Tik Tok and Facebook star Phil Carr visits Poundbury

Phil Carr, who uploads videos to social media platforms Tik Tok under the name Philc84 as well as Facebook under his given name, has uploaded a video where he critiques the development.

Phil’s videos comment on the state of towns with a comedic twist. The video at the time of writing had 47.3k views on Facebook, and more than 29k likes on Tik Tok.

In the video, titled King Charles built this UK town from scratch, Phil describes the development of Poundbury as ‘bolted to Dorchester.’

@philc84 The town King Charles built. And it’s not cheap. #poundbury #dorchester #kingcharles #placestovisit #dorset #britishhumour #ukcomedy #satire #learnontiktok ♬ original sound - Phil

He said: “It’s taken over two decades to get to this point, and it still isn’t done.”

Phil then went on to speculate whether the development will ever be finished.

He talks about the history of Poundbury and how it came to fruition through the ideas of the now King Charles, as well as his take on the fact that the area was proposed as a walkable community.

“Poundbury is supposed to feel like an old town, Charles didn’t want it to be car-centric but of course every house owns multiple cars and there is more parking than Alton Towers,” he said.

Talking about the shops in the area, Phil highlights Poundbury having two bridal shops, and the fact high-rise buildings are not permitted.

Walking through the development, Phil finds himself at the Centenary Field and thought the gravelled area was a ‘fighting pit’ but said: “It turns out it’s for pétanque.”

Phil describes the ‘main bit’ of Poundbury as Queen Mother Square and immediately points out the spa saying ‘because that’s what she would have wanted’ as well as the Waitrose.

He then goes on to talk about the pub in the square, the Duchess of Cornwall. Phil described the naming as a ‘masterclass in husbandry by Charles.

“Guys, it’s a lesson we all need to learn, if you are going to build your own town make sure you name the pub in it after your wife,” he joked.

In the video, Phil describes the social and private housing saying, ‘it works well, but it is not unique.’

Phil visited the fire station in Poundbury, saying it was nominated for an ugliest building award, but he disagreed and said it was ‘harsh.’ “Put this in Kent and it would betray the beauty of Babylon,” he joked.

Despite house prices, Phil said he ‘would live in the area’ although adding that he would not sell up and move.

He said that the problem with moving to the development would be moving to the county.

“If you’re going to move to the West Country, move to the proper West Country like Cornwall or at a push, Devon.”

On his feeling towards the development, Phil added: “Sometimes you feel like you’re in a town that is 100 years old, sometimes you feel like you’re on a movie set, most of the time it feels like yet another new build development."