A pair of YouTubers from Bromley have embarked on a 36-hour scavenger hunt to Bromley’s twin town Neuwied, in Germany.
According to Bromleytowntwinning.co.uk, Bromley has been twinned with Neuwied in Germany since October 16, 1987, after a committee was set up in Bromley several years before to explore the towns twinning links.
On July 11, 2022, friends Sam Nash, and Alex Andrews both decided to take on the 36-hour trip to see if Bromley and Neuwied shared any similarities.
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When Sam was just eight, he first noticed the bold wording ‘twinned with Neuwied, Germany’ positioned at the bottom of the historical Bromley sign on Avondale Road and wondered what really lied in the mysterious town.
25-years-later, the pondering continued, and Sam soon asked his buddy Alex if he would want to explore the German town and document it on their YouTube channel.
Sam told the News Shopper: “When I was around eight, I started noticing the signs around Bromley stating that it was twins with the German town, Neuwied, and curiosity got me from that moment.
“I have known Alex for a long time, and we’ve recently started up a YouTube channel.
“It’s not the usual stuff we do on our YouTube, but I managed to convince Alex to take a 36-hour trip with me to a German town in the middle of nowhere.”
Sam and Alex’s YouTube Account, Over Two Cans, is dedicated to chatting jocosely about their lives, whilst enjoying their favourite drink – Craft Beer.
On the morning of the trip, Sam, and Alex, both headed to Bromley Town Centre to see if residents had any idea of Bromley’s sister-town.
The pair said they asked a bunch of locals if they knew of Neuwied, but to their dismay, only one woman was aware that Bromley was twinned with another.
Collins Dictionary define a ‘twin town’ as a “town that has civic associations – such as mutual visits and cultural exchanges with a foreign town – usually of a similar size”.
Sam and Alex said: “When we arrived in Germany, the guy at passport control was questioning us where we were going, and we had to explain that we were visiting Bromley’s twin city.
“His response was ‘I have never heard of anyone doing that - I have no idea why you’re going to Neuwied, there is nothing there.’
“Before we travelled, we were half tempted to get in contact with Bromley Council and let them know what we were up to, just to see if they could arrange anything for us over in Neuwied.
“But we didn’t hear anything back.
“So, we thought, we'll let fate decide then and we basically made a little scavenger hunt before we left.
“We knew that Bromley Council had gifted a few bits and bobs to Neuwied over the years, so our challenge was to find these things before we returned home.”
Hot spots on the scavenger hunt included spotting a red telephone box, a post box, a request bus stop, and the renowned Bromley sign.
Over the course of the duo’s adventure, they discovered that the post-box was nowhere to be seen as it had previously been vandalised and taken away.
Alex added: “We didn’t know what the Bromley sign was going to look like, we suspected it would be similar to the big sign here in Bromley.
“We found the telephone box, and it was transformed into a mini library with loads of different books.”
Whilst exploring Neuwied, Sam and Alex told the News Shopper that they met some “great characters” who would guide them in the direction of their scavenger hunt desires.
Sam and Alex explained: “We were really surprised at how beautiful Neuwied was – its sat on the River Rhine and it was a lot bigger than we both thought.
“Everyone in the town was really accommodating and helpful.”
Since creating their YouTube channel just over one year ago, the pair have been creating content filled with “normal things they love to do”.
Alex said: “We have made a lot of friends whilst visiting breweries for our YouTube channel, so it’s been a great experience building our site.”
Sam added: “I think the beauty of our channel is that we’re not on a mission to get famous, but anything that comes with it is a breezy bonus.
“Doing this video has definitely influenced us to carry out another exploration in Europe.
“Our next video we’re planning on creating is a documentary on the motorway restaurant Little Chef – but we don’t want to give anything else away just yet.”
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