Bletchley, United Kingdom

The Bletchley area is rich in Oxford Clay, which has long been used for bricks. Brick-making has taken place on the Newton Leys site and the surrounding area from the late 19th century, circa 1897. Bletchley Brickworks closed in September 1990.

In the urban growth of the Victorian period brought by the railway, the town merged with Fenny Stratford. The latter had been constituted an urban district, with Simpson, in 1895 and Bletchley was added in 1898. By 1911, the population of the combined parishes was 5,166, but the balance between them had changed; in that year, the name of the local council (Urban District) changed from Fenny Stratford UD to Bletchley UD. The 1926 Ordnance Survey map shows the settlements beginning to merge, with large private houses along the Bletchley Road between them. In 1933, the newly-founded Bletchley Gazette began a campaign for a "Bigger, Better, Brighter, Bletchley".

As the nation emerged from World War II, Bletchley Council renewed its desire to expand from its 1951 population of 10,919. By mid-1952, the council was able to agree terms with five London boroughs to accept people and businesses from bombed-out sites in the capital. This trend continued through the 1950s and 1960s, culminating in the Greater London Council–funded Lakes Estate in Water Eaton parish, even as Milton Keynes was being founded.

Industrial development kept pace, with former London businesses relocating to new industrial estates in Mount Farm and Denbigh; Marshall Amplification was the most notable. With compulsory purchase, Bletchley Road (now renamed to Queensway after a royal visit in 1966) became the new high street with wide pavements where front gardens once lay. Houses near the railway end were replaced by shops, but those nearer Fenny Stratford became banks and professional premises. At the 1971 Census, the population of the Bletchley Urban District was 30,642.

Proposals for a new city in North Buckinghamshire had been floated from the early 1960s. Bletchley had fought to be the centre of the proposed new city, but when the Milton Keynes designation order was made in 1967, Bletchley was at its southern end rather than its centre. The 1971 Plan for Milton Keynes placed Central Milton Keynes on a completely new hill-top site 4 miles (6.4 km) further north, halfway to Wolverton. Bletchley was relegated to the status of suburb.

Bletchley thrived in the early years of the growth of Milton Keynes, since it was the main shopping area. Bletchley centre was altered considerably when the Brunel Shopping Centre was built in the early 1970s, creating a new end to Queensway. Previously, Queensway – formerly known as Bletchley Road – was a continuous run from Fenny Stratford to Old Bletchley. The town's boom came to an end when the new Central Milton Keynes Shopping Centre was built and commercial Bletchley has declined as a retail destination since then.

The town's importance as a major hub within Milton Keynes and the wider region was recognised in March 2021, following a successful bid by the Bletchley and Fenny Stratford Town Deal Board. MK City Council was successful in securing an award of £22.7 million as part of the UK Government's New Towns Deal, with the city council focusing most of that money on Bletchley and Fenny Stratford. This led to the publishing of their Town Investment Plan (TIP), which aimed to boost jobs, skills and connectivity in the area, and further invest in Bletchley town centre).