Bedford has a vibrant Town Centre offering shoppers a range of high quality shops, from large department stores and major chains to smaller niche retailers. The compact pedestrianised shopping centre with over 300 shops, a historic open air market and a shopping mall with all the well known names, makes it an excellent choice for shopping.
The Harpur Centre attracts over 6 million shoppers a year and has over 30 high quality shops all under one roof. Footfall in the main shopping area has increased for four consecutive years. High street names such as Bhs, Debenhams and Marks & Spencer have invested millions of pounds in upgrading their stores, which has resulted in an increase in sales performance.
Bedford Town Markets: Bedford has been home to the successful Charter Market since the 12th century. Now in the 21st century, since 2004, Bedford hosts two new speciality markets, the Gourmet Food Market on Thursdays, and the Flower & Plant Market on Fridays.
The independent Bedford Town Centre Company Ltd was set up with the mission is to make Bedford Town Centre the preferred place to shop, work, live, visit and have fun. The company received the highly prestigious ATCM award for “Managing the Evening Economy” and was one of the first towns chosen by the government to pilot the Business Improvement Districts Scheme BedfordBID, which has seen the introduction of street rangers that can assist visitors with all manner of enquiry. A number of initiatives including the BED:SAFE project ensure that nighttime visitors can enjoy leisure time around the town centre in a relaxed and pleasurable environment.
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