Milton Keynes shortlisted for UK City of Culture 2029

For the people who live and work in Milton Keynes, a place on the shortlist for UK City of Culture 2029 is about far more than a title. The competition’s own criteria promise transformative opportunities and richer lives, good jobs and a boost to growth. The winner, announced in early 2027, receives a £10m prize. The current holder shows what that can mean in everyday terms: in Bradford, around 7,000 new jobs have been created during its tenure, alongside a brand-new performance venue.

The stakes for residents are considerable. The four shortlisted places, Milton Keynes, Wrexham, Sheffield and Blackpool, have each received £125,000 to develop their final bids. A panel of judges, including Sir Phil Redmond, the creator of Grange Hill, Brookside and Hollyoaks, will visit each contender before deciding.

That a city dismissed for decades as a place best driven past should now stand among the final four is, for many locals, a moment of civic vindication. In 2025, Milton Keynes was named one of the best places to live and work in the UK. The BBC has spoken to four people who have been part of that evolution and believe the city has a genuine chance of the crown; their accounts are gathered in the article at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cw073m0z0j89o.

Among them is Maureen Onwunali, an Irish-born Nigerian creative who grew up in the city and still lives there. While researching her poem for the original bid, she found the place “surprisingly so fascinating”, and says she now keeps at least five Milton Keynes facts ready for any party. Her work, “An ode to Milton Keynes”, namechecks “the colossus, the world’s first programmable computer” and “self-driving cars on Roman roads”. She is candid about the stereotype the city battles. “It’s so funny because I tell people about Milton Keynes and culture and they look at me as if I’m being sarcastic, because Milton Keynes has this stereotype of being soulless,” she told the BBC. “But there’s so many artists who’ve come out of Milton Keynes.” Many leave for larger cities such as London or Manchester, she added, and what is needed is “harnessing their talents and having opportunities to platform them”.

The cultural life Onwunali describes is not hypothetical. The city has hosted Reggae Land at the National Bowl and the Milton Keynes International Festival, while Campbell Park stages annual gatherings including Art in the Park, the Zimbabwe Heritage Festival, MK Pride and Oktoberfest. On the very day the shortlist was announced, a four-month exhibition celebrating the British artist Laurence Stephen Lowry opened at MK Gallery. Its director, Anthony Spira, said it was “great” that the city’s inclusion had surprised people. “People who live here absolutely love it. But externally, people are saying, ‘Milton Keynes, is there culture there?’ Well, yes, there is, there’s a lot and there’s going to be a lot more.” He is confident a city born only 59 years ago can win, because “we’ve got a very different story”.

Beyond the gallery, residents point to The Stables, the theatre and live music venue developed by the world-renowned jazz musicians Sir John Dankworth and Dame Cleo Laine, and to smaller groups such as The Play’s The Thing, a professional theatre company founded by Rosemary Hill in 2008 that encourages new writers and performers alongside more traditional productions. “We’ve got a fantastic grassroots community doing so many things,” Hill said. “It’s really, really exciting.” She still finds herself defending the city to outsiders, recalling a train journey when a fellow passenger called it “a place best avoided”. She challenged him to visit and see what it offers, and says the whole carriage clapped as she got off.

For the city council, the bid carries a personal weight. Deputy leader Lauren Townsend, born and raised in Milton Keynes, credits her late colleague Shanika Mahendran, a Labour councillor who died in July after a short illness aged just 28. At her memorial service, former council leader Pete Marland revealed she had been the lone voice in the chamber who persuaded the authority to enter the contest. “Her ambition and belief in our city, combined with the overwhelming support from local people, businesses and organisations, has resulted in us making the final shortlist, and shows just how far our city has come over the past decade,” Townsend said. “I will forever be grateful to pioneers like Shanika for leading the way on a huge opportunity to shine a spotlight on everything that makes our city unique.”

Milton Keynes, like Wrexham, was made a city in 2022 as part of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations. Whether the judges see what residents see will become clear in early 2027.