Festival Place is the part of Basingstoke nobody writes poetry about and almost everybody uses.
It is the town’s main indoor shopping and leisure centre, with restaurants, a cinema, the bus station and enough parking to briefly make you question whether you arrived in Purple or Blue.
The railway station is only a few minutes away on foot, making Festival Place a fairly unavoidable introduction to central Basingstoke if you arrive by public transport.
If you want old buildings and independent character, continue towards Top of the Town. If you need lunch, a film, a new phone charger or somewhere dry for a couple of hours, you have found the correct building.
Opening times
The centre’s standard hours, from the Festival Place website on 12 October 2026:
| Day | Open | Close |
|---|---|---|
| Monday to Saturday | 9:30am | 7pm |
| Sunday | 11am | 5pm |
Individual shops can open and close at different times, and the cinema keeps its own hours. Check the centre’s website around bank holidays and Christmas.
Parking at Festival Place
The car park sits directly above the centre, has more than 2,500 spaces and is open 24 hours. It is split into colour zones: Purple, Blue, Green, Yellow and Orange. For satnav, use RG21 7BA.
Charges, as listed on 12 October 2026:
| Stay (2am to 5pm) | Charge |
|---|---|
| Up to 1 hour | £2.20 |
| Up to 2 hours | £3.70 |
| Up to 3 hours | £4.20 |
| Up to 4 hours | £4.70 |
| Up to 5 hours | £5.90 |
| Up to 6 hours | £7.00 |
| Up to 7 hours | £9.80 |
| Up to 8 hours | £11.30 |
| Up to 9 hours | £12.00 |
| Up to 24 hours | £17.00 |
Evening rate: a flat £2.00 if you arrive after 5pm and leave before 2am. Outside that window, the standard hourly charges apply.
- Paying: use the ticketless kiosks (enter your registration, pay by cash or card), pay on your phone after parking, or register for Autopay, which adds a 10p fee per visit.
- Height limits: 2.1m on the Festival Way entrance, 1.82m on the Alencon Link entrance.
- Blue Badge: marked bays next to the lifts.
- EV charging: six sockets on Level 5, with standard parking charges on top.
Going to a show? Our Anvil parking guide compares Festival Place with The Malls car park.
The cinema
The Vue cinema in Festival Place has ten screens. Its opening times follow the film schedule rather than the shops’ hours, so check the listings rather than the centre’s times. If you park after 5pm, the £2 evening rate makes an evening film noticeably cheaper to get to than a Saturday-afternoon one.
Getting there by train or bus
Basingstoke station is about a five-minute walk away. Leave by the main exit, cross the road towards Sainsbury’s and follow the pedestrian walkway straight ahead to the entrance. The bus station is built into Festival Place itself, with direct access from the centre.
Food nearby
El Bigote in Festival Square is the independent option nearby. Our food and drink guide has more.
Why it’s here
Because a locals’ guide that carefully avoids mentioning the place half the town actually goes would be trying a bit too hard.
Location
