PLEASE NOTE START TIME – PROCESSION 6 p.m.
ANY VEHICLES ON THE CARNIVAL ROUTE ON CARNIVAL DAY WILL BE TOWED AWAY
Information below refers to 2024 and for guidance only.
Hopefully if you are reading this you intend to come to our carnival, if you are please bear in mind roads in the town start closing at 1.00pm to allow for grandstands to be placed in position, after this time access to the town is likely to be congested, particularly from both J23 & J24 of the M5 so come early, please don’t leave it to the last minute to arrive.
We want you to enjoy the experience not be stuck in a traffic queue, there is entertainment in the town centre from 10.30am.
Park & Ride & Car Parks
PLEASE NOTE CHANGE OF OPERATING TIMES
Thanks to Buses of Somerset, our very popular Park and Ride schemes will be fully operational , some said they had to wait for a bus to take you back to the car park, so this year we are putting on extra buses for the return trip which will hopefully alleviate this situation.
The Buses will after the procession pick you up from the position you were dropped off. This service will be available from the times advertised, with the first bus leaving when full, the buses will run a regular service both ways until 11.30 pm when the last bus leaves the pick up point as shown on the map. These sites will be signposted from the M5 junction and will all close at midnight.
There are two Park & Ride locations this year one each at J23 & J24, both will be operational from 2pm until 6pm from the parking facility to the town and then from 9pm until midnight from town to the site.
Car Parking
The Carnival Committee works hard to ensure there is ample parking in the town with all main car parks signposted, so on arrival follow the signs.
The largest car park in the town will be St Matthews Field, close to the carnival route.
Official Bridgwater Carnival car parks are available in town locations.
Many of the town car parks have limited parking bays for blue badge holders.
Please note all car parks will close at midnight, there is no overnight parking available!
Official carnival car parks will be manned by persons representing charities and community organisations authorised by Bridgwater Guy Fawkes Carnival Committee which takes no responsibility for any loss sustained.
Many of these car parks have parking bays for blue badge holders and are used on a first come first used basis. Council Car Parks will be operational at Market Street and Barclay Street.
The car parks are run in the main jointly between the Carnival and local charities. You are advised to use the official car parks, there have been incidents in the past when cars parked on private land and were clamped and were charged several hundred pounds to get their cars released. Bridgwater Carnival has no control over this practice and cannot accept any liability. You have been warned! Should you unfortunately find yourself in the position where you car is clamped or you are fined see the useful guide to your rights under parking laws from GoCompare.
Why not take the hassle out of driving and come by coach, many coach firms now run trips to Bridgwater Carnival, see our Coach Trips page.
Coach Parking Information 2024
A coach pack containing a short promotional DVD and flyers is available for coach companies from Mandy Trunks on request.
We have allocated some parking spaces within the town centre for coaches on a first come first served basis, spaces are limited; (see application form for details), making it far easier to drop off and pick up your passengers. Should you wish to pre-book a coach you can download an application form by clicking on the link below and returning it with the appropriate payment or you can pay via our online shop, please put in the note fields the number of vehicles and number of seats together with any other relevant information. Online Shop.
The parking charge if available for those that arrive on the day without pre-booking will be an extra £5 per coach / minibus (maximum 16 seats), if you pre-book £50 – £65 for a coach and £35 – £50 for a mini bus depending on location and your space is reserved, bookings for 2024 are already being received so if you want a particular location don’t delay, book today!
The details of how we can best accommodate coaches has now been agreed with the Police, see “Location” link for a map of Bridgwater. Email contact for coach parking only is Mandy Trunks.
Disabled Access – Due to the high number of people visiting the town on carnival day specific parking for the disabled is limited, although there are almost 100 spaces in the local car parks reserved for the disabled. Due to lack of space there is no official disabled parking on the carnival procession route itself but there are several large car parks within a few minutes walk of the procession route. If you have booked grandstand seats there are sizeable car parks within a 10 minute walk from the location of the grandstands and toilets nearby, see map below.
If you intend watching from the roadside as the majority of spectators do then anywhere on the two mile route is accessible to wheelchair users. Whilst we make arrangements to secure as much official parking as we can, our advice is to arrive as early as you can as all available car parks in the town centre do fill up early, hence the reason we now provide two Park & Ride schemes with buses adapted for wheelchair users.
Mount Street at the end of the route may be a suitable place to watch the procession for people in wheelchairs. There is easy access to the footpath and have plenty of room for a wheelchair and carer. On the other side of this road is the large Angel Place Shopping Centre with easy access to the High Street where the daytime entertainment is held and access at the rear onto Mount Street for viewing the Procession.
Following public feedback from our carnival experience last year, for 2023 we have introduced a dedicated and official viewing on the procession route for wheelchair users at Northgate Yard, Mount Street, Bridgwater, Postcode TA6 3FQ.
Spaces are limited and to book a reservation or for further information please email Disabled Viewing.
A printable map showing the carnival procession route and the location of grandstands, toilets and car parks can be downloaded:
Further information on Bridgwater Carnival can be obtained by ringing the Carnival Centre on 01278 428220.
Traffic Details
The main Carnival procession will commence at 6.00 p.m. Many roads into the town will be closed to traffic from 4 p.m. some earlier for the grandstands see above. The procession will take approximately two hours to pass any given point. We usually attract around 120 entries of all descriptions.
Any queries concerning traffic management should be directed to our Traffic Management Director, Chris Mockridge.
Finally many thanks for supporting Bridgwater Carnival and please remember the carnival raises many thousands of pounds for charity via your donations so please help us to smash last years total by giving as much as you can to support our many worthy causes.
Enjoy the show!