Exciting new Urban Food Market venue opens in Central Milton Keynes

The large new Urban Food Market has opened at Unity Place today (Tuesday), bringing together flavours from across the globe to Central Milton Keynes.

The £150m building, which is off the V6 Grafton Street near the MK Central rail station, houses the new Santander UK technology hub. But space within it has been devoted to co-working, community and leisure facilities to make it one of the city's key venues.

Described as a “gastronomic destination”, the Urban Food Market will be its key attraction, along with a rooftop restaurant called the Unity Sky Lounge, where people can dine al fresco if they wish.

The food market will host an array of diverse vendors via dishes that will rotate throughout the year. It offers dishes from all over the world, including Turkey, Japan, Greece and Spain.

There are authentic sourdough street pizzas from Raffaele, healthy poke bowls, Greek souvlaki plates with homemade tzatziki from Meraki Soul Food, pasta specialties from Campione, burritos, bowls, tacos and quesadillas from Cantina Carnitas, and nutritious salads from Field Tray.

Local favourite Bandit Bird is serving up a wide range of wraps and wings inspired from the deep south, Louisiana, including BBQ, buttermilk fried chicken and buffalo wings, while Rye’s Deli is serving speciality Hej coffee and fine teas as well as breakfast and lunch dishes.

The market even has its own brewery and Urban Bar selling Toast Ale, which is made from surplus fresh bread from the on-site bakery.

There will be regular music and entertainment and even parent and toddler coffee mornings held there, making it a multi-purpose destination.

The social enterprise Change Please is serving coffees from a specially reworked tuk tuk on the ground floor, which will serve the Work Café when it opens in September. Every coffee purchased contributes to changing someone’s life for the better with profits going to giving people experiencing homelessness a living wage job, housing, training, and opportunities for their future development.

The Urban Food Market even has its own Unity Place app, which is available for download on both the App Store and Google Play.

This user-friendly app aims to speed up the ordering process, providing visitors with menus to browse, access to queue-jump, quick payment options, and loyalty points and promotions.

Rhodri Adrian, Account Director (Unity Place), Restaurant Associates, said: “Unity Place endeavours to be a prominent social enterprise hub, dedicated to fostering a strong sense of community. The eagerly awaited opening of the Urban Food Market is unlike anything else in Milton Keynes and not only will it be a space to enjoy incredible food, it will be a place to bring friends, families and colleagues together. The variety and quality of the vendors is second to none and there really is something for everyone with tastes from far and wide all in one place”.

The market’s opening hours are 8am to 4pm on Monday to Friday but from next month this will change to 7am to 6pm, with a late night opening until 9pm on Thursdays.

From November 27 it will be open on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays until 9pm.