Lizzy Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 Hey, I've not been to the Bedford Park Inn yet so I was wondering what the dealio is with it? Is there parking out front or a (cheap) car park nearby? Any help would be muchos appreciated!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dwarfbabe Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 According to the hotel's website, there is free secure parking for guests. I don't know what the situation is for people just visiting. It may be worth giving the hotel a ring. Their number is 01234 799988 (+44 1234 799988 from outside the UK). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christoff Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 Hey, I've not been to the Bedford Park Inn yet so I was wondering what the dealio is with it? Is there parking out front or a (cheap) car park nearby? Any help would be muchos appreciated!!! I don't think there's been a convention there yet has there? I think the first is Chevron 7.2 which is next week so there should be plenty of people to ask after next weekend Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bl00djunkie Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 there is a car park behind, i think.. will check next time i walk past Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TommyT Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 From memory, it's free, and would perhaps hold 100 cars. It was completely free and unrestricted when I stayed there, but I have a memory that it was supposed to be some sort of pay token system where you could reclaim the cost if you were a hotel resident. The car park is at the back of the hotel, as per this extract from a previous post of mine in the Chevron 7.2 forum - I'd like to think that the rest of that post might be of some use to folks Talking of Duck Mill Lane, whilst the hotel's street address is on St Mary's Street, the car park is at the back of the hotel, and is only accessible via Duck Mill lane off Cardington Road - you cannot get there directly from the front of the hotel without driving round the one way system, which is a small pain in the butt. And the car park isn't immediately obvious (because the big sign in the car park saying "Park Inn" faces east and west, and you approach the car park from the south, so don't see the wording. So, for those driving and wanting to park, you need to get onto Cardington Road, turn into Duck Mill Lane, and the hotel car park is right at the north end of Duck Mill Lane. Duck Mill Lane then turns left (west) and runs along the south side of the hotel, but you cannot get a car out of Duck Mill lane onto St Mary's Street or vice-versa as it's closed off to vehicular traffic - OK, you could get a motorbike through (MK42 0AU is the postcode; go to maps.google.co.uk, enter the postcode, go to the largest possible scale, and then click on the "satellite" option button. The Park Inn is the set of buildings just to the right of the bridge on the south bank of the river.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lizzy Posted February 14, 2009 Author Share Posted February 14, 2009 Ooh thanks TommyT!! Is that the post code for the car park? I'm not staying there (can only just afford the show itself at the end of the month!!) Do you think it still may be free for me it it's unrestricted? I can but hope!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TommyT Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 Ooh thanks TommyT!! Is that the post code for the car park? That's the postcode for the hotel. Since the car park almost certainly isn't registered as a separate postal address, I doubt that the post office will have given it its own postcode If you're using a satnav, I suggest that you just tell it to nav to Duck Mill Lane in Bedford. If your satnav has to have a postcode, then I suggest going to www.royalmail.com and using the postcode finder there to find the postcode of any address in Duck Mill Lane. I'm not staying there (can only just afford the show itself at the end of the month!!) Do you think it still may be free for me it it's unrestricted? I can but hope!!! You can hope, but you might be unlucky. My thought is that if there's nothing on at the hotel (just regular guests), then pretty much it'll just be hotel residents likely to use the car park, so nothing to worry about. But if they have an event at the hotel (like the convention) with a lot of non-hotel residents attending, then they might feel it necessary to "protect" parking availability for people actually staying at the hotel (certainly if I were staying there I'd want them to consider the issue). I could be wrong; probably best to ring the hotel and ask them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dwarfbabe Posted February 15, 2009 Share Posted February 15, 2009 Based on my own experience, I know that sometimes a hotel post code will be for the hotel itself and sometimes it will be for the car park. I've just entered the post code on my Satnav and it showed the address as being Duck Mill Lane so in this case it looks like it's for the car park. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TommyT Posted February 15, 2009 Share Posted February 15, 2009 Based on my own experience, I know that sometimes a hotel post code will be for the hotel itself and sometimes it will be for the car park. I've just entered the post code on my Satnav and it showed the address as being Duck Mill Lane so in this case it looks like it's for the car park. With all due respect, car parks don't always have a postcode - it's how your satnav treats data for the surrounding area that might make it look as if they have. Postcodes are an abbreviated form of address created by the Royal Mail which enable a group of delivery points (a delivery point being an address or post box) to be specifically identified. In the case of the Park Inn, where the car park is attached to the hotel, it is unlikely to have its own postcode. The Park Inn's website gives a postcode of MK42 0AR which the Royal Mail's address finder confirms refers solely to the Park Inn (2 St Mary's Street). Similarly, the address finder shows that MK42 0AU refers to 18 flats at Riverside Towers, St Mary's Street. Unfortunately the Royal Mail postcode finder doesn't show any postcodes for Duck Mill Lane - I can only assume that Duck Mill Lane provides rear access only for properties on St Mary's Street and Cardington Road, and that there are no delivery points on Duck Mill Lane. I can only suggest that if your satnav looks like it will take you to the St Mary's Street address, enter a postcode for Chethams (MK42 0AE), another road off Cardington Road nearby - follow your satnav directions to Chethams, but don't make a right turn into it but carry on and take the next right, about 135 metres (just under a tenth of a mile on your car odometer if you're driving) further on. which is Duck Mill Lane. