At the 2011 Census, the population of its urban area (as defined by the Office for National Statistics), including Kempston and Biddenham, was 106,940.

[2] The name of the town is believed to derive from the name of a Saxon chief called Beda,[3] and a ford crossing the River Great Ouse.

[citation needed] The Anglo-Saxon King Offa of Mercia was buried in the town in 796;[4] this is believed to be in his new minster, now the Church of St Paul,[5] or on the banks of the Great Ouse where his tomb was soon lost to the river.

In 919 Edward the Elder built the town's first known fortress, on the south side of the River Great Ouse and there received the area's submission.

William II gave the barony of Bedford to Paine de Beauchamp, who built a new, strong castle.

Bedford traces its borough charter in 1166 by Henry II[9] and elected two members to the unreformed House of Commons.

The northern part of the town was badly damaged in the Great Fire of Bedford in 1802, which destroyed 72 properties in the St Loyes area.

The former Phoenix public house in St Johns Street has a stone marker in its wall almost two metres above ground level, representing the maximum height of the floodwater in 1823.

[15] Bedford's first woman town councillor was Mary Milligan who, in 1919, was also the secretary of the local Women's Citizens League.

The borough council is led by a directly elected mayor who holds the title 'Mayor of Bedford', an office which was first held by Frank Branston, until his death in 2009.

Villages in the Borough of Bedford, outside of the built-up area, with populations of more than 2,000 (as of 2005) include Clapham, Elstow, Oakley, Sharnbrook, Shortstown, Wilstead, and Wootton.

As with the rest of the United Kingdom, Bedford has a maritime climate, with a limited range of temperatures, and generally even rainfall throughout the year.

[31] In addition to Italian immigrants, Bedford has also been the recipient of significant immigration from India (8.1% of Bedford's population;[32][failed verification] Indians began arriving from the late 1950s onwards from the Punjab area, many of whom worked at the London Brick Company), Eastern Europe (particularly in the 2000s) and Scandinavia, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Greece, Cyprus, Northern Cyprus, Malta, Spain, France, Switzerland, Germany, Poland, Portugal, Albania, Turkey, The Middle East, East Asia, South East Asia, Africa (3% of Bedford's population is of Sub-Saharan descent[32][failed verification][33][failed verification]), South America and the Caribbean, making it one of the most ethnically, racially, and linguistically diverse towns in the United Kingdom outside of London in proportion to its size.

The park retains many original features from its Victorian design and construction, including a cricket pavilion and bandstand which are both still in use.

It is the Civic Church of the Borough of Bedford and County of Bedfordshire and has a tall, iconic spire which is one of the dominant features of the town.

The memorial was designed in 1921 by the sculptor Charles Sargeant Jagger and depicts the Anglo Saxon Lady Athelflaed, who ruled Mercia, killing a dragon.

[46] The inscription reads 1914 † 1919TO BEDFORDIANS WHO DIED, MANY IN EARLY YOUTH, SOME FULL OF YEARS AND HONOUR, BUT WHO ALL ALIKE GAVE THEIR LIVES FOR THEIR COUNTRY.Bedford Castle Mound is the remnant of Bedford's medieval castle, located close to the centre of the modern town, less than a hundred yards from Bedford Bridge and the High Street.

In around 2000, Bedford Borough Council built a sloping retaining wall on the south side, facing the river.

A small wooden structure of the same date at the top of the wall, much like a bus shelter, protects tourists from the rain while they view the river embankment.

Services are operated by London North Western Railway and run between Bletchley and Bedford's main station.

[48] Bedford Borough previously operated a three-tier education system, which was arranged into lower, middle and upper schools, as recommended in the Plowden Report of 1967.

The Bedford Corn Exchange is the largest entertainment venue in the town and plays host to a variety of performances, meetings, conferences, concerts and private functions.

Bedford's special brand of the ordinary has resulted in regular small TV and radio appearances, for instance the upbeat episode of Mark Steel's in Town,[58] contrasting with the less enthusiastic treatment in The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

[59] In December 2023, Universal Destinations & Experiences announced that it had purchased 480 acres (later expanded to around 700 acres) of land on a former brickworks site near Stewartby, on the outskirts of Bedford, with the company exploring the possibility of building a theme park and resort in the area, citing Bedford's proximity to London and Luton Airport.

[60] In 2024, Universal Studios United Kingdom was announced to be in the planning and approval phases, with construction potentially beginning as early as January 2025, and the park itself slated for completion around 2030.

[61][62] Following successful rollouts of autonomous delivery robots in nearby Milton Keynes, Northampton and Cambridgeshire by Starship Technologies, in July 2022, the company announced a partnership with Bedford Borough Council and The Co-operative Group to rollout the autonomous robots in the Bedford built-up area, delivering from three Co-op stores in Goldington, Queens Drive and Kempston, an area spanning 45,000 residents and 20,000 households.

[63] Local news and televisions programmes are provided by BBC East and ITV Anglia from the Sandy Heath TV transmitter.

Taking into account the size of its overall urban area, Bedford is one of the largest towns in England without a fully professional football team.

The Maldives National Olympic Committee based its competing athletes in the borough, while Paralympic athletes from Angola, the Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Gambia, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Jamaica, Lesotho, Morocco, Niger, Pakistan, Senegal, Tunisia and Uganda were also based in the area.

With the exception of Weymouth (which hosted various sailing events), Bedford Borough accommodated more Olympic teams in 2012 than any other local authority area in the United Kingdom.