Milton Keynes has been the butt of many jokes but as it grows and matures into its new city status it may be time for a reappraisal. Of particular interest here is the shopping centre, after all in this category it could hardly be otherwise.
Milton Keynes is unusual in that from the outset ... Read review
NH Hotels, the hotel chain leader in Europe, with more than 300 hotels in 20 countries in Europe, Latin America and Africa. Enter into our web site and find the best available tariff at all times
1-5 of 16 reviews of MK Shopping Centre (Milton Keynes)
Show all reviews
More than concrete cows
Advantages: Great shops and pleasant surroundings Disadvantages: Parking is difficult at weekends
Milton Keynes has been the butt of many jokes but as it grows and matures into its new city status it may be time for a reappraisal. Of particular interest here is the shopping centre, after all in this category it could hardly be otherwise.
Milton Keynes is unusual in that from the outset the town centre was designed to be entirely under cover. The result of this is that we basically have an out of town shopping centre in the centre ... ...the existing areas have been recently refurbished.
Layout
~~~~
The centre comprises two parallel malls on a single floor (although the shops are mainly 2 storey) with the new Midsummer Place extension at one end. At the opposite end, next to John Lewis, is Middleton Hall that is an open space that features different displays or exhibitions most weeks. Between the two malls there is a courtyard with fountains and ... more
Milton Keynes has been the butt of many jokes but as it grows and matures into its new city status it may be time for a reappraisal. Of particular interest here is the shopping centre, after all in this category it could hardly be otherwise.
Milton Keynes is unusual in that from the outset the town centre was designed to be entirely under cover. The result of this is that we basically have an out of town shopping centre in the centre of the town! The centre has recently been extended and the existing areas have been recently refurbished.
Layout ~~~~
The centre comprises two parallel malls on a single floor (although the shops are mainly 2 storey) with the new Midsummer Place extension at one end. At the opposite end, next to John Lewis, is Middleton Hall that is an open space that features different displays or exhibitions most weeks. Between the two malls there is a courtyard with fountains and seating areas. This offers a very pleasant break in the warmer weather. The outdoor market is to the south of the centre close to the clock tower. The ‘Food Centre’ is on the opposite side of Midsummer Boulevard and offers Sainsburys, Iceland and Waitrose for your food shopping needs. Also within a short walking distance (100-200m) is the new theatre and gallery and the associated leisure facilities, bars, restaurants etc.
The older section of the centre is very light and airy with exotic trees planted along both of the malls. The glassed roof in about 15-20 high that certainly ensures that the malls never have that claustrophobic air that some can have in busy times. To walk a complete circuit of the centre will cover about 3km and you will pass some 200 shops.
The Shops ~~~~~~
The centre has just about every chain store under its roof and a good range of smaller stores. The emphasis (as is true in most shopping centres) is on fashion with about 50% of the stores catering to the clothes shopper. The main ‘anchor’ stores at either end of the centre are ‘Marks and Spencer’ and ‘John Lewis’.
The larger stores include House of Fraser, Woolworth, Boots, BHS, WH Smith and a newly opened Next. Other stores include footwear, opticians, books and music retailers as well as many more too numerous to list here.
There are few vacant spaces and the air overall is very prosperous. Absent from this centre are the numerous short lease discount stores that quickly move in to less successful areas.
Midsummer Place ~~~~~~~~~~
The new Midsummer Place is linked to the main centre at the western end next to Marks and Spencer. There are about fifty outlets in the new area and a covered square featuring a range of cafes and restaurants. This square is covered but not sealed from the elements, so I find it rather chilly in the winter and rather draughty even in the summer. It is interesting to note that it is now planned to install glass screens to protect the café terraces form the wind. Perhaps architects are not always perfect!
The largest store in this section is Debenhams which benefits from direct access from the multi-storey car park.
Services ~~~~~~
There are a number of ATMs (cash machines) available, mostly on the southern side of the centre. There is also a Post Office for those essential mailing needs!
There are two bars within the centre. There are also many cafes and restaurants either within the centre or a short walk away in the theatre district.
