Isle of Man-based TT riders Nathan Harrison, Dean Harrison and Richard ‘Milky’ Quayle are the stars of a new video encouraging people to move to the island.
The video, which has been shot for the Department of Enterprise’s Locate Isle of Man agency, is filmed in and around Milky’s Paramount City café on Queen’s Promenade, where the trio discuss their love for the event and the island as a whole.
00:00My name is Richard Milkey-Quayle, XTT rider, XTT winner and we're here in my
00:13place, Paramount City Coffeehouse and Barbers. Yes I was born in the Isle of Man,
00:18born and bred in the Isle of Man, all my family are as well so yeah so yeah
00:22Manx is the hills they would say. The build-up to the TT is amazing, it's like the
00:27circus coming to town isn't it? I mean it's the Isle of Man, it's a nice
00:31environment to live in all year round but when the TT comes for two weeks in
00:35the year it's just it's a bit like a biker's Glastonbury, it just gets bigger
00:38and bigger and bigger and it's just you know you ask the locals that walk past
00:42here now they'll say I can't wait to TT, I can't wait. I'm Nathan Harrison, a TT rider
00:48from the Isle of Man. I'm lucky enough to have lived on the Isle of Man my whole
00:51life. My mum and dad are Manx and so is my mum and dad's parents so I'm 100% pure
00:55Manx. The TT build-up always excites me from when I was a child you could see
01:00the course getting ready, you could see the teams and the trucks arriving. I'm now
01:0426, still exactly the same and I just think it brings the Isle of Man to life
01:07and it's a brilliant thing to have.
01:11If you say the TT doesn't excite I think it's I think it's madness because it's
01:15the most exciting thing you'll ever do or experience or see in your life. It's
01:20definitely getting to crunch time I'd say, the nerves are starting to go a bit.
01:27What I love about the Isle of Man and living here is it's a community, it's a
01:31place everyone's supportive of what you do and I can cycle on the promenade to
01:35work every day it's five it's a five-minute cycle and nothing's ever any
01:38hassle and yeah it's just a lovely place to be.
01:41We moved here in March, end of March, beginning of April last year it was so we've been here just over a year now.
01:49Do you know what, I think we're settling really well to be honest. It was a little bit tricky at first because obviously me travelling a little bit but then once we got to past mid-season sort of thing for me it was nice to just come back here and you know enjoy a bit of tranquility let's say.
02:02To be honest the children settled in almost instantly. To be honest they sort of went straight into
02:08lactic school never batted an eyelid and there's no no problems they love it. It's a bit like a little
02:13bit old school here where the kids come on the BMX and they all go play and things like which is great
02:16to see so now the the kids have enjoyed every minute. They love going, well I think they love going to the
02:21beach, ice cream. It's because we go to the beach they don't get ice cream that's probably the main thing but
02:25I think it's the whole thing of a bit more adventurous being able to play out a little bit more and things
02:31like that and there's a lot for children to do.
02:35The best thing about living in the Isle of Man is living in the Isle of Man. It's as simple as that you know that the Isle of Man is the best place in the world to live.
02:41You know I'm very biased towards it because it's my home, that's where I was born and bred but it is, it's amazing. It is just the best place in the world.
02:50Well I chose Paramount City as my location for my business purely for the fact of nostalgia I suppose. I used to work here when it was Paramount City.
02:58I worked here from 94 to 97 and I met my wife here at the corner of the bar just over there. So me and my wife met here as well.
03:05So yeah we've got a lot of history with the building and we used to look at it and think oh it's a shame it's going to rack and ruin.
03:10I thought you know what we can do something with that, we can make that our home and our business.
03:14The most challenging thing as regards to starting a new business up is a bit the unknown I suppose.
03:20For me personally I've never run a cafe or anything like this before so it's a bit like okay let's just see.
03:26It's been past my expectations to be fair, it's been amazing.
03:29I mean I was a bit worried that I'd spent four years of my life and only half a dozen people would walk through the door and be like oh no.
03:34But it's been quite the opposite, it's been immense.
03:41The name of our new family business is H&H Motorcycles.
03:44Since we launched our new business it's been fantastic to have the biking community come together obviously in the heart of Douglas.
03:51To give that option for bikers to come down, have a coffee, have a chat and just create that community feel.
03:57So yeah it's been great and the bikers are loving having somewhere to go and a place to stop and have a chat.
04:04When I'm not at work I tend to do lots of cycling, lots of walking, get out and about, drive, see the Isle of Man.
04:11It's a beautiful place especially on a sunny day and just yeah enjoy what we have here.
04:20I love to, I go cycling, I do a lot of running, I do a bit of off-road riding and things like that.
04:24And Vicky loves the gym don't you, does a bit of running and things so she's very similar to me, we're very outdoor reactive.
04:30We've even got to have a kayak, we do a lot of kayaking out at sea if I don't turn it over.
04:35Which is good fun, I do a bit of swimming out at sea which is nice which obviously I wouldn't have done in Bradford.
04:39So there's loads of activities really.
04:43Describing the Isle of Man in three words, picturesque, safe and community.
04:49If I had to describe the Isle of Man in three words it would be fan-dabby-dozy.
04:52The three main benefits of me moving here I definitely think is spending more time together with the family, the activities we do together.
05:00People are really really nice and friendly, you have less stress, less worries.
05:03I feel a bit more laid back so therefore I feel like I sleep better, which is always a bonus.
05:08And just life as a whole in general, just hopping around the coastline and putting a smile on my face.
05:14One activity I'd personally like to go and see if you're over here visiting the Endurance TT that's away from the motorbikes is we have great transport links over here.
05:24So if you got on the tram from Douglas you can go to Laxey and straight up to the Snaefell Railway.
05:28You can climb up to the top of Snaefell and see the views of our beautiful island that we've got here and take it all in.
05:35For anybody visiting the TT this year and they wanted to do something outside of racing, I would recommend visiting the Manx Motor Museum.
05:43Because there's such a big array of cars, bikes, even unique vehicles that are not related to cars or bikes, there's so much in there.
05:50It's a great way to spend a day having a good look around.
05:54I'm heavily involved in the TT, I have been for the last 20 years.
05:59It's like anything, we've got to keep working at it, keep working at it.
06:02So yeah, it's brilliant.
06:03The TT is at the crest of a wave at the moment.