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dwarfbabe Posted February 15, 2009 Share Posted February 15, 2009 (edited) Based on my own experience, I know that sometimes a hotel post code will be for the hotel itself and sometimes it will be for the car park. I've just entered the post code on my Satnav and it showed the address as being Duck Mill Lane so in this case it looks like it's for the car park. With all due respect, car parks don't always have a postcode - it's how your satnav treats data for the surrounding area that might make it look as if they have. Postcodes are an abbreviated form of address created by the Royal Mail which enable a group of delivery points (a delivery point being an address or post box) to be specifically identified. In the case of the Park Inn, where the car park is attached to the hotel, it is unlikely to have its own postcode. The Park Inn's website gives a postcode of MK42 0AR which the Royal Mail's address finder confirms refers solely to the Park Inn (2 St Mary's Street). Similarly, the address finder shows that MK42 0AU refers to 18 flats at Riverside Towers, St Mary's Street. Unfortunately the Royal Mail postcode finder doesn't show any postcodes for Duck Mill Lane - I can only assume that Duck Mill Lane provides rear access only for properties on St Mary's Street and Cardington Road, and that there are no delivery points on Duck Mill Lane. I can only suggest that if your satnav looks like it will take you to the St Mary's Street address, enter a postcode for Chethams (MK42 0AE), another road off Cardington Road nearby - follow your satnav directions to Chethams, but don't make a right turn into it but carry on and take the next right, about 135 metres (just under a tenth of a mile on your car odometer if you're driving) further on. which is Duck Mill Lane. Steady on, I was only saying. I think your directions and the info you've provided are really useful. Without them, I would probably have thought my satnav was taking me to the wrong place, entered the actual address of the hotel instead and then spent the whole weekend looking for the car park. Edited February 15, 2009 by dwarfbabe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TommyT Posted February 16, 2009 Share Posted February 16, 2009 No offence meant or taken. (I guess being asked by several other people this week what the postcode is for a place that wouldn't have one has made me oversensitive ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dwarfbabe Posted February 16, 2009 Share Posted February 16, 2009 No worries. I'm guessing you're a local to the area so if you have any more info that would be useful, I for one would be interested. For example, are there places close by to get a sandwich or something for lunch? I'm working on the assumption it'll cost a small fortune to buy anything at the hotel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TommyT Posted February 16, 2009 Share Posted February 16, 2009 I'm guessing you're a local to the area so if you have any more info that would be useful, I for one would be interested. For example, are there places close by to get a sandwich or something for lunch? I'm working on the assumption it'll cost a small fortune to buy anything at the hotel. Not local, but I stayed there for several days at the end of last summer; anything I do know I put in my original post in the Chevron 7.2 forum (I've linked to it in my first post in this thread - the car parking bit was just an excerpt ) - sort of a stream-of-consciousness braindump. From memory, the food in the hotel was pretty good, but yes, the prices wouldn't be conducive if you were on a budget. Go out of the front door of the hotel and turn right, taking the bridge across the river and you're in town. (If you turn left instead there's an Italian restaurant very close to the hotel, but I'm informed that it's both expensive and overpriced). Can't help with independent sandwich shops, chippies etc, but most chains like Subway, Burger King, Starbucks etc have "storefinder" pages on their main UK website where you can enter a postcode (of the hotel, for example) and find the closest of their outlets, often with a map. Yell.co.uk might also be useful if we don't get a Bedfordian turning up here to lay some local wisdom on us all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trekkiefan Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 (edited) if we don't get a Bedfordian turning up here to lay some local wisdom on us all. How about some one who has visited the town many times, like me If you follow the road over the bridge you will find in order: Nandos Mcdonalds Subway Pizza Hut and various pubs and clubs as that street is the night out area Edited February 19, 2009 by trekkiefan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dwarfbabe Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 Thanks guys. Sounds like there'll be plenty of choice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bacardiguzzler Posted February 25, 2009 Share Posted February 25, 2009 Hello I went to the Chevron 7.2 event and parking wasn't good. If you're a resident you'll probably be fighting for a space at the rear car park. I think there were approx 70 spaces. If you're not actually staying at the Park Inn, my recommendation is get a taxi! Or if you're staying at the Swan Hotel, Embankment or the Shakespeare, park at your own hotel and walk because literally, all these hotels are about 2 - 5 mins walk. There is a very small car park to side of the hotel which is a pay and display but maximum time is 2 hours and I saw a couple of cars getting caught out with this ending up with fines. This car park is however FREE on Sundays so if you're staying a bit further out of town, get taxis on the Saturday (easy excuse to drink beer through the day!) and on the Sunday if you get there early enough you'll be able to park in this small car park for FREE and all day. I hope this helps, if anyone has any questions about the venue and stuff, please feel free to ask! Bacardiguzzler Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christoff Posted March 3, 2009 Share Posted March 3, 2009 Apart from the hotel car park and the one mentioned in the last post, are there any others within walking distance (preferably ones that don't have limits on the amount of time you can stay there, since the event will be on all day)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barnowl Posted March 4, 2009 Share Posted March 4, 2009 [b]I went to Chevron 7.2 the other week and parked in the university car park the enterance is around the corner but you can walk just across the road i think it cost me £2 for the day but i dont think you can park overnight though[/b] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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