Dunstable, Central Bedfordshire, England, United Kingdom

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Dunstable is a market town and civil parish in Bedfordshire, East of England. It lies on the eastward tail spurs of the Chiltern Hills, 30 miles north of London. These geographical features form several steep chalk escarpments most noticeable when approaching Dunstable from the north. Dunstable is the largest settlement in Central Bedfordshire and the third largest in Bedfordshire. Along with Houghton Regis and the much larger town of Luton it forms the westernmost part of the Luton/Dunstable Urban Area.

21st century As with many other market towns, the rise of out-of-town retail parks with free parking caused a decline in town centre trade; Sainsbury's, Tesco, Halfords, and Next moved to newer larger premises out-of-town.

More recently, major retailers Asda, Wilko and Aldi have opened stores in the town centre. Whitbread PLC, which manages Premier Inn, Beefeater, Brewers Fayre and Table Table, is headquartered on the Houghton Regis/Dunstable industrial estate which is also home to the head office of Costa Coffee.

Geography The oldest part of the town is along the Icknield Way and Watling Street where they cross. These roads split the rest of the town into four quadrants which have each been developed in stages.

The north-west quadrant started to be developed in the 19th century when the British Land Company laid out the roads around Victoria Street. The development of the Beecroft area began with the houses around Worthington Road; after the Second World War the borough council extended the estate up to Westfield Road with its shops, and then up to Aldbanks. The war-time site of the Meteorological Office, was then in Houghton Regis, where Cookfield Close and Weatherby stand. The site was redeveloped by George Wimpey Homes and others. At the north of the town there is an estate originally marketed as French's Gate Estate, and at the west of the town there is an area of houses on Lancot Hill.

The south-west quadrant has largely been developed since the Second World War. There are three main estates. In the Lake District Estate all the streets are named after places in the Lake District and Cumbria; the estate includes a parade of shops on Langdale Road. It was originally called the Croft Golf Course Estate and was built by Laing Homes. Oldhill Down Estate around the Lowther Road shops was developed by William Old Ltd., and the Stipers Hill Estate around Seamons Close was initially created by the Land Settlement Association.

In the south-east quadrant, the area around Great Northern Road was developed at the end of the 19th century as Englands Close Estate and Borough Farm Estate. The Downside Estate including the shops on Mayfield Road was planned by the borough council in 1951.

The north-east quadrant is a mainly commercial and civic area, the result of redevelopment in the early 1960s. The site of Waterlow's printing works around Printers Way is now occupied by houses built in the 1990s. The Northfields Estate at the north of the town was completed by the borough council in 1935.

Further east, near the boundary with Luton, there is another area that has largely been developed since the Second World War. To the south of Luton Road, Jeans Way was completed after the war; to the north, Poynters Estate and Hadrian Estate were built on either side of Katherine Drive, where there is a parade of shops. The area also includes the Woodside Estate which contains most of the factories and warehouses that still exist in Dunstable.

Culture Since opening in April 2007 the 780 seat Grove Theatre has replaced the Queensway Hall as the town's premier arts centre.

The Little Theatre, home of the Dunstable Rep Theatre Group also hosts dramatic performances throughout the year. The auditorium, once part of the Chews Trust was fully opened in 1964 by Bernard Bresslaw. It sits next to the historic Chews House on High Street South.

The town also has numerous amateur dramatics societies that perform several shows a year. These include 'The Square Drama Circle' and 'Dunstable Amateur Operatics Society'.

Currently a Wetherspoons entitled The Gary Cooper (named after the famous actor who once resided in the town for his education), and a nightclub called BOX3 each occupy a unit in the Grove Park complex. A unit is also currently occupied by Central Bedfordshire College. The other units are occupied by The Performing Arts Depot (PAD), and BBC 3 Counties Radio.

Sport and leisure Several parks and open spaces are kept by Central Bedfordshire Council along with Dunstable Leisure Centre. The centre was closed on 4 June 2017 to undergo a £20.1 million redevelopment incorporating a brand new town library. 'The Dunstable Centre', which opened in June 2019 (albeit without its swimming pool) includes state-of-the-art leisure facilities, gym, swimming pools and a flexible community space for other public and community services, such as the Citizens Advice and adult day care / disabled sports. Stevenage Leisure Limited will manage and operate the leisure centre on behalf on Central Bedfordshire Council.

It neighbours the Grove Theatre (also managed by SLL), a modern 32-lane ten-pin bowling centre, and the main campus of Central Bedfordshire College.

The town is home to two senior football clubs, Dunstable Town F.C. and AFC Dunstable who both play at the Creasey Park Stadium. Dunstable Town F.C. play in the Southern League Premier and AFC Dunstable play in the Spartan South Mildlands League. Dunstable Town famously recruited George Best to ply his trade in the town and defeated Manchester United 3–2 in the process.

A Rugby Union team that plays in RFU Midlands 2 (level 6) called Dunstablians play their matches in nearby Houghton Regis at Bidwell Hill.

Lancot Meadow is a small nature reserve managed by the local Wildlife Trust. Dunstable Downs Golf Club, founded in 1906 and designed by James Braid, is on the top of the Downs.

Landmarks Within the town centre is the Grove Theatre, Priory House Heritage Centre and the Priory Church where Henry VIII formalised his divorce from Catherine of Aragon. At the heart of the town sits the Quadrant Shopping Centre, while across High Street North a secondary shopping community named the Eleanor's Cross Shopping Precinct hosts a modern statue commemorating the original cross. Nearby Luton has the Waulud's Bank prehistoric henge and Luton Museum & Art Gallery.

Dunstable Downs, a chalky escarpment outside the town, is a popular site for kite flying, paragliding and hang gliding, while the London Gliding Club provides a base for conventional gliding and other air activities at the bottom of the Downs. Further into the countryside are the open-range Whipsnade Zoo, a garden laid out in the form of a cathedral at Whipsnade Tree Cathedral and the Totternhoe Knolls motte-and-bailey castle.

The Icknield Way Path passes through the town on its 110-mile journey from Ivinghoe Beacon in Buckinghamshire to Knettishall Heath in Suffolk. The Icknield Way Trail, a multi-user route for walkers, horse riders and off-road cyclists also passes through the town. The route of these now leisure routes now go to the west and north of the main conurbation rather than following the road which still bears its name.