The club are currently members of the Southern League Premier Division Central and play at the Eyrie in Cardington, a village on the outskirts of Bedford.

[2] They absorbed Bedford Rovers in 1896, and although local leagues had been formed, the club continued to play only cup matches and friendlies.

In the following season the club again beat Football League opposition in the FA Cup, defeating Norwich City 4–2 at Carrow Road before losing 1–0 at Reading.

The following season saw further league re-organisation, with Bedford placed in the new Premier Division;[5] their FA Cup campaign ended with a 4–0 first round defeat at home to Gillingham.

However, the mid-1960s was an extremely successful period for the club in the cup; in 1962–63 they reached the second round where they were again beaten by Gillingham, this time away.

A trip to St James' Park resulted in a 2–1 win for Bedford, before they were defeated 3–0 by Carlisle United in the fourth round in front of a then-record crowd of 17,858.

[5] The club had continued to apply for Football League membership every season between 1965 and 1973, and after a hiatus in 1974, made their eighteenth and final bid for Football League membership in 1975, but were again unsuccessful, leaving them with the second-highest number of unsuccessful applications after Yeovil Town.

However, the club was disbanded at the end of the season after their lease at Queens Park was terminated and a planned new stadium at Barkers Lane fell through.

[5] The following season saw their first appearance in the FA Cup first round since reforming and resulted in a 2–1 defeat at Peterborough United in a replay.

After finishing fifteenth in 2003–04 Bedford entered the play-offs for the final positions in the newly created Conference North and South.

They beat Hitchin Town 3–1 in the semi-finals, but lost the final 5–4 to St Albans City.

Following a 1–0 win at Bath City in the semi-finals, they beat Chippenham Town 3–2 in the final to earn promotion to the Conference South.

[10] The capacity had reached at least 6,000, and a new record attendance of 5,667 was set for the FA Cup match against Dartford in 1934–35.

[10] Further ground developments in the 1950s raised the capacity to 18,500,[11] with the record attendance of 18,407 set for an FA Cup game against Everton in 1965–66.

[9] When the club re-formed in 1989, they initially played on public pitches in Queens Park, before finding a site in Cardington to build a new ground.

The New Eyrie opened on 6 August 1993 with a friendly match against Peterborough United attracting what remains the ground's record attendance of 3,000.