MK G shows work by national and international living artists. This comprises solo shows or thematic group exhibitions, encompassing work in a wide variety of media, including painting, sculpture, photography, printmaking and installation.
  
  
• MK G’s continual strong programme of exhibitions has been highlighted by the nomination of British artist Phil Collins for the Turner Prize 2006, for his first UK solo exhibition held at Milton Keynes Gallery in 2005. The Turner Prize is the UK’s most prestigious annual art prize.
  
  
• MK G has an active education and outreach programme, providing a stimulating range of talks, projects and events for groups and individuals of all ages. There are occasional family days, and a regular drop in session on Saturday mornings between 11.00 and 13.00 at the Saturday Art Trolley for younger visitors to try some free, exhibition related art activities in the gallery spaces (suitable for accompanied children ages 4-12).
  
  
• MK G receives revenue c.80% of its funding from various sources, including Arts Council England, South East, Milton Keynes Council, English Partnerships, and Milton Keynes Theatre & Gallery Company. The remaining 20% is raised by MK-G from corporate sponsorship, donations from individuals (including Friends of MK G), trusts, foundations and community charitable trusts. Some income is also generated by corporate hires of MK-G and sales in the Gallery Shop.

For more information about art in Milton Keynes click here

Sport
The National Hockey Stadium was opened in 1996 and has 9,000 seats. It is currently home to MKDons football team. There is a new 30,000 seater stadium being constructed at Denbigh.

The area has some of the UK's most modern health and leisure centres, both private and public. The David Lloyd Tennis and Fitness Centre was opened in 1997. Other centres offer fitness studios, tennis, swimming, basketball, squash, badminton, bowls and many other sports.

Indoor facilities include an ice skating rink, a 36 lane ten-pin bowling alley and climbing wall.

There are over 30 cricket pitches around Milton Keynes, over 70 soccer pitches, more than 25 squash courts and six golf courses within 10 miles.

Willen Lake is home to a cable tow for wakeboarding and waterskiing, a high ropes course and sailing and powerboating activities.

The fishing is so good in our lakes that the National Angling Championships are held in the city every year.

The Silverstone racing circuit is a few miles north of Buckingham; National Hunt racing is held at Towcester, and there are a number of golf courses, including Woburn Golf Club, in the area.

Courtesy of GTImages

Xscape is one of the cities most popular entertainment destinations, combining Europes largest indoor ‘real snow’ ski slope, indoor rock climbing wall, 16 screen cinema multiplex, family entertainment centre which includes ten pin bowling, health and fitness centre, bars, restaurants, cafes and lifestyle and fashion retail outlets - under one roof.

The Xscape building is a marvel to behold. It is 230 metres long, 145 metres wide and 47 metres high at the arched end (equivalent to 6 double decker buses stacked on top of each other). It has a footprint large enough to cover three football pitches.

Xscape rests on a foundation technique similar to that used in constructing the city of Venice, consisting of 1,250 bored holes (which are 15ft deep) that are filled with steel and concrete. The construction uses 4,700 tonnes of structural steel, the roof has 26,000 square metres of ridged aluminium roofing material

For more information about sport in Milton Keynes click here

Environment
The 4,500 acres of parks, managed by Milton Keynes Parks Trust, are havens for wildlife. The Blue Lagoon in the south of the city is the site of rare British Orchids and has at least 34 species of breeding butterfly. The Parks Trust was, in 1997, designated as a National Centre for Excellence by the Forest Authority of England - only one of four awards given to date.

There are 15 lakes and 11 miles of canals to enjoy around the city. In fact, Milton Keynes has more bridges than Venice and a longer shoreline (around its lakes) than in Jersey.

Shopping
Milton Keynes has 2 main shopping centres: thecentre:mk and Midsummer Place, both located right in the centre of town, making Milton Keynes Britain’s biggest shopping experience.

Milton Keynes has a primary catchment population of 8 million, 35.5% of the UK population (that's over 20 million) live within a 2 hour drive time of Central Milton Keynes and coupled with Midsummer Place, thecentre:mk welcomes over 52 million visitors each year.

thecentre:mk is one of the longest shopping malls in Europe, with over 3 miles of shopfronts. It has 16,000 car park spaces and boasts average annual sales in excess of £500m

Around 30 million people visit thecentre:mk each year, over 80% of whom, come by car. The centre shoppers are part of one of the youngest and most affluent populations in the UK – 65% of the shoppers are in the ABC1 category. Average expenditure has increased and the average shopping basket is up to £114.

Courtesy of GTImages

The Midsummer Place shopping Centre opened in October 2000 and serves as a natural extension to thecentre:mk. The centre was designed by GMW Architects of London and has been awarded for its innovative design. It offers high quality shops in an interesting and innovative environment, together with many coffee shops and food outlets. It quickly became a platform for artists specialising in all types of Media.

The Asda in Milton Keynes opened in November 2005. It is an Asda Walmart Supercentre and is the largest in Europe. IKEA also opened its 14th UK store at Denbigh at the end of 2005.

Milton Keynes is not only known for its shopping centres, but also has a range of outdoor markets for the bargain hunters among us.

For more information about shopping in Milton Keynes click here

Historical Sites / Places of interest
For those interested in history, there is the Living Archive Project at the Bath House in Wolverton, Bletchley Park, home of the Enigma code-breaking machine, Milton Keynes Museum of Industry and Rural Life, William Cowper Museum at Olney, Bradwell Windmill and the City Discovery Centre.

Some of the places to visit in the area are Woburn Abbey, Stowe Landscape Gardens, Claydon House, Sulgrave Manor, Winslow Hall, Stoke Bruerne Canal Museum and The Mounds of Thornborough. The historic town of Buckingham offers a number of attractions, including the Old Goal Museum, The Old Town Hall and the Church of St. Peter and St Paul. Silverstone Motor racing circuit is just a short drive away and offers the best in motor-racing.

For more information about Places to Visit in Milton Keynes, click here

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