Bedford is the county town of Bedfordshire.
In the middle ages Bedford was a market town. It is now a University town with the River Great Ouse4 passing through the town centre.
The town is home to an art gallery and a museum that has displays of local history.
The town hosts several annual events including the Bedford Regatta, Britain’s largest one day river rowing regatta.
Bedford Kite Festival is held in June.
‘Proms in the Park’ takes place in August.
Bedford by the Sea is an event when large amounts of sand are placed around the town.
Every other year the River Festival takes place in July, it is a two-day event with funfairs, sports, and music. It attracts up to 250,000 visitors.
There are several theatres of varying sizes in town together with quite a few drama groups.
Two railway stations serve Bedford with trains to St. Pancras, Leicester, Nottingham, Sheffield and Leeds. The town is also on the A6 and near to the Al and Ml motorway with an improvement scheme underway to link the town to the Ml and Al via a dual carriageway.
Bedford was home to the largest Italian community in the UK according to a 2001 survey and two in seven people were of Italian descent. This was the result of the London Brick Company’s 1950’s labour recruitment scheme in several areas of Italy.
Bedford’s Little Italy in the town has, as the name suggests, Italian shops, restaurants, and social clubs. It has its own Italian Vice Consulate the only non-Capital city in the world to have its own.
There are also many other minority groups especially from Asia, Middle East and Eastern Europe.
There is always property for rent in Bedford with prices averaging £450pcm for a l bed flat, £600pcm for a 2 bed flat, £605pcm for a 2 bed house and £720pcm for a 3 bed house.
There are plenty of shops in Bedford including Adams, Sophistakids, Evans, QS, CC, Laura Ashley, River Island, Planet 2, Se7en, Profile and Claytons.
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