🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Scotland - Exposing East Kilbride!

[@GrahamMacdonald-w9o]

I grew up on the outskirts of Edinburgh but worked and lived in Stevenage for the majority of my career. Like East Kilbride, Stevenage was originally 95% council houses (or at least Development Corporation houses). I notice quite a few similarities between Stevenage and East Kilbride but Stevenage seems to have better provision for off-road parking. The Lymekilns development reminds me of the Chells Manor in Stevenage that was developed in around 1990 and was the first big development of private housing. Another private estate was built in Stevenage around 20 years later at Great Ashby. The New Towns suffer from a lack of architectural variation and were a great way to help the country get going again after WW2, but I feel that they are a legacy of their time and won't be reinvented, even though we again have a critical shortage of housing in the UK.

[@Yelochre2]

South lanarkshire council have had a hand in the town`s decline - in the last 15 years the town centre went from being a place to be proud of to a near empty shadow of it`s former self. The town is still a nice place to live, but it could be so much more with some proper investment.

[@SleeplessEntity]

Locals usually call the Town Centre just the centre, used to be really good for shops but nowadays it's a shell of its former self sadly

[@indoscottravels]

Yeah, I've heard the same thing. Especially since they've started charging for parking!

[@leesteele9261]

I would call my small corner shop weee shops.

[@Peacefulnessxxx]

​@@indoscottravels well that's when it started mostly all my life it was the town centre.

[@sublimemanx]

There are so many empty units now - it's such a shame.

[@Kuben-Blisk]

Thats true cuz im from east kilbride

[@frankquinn1296]

I lived in EK from 1963 to 1979 , then moved to Manchester/Liverpool and now in Hamilton Ontario Canada. I have been back to EK a couple of times since I immigrated and to be honest its a dump compared to what it used to be like. In the opening , as he entered EK he went past my grand parents house ( Seymour Green) my house ,Melbourne Avenue ( I think we were one of the first families from the Glasgow overspill, not 100 % sure) but it was an incredible place to grow up in. I still have childhood friends to this day from East Kilbride.

[@jimsmith4610]

It's also known as Polo Mint City due to the huge amount of roundabouts they have in EK hundreds of them, you might have noticed.

[@scotdiva8098]

It was great at the end of the 1947-1987 new development. Blossomed into the 90's and then South Lanarkshire council is running it into the ground. So much council tax for few services.

[@alanna4858]

I moved from a *really* rough part of Glasgow to East Kilbride around a decade ago and continue to love this place so much. My cousins grew up here and it was great coming here in the summer as a kid, it is different now to what it was then 30 odd year ago but it’s still good and I was so proud to see it look good on your video. Next time try the square when the shops are open it’s bustling. Where I grew up we had few shops close. No real green spaces or parks. No community centre 😅😅

[@healthstuffforhealthypeopl5239]

Left EK in 1963 for Melbourne ...Lived in Haldane Place in "The Murray"..Dad worked for Rolls Royce..It was a wonderland for kids..Fields ,woods and rivers..Loved it..still do

[@tormid100]

What a great video. My wife and I brought up 3 children in East Kilbride and loved it.

[@patrickduignan7701]

used to work all over glasgow conurbation area servicing sainsburys,esso,shell petrol stations etc always stayed in the premier inn not far from the shopping centre, absolutely loved the town and its friendly people, loved montys bar and the village inn , hope there still going strong , been nearly 8 yrs since i last visited, will pop back soon , big love from oxford

[@muhammadafzalscotland2626]

What a wonderful video. Thanks for sharing. Stay blessed and connected.

[@VXGaming]

Lived in EK for about 25 years, it has gotten worse in that time. Very grey and bland, the centre is derelict now. It was once a busy place especially at the ice rink but in the past 10 - 15 years its now a very quite area despite all the food shops around it which are also very empty. Calderglen has changed abit but once again it once had alot of people walking around it but not anymore.

[@sandramciver6256]

It might not be the best place to live (I've heard the Maldives is nicer) but it's certainly not the worst. Born and bred here for the past 50 years, I spent last weekend in Edinburgh and apart from the staff at our hotel and the lovely American girl we met outside the theatre - nobody spoke to us. It was weird! In EK loads of people will talk to you at bus stops, in queues etc. People are much friendlier here. Yes, the Town Centre has become an empty disaster but they are planning to knock half of it down over the next few years. This new Town is over 75 years old (and the new bits you were looking at were probably about 30 years old), so it's not too bad given its age. Like every town we have good and bad. P.S. You passed by my house and then I saw myself in the Town Centre clips too - where's my royalties 😂

[@leesteele9261]

I like the village with places to eat outdoors. Calderglen country park I go in the summary good walk there used to a shop that you could buy gifts things like key rings.

[@evelynwilson1566]

The Museum of Rural Life nr East Kilbride is well worth a visit.

[@madjack4]

Place is a shite hole, but a decent shite hole.

[@jimsmith4610]

Ps that old house used to be a dovecote or a Doocot.

[@weeblue4182]

Thats The Westwood, before you reach The Murray.

[@Sydopath]

Archie Youngs in the villlage. You could buy your Bucky and Carlsbergs there at 14 if you had grown a bit of bummfluff on your chin 😹

[@j.steezy04]

its called the murray 😌

[@lensviewbykaushik]

Nice 😊

[@indoscottravels]

Thanks Kaushik!

[@kenmacdonald3635]

EK has a good quality of life, with many parks and green spaces. I grew up there and have moved back. Yes in the 70s and 80s it was more lively, as the average age was very young (being a new town). It's very affordable for housing and close to Glasgow and not far from Ayrshire. You can drive to Edinburgh in 50 minutes. Shopping centre is as good as any. Great cinema, great swimming baths. Not a tourist destination, EK is OK.

