Harpur
Bedford 010 · 6 sub-areas · 9,293 residents
Harpur is a commuter neighbourhood within Bedford — train into London runs in around 51 minutes, and the rhythm of weekday mornings is shaped by it. The rental market is active and turnover is high — people move through rather than stay.
Overview
What's it like to live in Harpur?
3 parks and 1 playgrounds are within five minutes' walk, so greenspace is reliably close at hand; food and drink within walking distance is workable but not dense — around 14 restaurants and 5 pubs in five minutes; Recorded crime is higher than the national norm — common for built-up urban areas, but worth weighing if you're looking for a quieter base; Public transport is genuinely strong; most errands and a fair share of social life don't need a car; rents are roughly in line with the national norm, at around £1,163 a month for a typical home; gigabit broadband is effectively universal.
Generated from the latest May 2026 data · refreshed automatically
Figures are aggregated across 6 sub-areas — population-weighted means for rates, sums for counts. Sources cited beneath each section.
Harpur in Bedford
What you'll need on day one
Frequently asked
- What's the median rent in Harpur?
- The median monthly rent across Harpur is £1,163.
- How safe is Harpur?
- Harpur has a safety score of — out of 100, where higher is safer. The score is the national percentile rank of police-recorded crimes per 1,000 residents per year, inverted.
- How well-connected is Harpur?
- Transport score: — out of 100. Combines walking time to the nearest rail station, walking time to the nearest metro stop, and public-transport time to clusters with 5,000+ jobs. The nearest rail station is roughly 12 minutes' walk.
- What schools are near Harpur?
- There are 18 schools within 2 km of Harpur, of which 47% are rated Good or Outstanding by Ofsted. The nearest Outstanding-rated school is approximately 1338 m away.
- What is the council tax band in Harpur?
- The most common council tax band in Harpur is A, with the typical Band D annual charge around £2,075. Council tax is set by Bedford council and applies to every property in the area.
- How long is the commute from Harpur to London?
- By the fastest direct train, the journey from Harpur to central London is approximately 51 minutes. This is the fastest no-change rail journey from the local area centroid; door-to-door times will vary with walking time to the station.
- Is gigabit broadband available in Harpur?
- 100% of premises in Harpur are gigabit-capable according to Ofcom Connected Nations 2025. Most properties can already buy gigabit packages.
- What is the deprivation rank of Harpur?
- Harpur sits in IMD decile 4 of 10, where 1 is the most deprived 10% of local areas nationally and 10 is the least deprived. The Index of Multiple Deprivation combines income, employment, education, health, crime, barriers and environment.
- What's the tenure mix in Harpur?
- 41% of households in Harpur are owner-occupied. The remainder is split between private renting and social housing — see the Demographics section for the full breakdown from Census 2021.
- What is the average property price in Harpur?
- The average property price across Bedford (the local authority covering Harpur) is approximately £326,121, per HM Land Registry's House Price Index. Per-local area prices vary; see the cost-of-living section for medians by property type.
- Is Harpur a commuter town or workplace hub?
- Commuter town — most working residents travel out for work. (0.45 jobs per working-age resident. Median resident salary £35,987.)
- Which local areas are part of Harpur?
- Harpur contains 6 local areas: Bedford 010E, Bedford 010F, Bedford 010D, Bedford 010A, Bedford 010C…
Frequently asked about Harpur
Short answers anchored in the data above. Each link goes to the relevant section or methodology page.
- What is the average rent in Harpur?
- The estimated median monthly rent in Harpur is £1,163. This is derived from the council-area ONS rental figure scaled by the local sale-price gradient — see the Cost section for the breakdown by bedroom count and the affordability ratio against local salaries.
- Is Harpur a safe place to live?
- Harpur has a safety score of 28/100. The score is the national percentile rank of police-recorded crime per 1,000 residents, inverted so 100 is the safest 1% of England + Wales. The Safety section below shows the breakdown by category.
- What schools are near Harpur?
- 47% of schools within 2 km of Harpur are rated Good or Outstanding by Ofsted. The Schools section lists individual schools with inspection ratings.
- How long is the commute from Harpur?
- Public-transport commute time from Harpur to central London is approximately 51 minutes. The Transport section has commute times to every major UK city hub.
- How is Harpur different from the rest of Bedford?
- Harpur contains 6 sub-areas. The "Sub-areas" section below lets you drill into each one individually — they often vary by 20%+ on rent and demographics within the same neighbourhood.
- Where does Harpur rank in Bedford?
- Harpur scores 82/100 on our composite liveability index. To see how it stacks up against every other neighbourhood in Bedford, see the Cities table on the Bedford page.