For those who want or need it there is a crèche available.
The centre is open until 8pm on weekdays, 7pm on Saturdays and 5pm on Sundays.
Car Parking ~~~~~~ There is adequate car parking around the centre, both surface and multi-storey but be warned that it is very busy on weekends and you need patience and persistence to find a space. The Midsummer Place multi-storey car park currently offers free parking (presumably to encourage more shoppers to start at this end) and it is normally possible to find a space there outside the peak Saturday shopping times. Be careful if parking in the multi-storey attached to the food centre – time is limited to 2 hours and it is patrolled.
Surface parking is free in all areas after 6pm, before that it is about £1 per hour. If all other car parking is full, there is a multi-storey car park to the rear of the theatre that normally has space. This charges at the same rate as surface pay and display areas (but isn’t free after 6pm, there is a fixed £2 fee).
If you are travelling from out of town there is a free park and ride service from near the motorway into the town centre.
Conclusion ~~~~~~~
This is a centre to which my wife and I return time and time again. It continues to improve and offers a good selection of shops in very pleasant surroundings. We highly recommend it.
If you want to check it out on the web, look at www.cmkshop.co.uk, which is the official website.
Like almost any normal, healthy young female, I was looking forward to the chance to do some shopping during a trip to Milton Keynes at the very start of this year. I had with me a native of the area who I assumed would be some help with this, but that’s where I was wrong. You see, he was a he, and being the type of he that he is, although he knew where the electrical and sports shops were, he knew not where anything I needed was. (BTW, anyone ... ...in one sentence???) Anyway, on with the op. We went to The Centre in Milton Keynes which is a huge half mile long shopping complex, offering a mixture of high street names and local independent retailers. ~~ Shops ~~ There’s a branch of everything you would imagine here. There are clothes shops and book shops and music shops and sports shops and toyshops. There are places to buy cosmetics and chocolate and glasses and furniture. You could book ...
zoe_page 15.03.2002
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of MK Shopping Centre (Milton Keynes)
Advantages: Massive, Shops galore, Fun! Disadvantages: Gets Busy, Poor parking facilities, poor transport around mk
...WHY?
Becuase the centre MK is massive. So massive, you can even find it in the book of records! The are loads and loads of shops. You have your major retailers, like woolworths and HMV, then you have your little stalls, like the Yogurt Shoppe and Luvly Bubbly. There is the CMK Market, where you can grab your bargains. It is closed mondays though. You have got the new 'midsumemr place' building with all the new shops opening rapidlly, including the ... ...to do!
THE CENTRE MK OPENING HOURS FROM 19th November and up to XMAS
EXTENDED OPENING HOURS FROM 19TH NOVEMBER - 16TH DECEMBER
Monday - Wednesday....... 9am - 8pm
Thursday & Friday ....... 9am - 9pm
Saturday ....... 9am - 7pm
Sunday ....... 9am - 5pm
MONDAY 17TH - FRIDAY 21ST OF DECEMBER OPEN UNTIL 9.00PM!
Saturday 22nd December .. 9am - 7pm
Sunday 23rd December .. 9am - 5pm
Christmas Eve .. 9am - 5pm
25th & 26th December .. CLOSED
27th ...
MrOpinions69 21.10.2001
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of MK Shopping Centre (Milton Keynes)
Advantages: Huge Selection, Disabled Facilities, Great Experience Disadvantages: Gets Very Busy, Parking Bad
...& Spencer Mexx MK One Monsoon Accessorize Next Oasis Office Original Levi's Store Planet Principles Punky Fish Republic River Island Top man/Top shop/Miss selfridge USC Wallis Warehouse Zara MENS CLOTHES
Barratts Base Bhs Burton Debenhams F Hinds Fat Face GAP Goldsmiths H Samuel H Samuel H&M Hawes & Curtis House of Fraser Hugo Boss Jaeger JD Sports Jewellery Store, The John Lewis Label Leatherworld Leslie Davis Lowgo Marks & Spencer Mexx New store ... ...(Just like the London Eye MK Style lol)
Theatre District (Great Shows to be seen)
Bar's and Clubs (Loads Oceania Club/Bar is the best)
Escape Building (Snowboarding, Skiing, Shops, Cinema, Playland, Bowling and much much more.