[@siemprestruggle9272]

If one lives and works in East Kilbride, is a car necessary for a average healthy bloke?

[@jagvindersingh607]

very nice

[@indoscottravels]

Thank you!

[@HappyBear376]

I shall follow you imediately. Sorry for any bad spelling.

[@G4RY1159]

East Kilbride train station like most are all on very thin ice. The future will all be machines, OR get your ticket online, that's the world we now live in, You MUST have a PC, or YOU MUST HAVE a smartphone or Tablet, Pay EVERYTHING by Smartphone, No Train Ticket Office, No train station STAFF, No toilets, only a matter of time before No conductor AND NO DRIVER, strip it all back to squeeze out a little more profit, No thought given towards anyone in a wheelchair etc, profit comes first.

[@fwsauerteig]

The Jesus and Mary Chain brought me here.

[@grahamek86]

The place is an absolute shite hole. Grew up there and moved away at 21. Stayed in Glasgow til I was 30 then moved to Auckland and have lived here for 6 years now. Was back just before Christmas and was almost brought to tears walking around seeing how it's been allowed to decay. The town centre is an embarrassment. I worked in Index when I was 17 during Christmas and you could barely walk through the malls it was so busy. A once vibrant industrial hub is now just an urban cesspit of folk who, for the most part, just exist. Wouldn't live there again if you gifted me the town.

[@jackjones5761]

and how would you know how people in the Town live their lives have you spoken to them all? sweeping generalisations are best ignored. I'm sure many people in the town have good fulfilling lives, its maybe just the ones you know who "just exist"

[@Peacefulnessxxx]

To be fair it's declined massively as when I was a kid it used to be packed full most of the time nowadays it's not and there is a lot less shops about but it's good to live in despite crime rates becoming noticeable and school buildings being newer but education in some decline including the local college.

[@munnjean]

Dealing with the homeless folks, shopkeepers in despair and closing their businesses, beggars everywhere ( worse than bloody India ) I'm talking about Auckland. Every city, urban centre has social and economic issues, you decide to run down East Kilbride ,, really ? I was down in Vancouver last week ,, you should see the east end, homeless drug addicts sleeping in shop entrances. You say the Town Centre is an embarrassment okay you certainly are entitled to your opinion but an embarrassment to who ? you ? I left East Kilbride at the age of nineteen, back in 1965, I go back to Scotland to visit my family a number of them live in East Kilbride and they love it. It's what you make of it, yes I certainly agree with you when you refer to the Town Centre. I worked there in 1964 in a butcher shop ,, the place ( the shop and Town Centre ) was packed all day Saturday. It certainly has changed and not for the better I might add. There are plenty of folks live ( and enjoy ) living in East Kilbride, they make the best of it and move on ,, perhaps you should put your efforts into cleaning up the disgusting mess in Auckland before you start pissing all over East Kilbride ✌✌✌

[@malcolm9994]

Utter rubbish. Probably best that you remain in Auckland

[@raymondrose10]

All towns and cities have their problems i moved to EK from Glasgow 27years ago and although it ain’t perfect it’s home now and i like it

[@Starsquad2468]

You should go to greenhils

[@dougie6886]

The Murray

[@davidmacgregor5193]

I've only been in East Kilbride once, that was in 1964, when I lived in Bowling, I moved to Yorkshire in 1966. I didn't take to East Kilbride, it was too modern for my liking, as with other new towns, East Kilbride consists of a town centre surrounded by housnig schemes, in this case to accommodate the overspill from Glasgow after many od the tennament slums were demolished. I personally would never want to go back to visit East Kilbride, the place has no fond memories for me. The last time I was in Glasgow was in 2011, I don't think I'll be back anytime soon, especially now that a Pakistani is running the country.

[@kingpinny1]

It's a fact that EK people tend to stay there and like it. The town is generally derided by Glasgow people who live in better areas of the city and there is a snobbery around that. Just a thought but it would be much more interesting if, instead of too much scrolling footage of boring roads and housing areas from your car you stepped out of the bubble and spoke to the people living there and asked them what they thought of the place and of the different neighbourhoods and attitudes of outsiders about EK...Going to the Murray shops was good but not on a Sunday...you should have gone into the pub too - don't be feart. This approach requires a totally different mindset...also get your wife talking to camera too😊😊. Just you is a bit samey/ dull !!

[@manymoms920]

The fcdo , gov dept is there. Big dept

[@tubergonyt]

i live here

[@iainlindsay5687]

Gone down hill im afraid.

[@HappyBear376]

The Hub of East Kilbride is a pub called the Montgomery Arms and the world's best Barman Adam. EK is rather violent however has it's share of PhD's and drug dealers. Since devolution the big companies have left and the start-up's in biotch are squashed by EU regulation for no reasons. Given EK's long and story'ed connection to the military there are monuments, desocrated by the SNP but worth a look. Generally East Kilbride is fantastic however I wouldn't buy a houe here.

[@siemprestruggle9272]

How violent do you mean? If one got the train back to EK from Glasgow could you get home from the station without looking over your shoulder?

[@connorbarclay9064]

I used to visit family in calderwood throughout the early 2000s and lived in greenhills with an EX for 2 years around 2009-2011, for me coming from glasgow i always found EK to be quiet, safe and like a paradise compared to the housing schemes in glasgow back then, for sure you could see there is boys on the streets as there is anywhere, but i never felt or had any issues there at all

[@Sydopath]

You wouldn’t buy a house here, so you are one of the cooncil hoose brigade? No worries about redundancy when the rest of us will pay your way.