Bedford Town Centre

Summary

A market town on the Great Ouse in Bedfordshire — the Embankment riverside, a Georgian and Victorian commercial centre, John Bunyan’s connection, and the Bunyan Meeting House in the town’s central street.

About this location

Bedford is the county town of Bedfordshire, built on the Great Ouse river crossing. The town centre has a Victorian and Georgian commercial core around the Market Square; the Embankment — a riverside walk along the south bank of the Ouse — gives a pleasant with Victorian boathouse and bandstand. The Swan Hotel (Georgian) faces the bridge.

The town has an important association with John Bunyan, who was imprisoned in Bedford Gaol and wrote Pilgrim’s Progress during that imprisonment. The Bunyan Meeting Free Church on Mill Street occupies the site where Bunyan preached; the Bunyan Museum within the meeting house contains first editions and period material.

For productions, Bedford gives an English county town environment — market square, Victorian commercial streets, Georgian civic buildings, and the Ouse riverside — that is readable as any English Midlands/East Anglia county town. The Bunyan connection gives a specific period anchor for productions set in the 17th century. Bedford Borough Council handles filming permits.