Aerodrome (UK's First indoor Skydiving facility)
MK Dons Football (However moving to Bletchley very soon)
Milton Keynes is overall a great shopping experience and there is fun to be had in the surrounding areas so book ...
bazzaoleary77 06.02.2007
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of MK Shopping Centre (Milton Keynes)
Advantages: Good selection of shops - easy to get to Disadvantages: Weekends are mobbed, cyclists, skateboarders
If you live in Northampton and have to suffer shopping there, a trip to Milton Keynes can be a treat. However I can only recommend a trip during the week, as the weekends are suffocatingly busy.
Everybody talks about the dreaded Milton Keynes roundabouts and how Americanised the streets and street-names are, but actually the road signs at all these roundabouts are helpful, and you cannot miss the shopping centre.
The main shops are signed from ... ...a free park and ride although I have not used this so cannot comment. I would certainly suggest using this facility at the weekends as parking does become a problem. If you do decide to park the prices have actually gone up from today (15 October 2001) to 80p per hour however it’s not as simple as that as you cannot pay £3.20 for four hours. You instead pay £3 for three hours 45 minutes – confusing eh? It used to be 1p per minute so £3 ...
maeib 15.10.2001
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of MK Shopping Centre (Milton Keynes)
Advantages: Many many stores under one roof. Disadvantages: Can get very crowded and stressed.
...which it resides, The Centre MK is sprawling and evolving! The original centre is a very large rectangular shaped building with two main walkways spanning I would estimate at least a mile. It certainly feels longer though as you trawl up and down, especially on a busy weekend! The newly opened extension I mentioned was built at a right angle to the existing centre, and is much more airy and spacious, as the original centre does sometimes feel cramped. ... ...number of ‘flagship stores’ in MK Centre. These are the super large stores, which are on a number of levels, and are situated at the ends of the centre. These superstores are Marks and Spencer, John Lewis, and Debenhams. You could also count Woolworth’s, WHSmith, BHS and Virgin Megastore as they too occupy larger than standard stores. Eating in the centre is something we’ve never done, but there are a few places to eat inside. There’s a pub, McDonalds, ...
lucybradly 14.10.2001
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of MK Shopping Centre (Milton Keynes)
Transport links
Similar reviews »
Reviews which might be of interest for "MK Shopping Centre (Milton Keynes)"
Advantages: Location, Price Disadvantages: Some noise
Stayed at the Ramada Encore on 04/12/08. This is a very modern hotel within walking distance of the city centre and within easy reach of the M1. Situated in the "Hub", this is a devlopment of offices, hotels, bars, restaurants and shops including Nando's, Ha Ha bar & grill, Starbucks,and much more. MKshoppingcentre is also withing walking distance ith over 250 shops. I found this hotel whilst browsing on Xscape MiltonKeynes website, this hotel was recomended by them. A discounted rate of curently 20% is offered off the price of the room (buffet breakfast also included) if you have either ski/snowboarding lessons or recreational ski timebooked at the snowdome. The hotel website also offers discount packages and room rates for various other attractions in miltonkeynes such as the Daytona Circuit. This package includes overnight ...
Advantages: Modern, Quality, Style and piece of mind Disadvantages: Some of the Staff
just off the M1 junction 14 and follow the A509 towards MiltonKeynes town centre just past the MK one shoppingcentre, how convient for my girlfriend who made me stop before we got to the hotel.
When we finally got to the hotel, I was surprised it looked new and had plenty of parking. Once all our bags were together we entered the lobby and were very pleased. The bar and restaurant was to the right and looked very trendy and modern and the reception was to the left and had a plasma screen and just a very good feeling about the place.
Of course we headed straight for the reception to book in. The lady at the reception didn’t greet us very well, I had to say hello first and getting a reply out of her was hard work, she spoke to me with a moody attitude and explained very little about the hotel. She just told me to sign a form ...
