Bury's town centre car parks are free from 4pm to 8pm on five Thursdays, 19 November to 17 December, and most arc shops will stay open to 7pm.

Parking in Bury St Edmunds town centre will be free on Thursday evenings in the run-up to Christmas. West Suffolk Council is making its town centre car parks free from 4pm to 8pm every Thursday from 19 November to 17 December.

The council announced it on 28 October. The first free evening is the night of the town’s Christmas lights event.

The five free evenings

Thursday Free parking
19 November (Christmas lights event) 4pm to 8pm
26 November 4pm to 8pm
3 December 4pm to 8pm
10 December 4pm to 8pm
17 December 4pm to 8pm

The release covers the council’s town centre car parks in Bury. It does not list them one by one, and it does not mention on-street bays.

Shops staying open late

The arc shopping centre and Our Bury St Edmunds, the town’s business improvement district, asked town centre businesses about opening late. The council says a large number will.

Kirsty Pollard, the arc’s centre manager, said that from 19 November “almost all arc Shopping Centre stores will be open until 7pm on Thursdays, plus a few open even later”.

Mark Cordell, chief executive of Our Bury St Edmunds, said the council had decided to “reintroduce” the Thursday offer. He hoped it would encourage businesses “to open longer on these evenings”.

Cllr Dave Taylor, the council’s cabinet member for operations, said he hoped the free parking would persuade shoppers “to support the town centre businesses rather than simply ordering online”.

Haverhill and Newmarket

The council says it is also working with town centre partners in Haverhill, about 17 miles south west, and Newmarket, about 14 miles west, to back their Christmas events with free parking. It has not yet said which days or car parks. We will add them here when it does.

Two car parks that shut before 8pm

The free window runs to 8pm, but two of the town centre car parks normally lock earlier:

  • Arc-Cattlemarket underground level: locks at 6pm, unless there is a performance at the Apex.
  • Parkway surface car park: locks at 6.30pm.

Those times are from the council’s own car park pages, and the release does not say whether they change on the free Thursdays. If you plan to stay past 6pm, use the Arc-Cattlemarket surface spaces or Parkway multi-storey instead. Our parking in Bury St Edmunds page has every car park, its spaces and its normal closing time.

What it means for you

  • Arrive after 4pm on a Thursday from 19 November to 17 December and you should not pay in the council’s town centre car parks until 8pm.
  • Arriving earlier, you pay as normal until 4pm. Short stay charges normally run to 6pm.
  • Tuesdays are a separate offer. Short stay car parks and pay-and-display street bays are free from 3pm every Tuesday, all year (West Suffolk Council). That offer does not cover long stay car parks.
  • Olding Road is free anyway from 3.30pm on weekdays, until 11pm.
  • On 19 November the Christmas lights event runs from 3pm to 8pm. Our Christmas lights switch-on page has the programme and the car parks the organisers recommend.