October 19, 2026

Make Friends in Bedworth, Around Miners’ Welfare Park

Bedworth’s new leisure hub opened in Miners’ Welfare Park in March 2026, and about 68% of Bedworth homes are owner-occupied.

Bedworth friends sharing a laugh beneath a streetlight

38,300+

residents of Bede, Exhall, Heath, Poplar and Slough wards in Bedworth (Census 2021, ONS)

68%

Bedworth homes that are owner-occupied, above 63% for the West Midlands (Census 2021)

13%

lone-parent share of Bedworth households, a point over the West Midlands’ 12% (ONS)

Bedworth has coffee mornings on Wednesdays

The Wednesday coffee morning with guest speakers at Bedworth Library is a friendly way to make friends in Bedworth. The library’s Knit & Natter follows on Friday afternoons, Bedworth parkrun starts by the zip wire in Miners’ Welfare Park, and the covered market on Mill Street trades three days a week. Gofrendly gives Bedworth women a further route to new friends.

Bedworth: local questions answered

Bedworth friends wheeling bicycles together, laughing in the sun

What is at the new Bedworth Physical Activity Hub?

The Bedworth Physical Activity Hub in Miners’ Welfare Park opened in March 2026, run by Everyone Active. It has eight 25-metre lanes plus a learner pool, a four-court hall, a 100-station gym, a reformer Pilates studio and a café for Bedworth residents.

What are Bedworth market’s trading days?

Bedworth Market trades in the covered market on Mill Street on Tuesdays from 8am to 2pm and on Fridays and Saturdays until 3pm. On Tuesdays and Fridays some traders also set up in All Saints Square, in the middle of Bedworth.

Is Bedworth Heritage Centre free?

Yes. Bedworth Heritage Centre on All Saints Square is run by the Bedworth Society, asks only for donations and opens on Tuesday, Friday and Saturday mornings. It includes a recreated silk weaver’s cottage with two looms and changing Bedworth exhibitions.

How can Bedworth women meet friends locally?

Gofrendly, a women-only friendship app, helps Bedworth women see their neighbours, from Exhall to Collycroft, and a few messages can turn into a plan to meet. A lap of Miners’ Welfare Park, past the formal gardens, makes an easy first outing.

Bedworth, a mining town with a park at its heart

In Bedworth, Miners’ Welfare Park, bought by the miners’ welfare committee in 1921, still sits at its centre. In five town wards, owner-occupation reaches 68% and lone parents run some 13% of households, both slightly above regional levels. Where owners make up most households, a dependable weekly routine is the fastest way to stop being the new face and start being a familiar one, and the park is the natural place to begin.

Short winter days can leave you lonely between school runs and work. The Bedworth Physical Activity Hub opened in March 2026 with eight swimming lanes and a reformer Pilates studio, the Heritage Centre on All Saints Square opens on market mornings, and Bedworth Civic Hall stages Dick Whittington this December. Bedworth Library is closed on Thursdays but open the rest of the week. The Civic Hall also hosts tribute nights through the autumn. Places to begin, all in the town centre:

Bedworth Library, with a Wednesday coffee morning and Friday Knit & Natter.

Miners’ Welfare Park, with formal gardens, a lake and the parkrun.

Bedworth Physical Activity Hub, the new pool and gym in the park.

Bedworth Heritage Centre on All Saints Square.

The covered market on Mill Street.

LOCAL TIP

Go to the Bedworth Library coffee morning on two Wednesdays running and you will be greeted by name.

How to

Bedworth: four ways to meet women locally

Bring your knitting or crochet to Knit & Natter at the library on a Friday.

Do Bedworth parkrun from the zip wire and cheer home the final finisher.

Swim a few lengths at the new hub with a Bedworth woman from Gofrendly.

Visit the Heritage Centre on a market morning and see the silk looms.

Writing the Bedworth page, park to market

Gofrendly founders Claudia Gård and Ulrika Lilja wrote this Bedworth guide alongside the editors for Warwickshire women with families, deep roots in the town or a wish for new friends.