Interchange Retail Park — Local services in Great Britain

Interchange Retail Park in Kempston is one of the main shopping destinations in the Bedford area. One of its biggest strengths is the wide range of stores – from popular fashion brands like Next, TK Maxx, and JD Sports to home and lifestyle stores like The Range and Home Bargains. The availability of food outlets (McDonald's, Costa Coffee, Burger King, KFC) also makes it a convenient place to spend a few hours.

The park offers free parking and very good facilities for people with disabilities, including modern "Changing Places" toilets, which are a huge plus for families with children and people with additional needs.

However, recently the park has been undergoing extensive redevelopment and expansion. New retail units are being built, and stores like The Range are planning to increase their space. This is where my concerns begin – the ongoing expansion is consuming a significant number of parking spaces, which used to be one of the biggest advantages of the park. Even now, it can be difficult to find a parking spot during peak hours, and I worry that this problem will only get worse once construction is completed.

Moreover, since large-scale construction work is already underway, I believe it would be a great opportunity to improve access for pedestrians and cyclists. Ideally, a footbridge or tunnel could be built to connect Interchange Retail Park with the back side of Kempston. Naturally, such infrastructure would have to go either over or under the railway tracks, which currently act as a major barrier for direct access. Creating such a connection would make it much easier for local residents to visit the park on foot or by bike, reducing the dependency on cars and significantly boosting customer numbers for the stores.

In summary – Interchange Retail Park is still a very good place for shopping and a quick meal, but its future, especially regarding parking and accessibility, raises some concerns. I hope the park’s management will consider modern, thoughtful transport solutions and fully unlock the site's potential.

Rating: 4/5 – great stores and atmosphere, but smarter planning is needed...

I will never visit again despite coming here for the last 10 years as a local. Legal and general be ashamed! You cannot shop for longer than 4 hours which when pregnant and wanting to stop for lunch in Costa with a friend to break up our shopping trip is quite easy to creep over the 4 hours. I had no idea they had changed the parking rules or no way would we have planned a new baby shopping spree here!! Tiny piddly signs with small print easily missed. £60 fine and of you dare to contest it it's £100! Absolutely unfair and I will vote with my feet. No Christmas and birthday shopping, no general shopping, no pet shopping, no clothes shopping there. I used to buy so much here because it was convenient! I will shop online in future! Oh and it says on legal and general website the car park is free ..this is a lie!!! Totally ruined what should have been a lovely celebratory occasion. Thanks a bunch UKPC and Legal and General the site landlord for your newly introduced...

Great place for shopping but watch your time at the car park. I haven't been for years and decided to pay a visit last week. Shops were great and had a nice lunch in Next. Today, I have received a parking charge for £60.00 (£100 if not paid in the next 14 days), for going 44 minutes over the maximum stay time of 4 hours. Now, I checked the website before I went and it said free parking, nowhere did it say there is a maximum stay. So, stupidly, I didn't pay attention to the signs all around the car park - that will teach me, beware! Don't make the same mistake I did! As if the cost of living isn't high enough atm, I get charged £60 for 44 mins over!!!! It was a nice experience at the time and I didn't overspend, thank goodness, but its ruined my experience and its turned into quite an expensive visit - fuming is an understatement,...