Northcroft Lane West is free for two hours until 30 September, then charges from the first hour. Full 2026/27 tariffs for Newbury, Thatcham and Hungerford.
Almost every West Berkshire car park charges Monday to Sunday, including bank holidays, normally 8am to 6pm. There is no free Sunday and no free bank holiday. The figures below are the council’s own tariffs in force since 1 April 2026.
Where you can still park free, and what to watch
Free parking exists in Newbury and Thatcham, but every instance has a condition attached:
- Northcroft Lane West gives two hours free, but only from 1 April to 30 September. From 1 October to 31 March the same car park charges £1.10 from the first hour. Nothing about the site changes, only the date
- Goldwell Park and Northcroft Leisure Centre give three hours free, and three hours free again in the evening, but you must take a free ticket
- Burdwood Centre, Thatcham gives two hours free, then bars you from returning to the car park for two hours after the free period ends
- Gilbert Court, Thatcham gives one hour free
- Kennet Leisure Centre, Thatcham gives two hours free and £1.10 up to three, then £10.70 over three hours. It also only operates Monday to Friday, 7.30am to 5.30pm
- Lambourn High Street is free up to one hour, and free in the evening up to one hour
- On-street in Newbury, the first 30 minutes are free on Northbrook Street, Bartholomew Street, Broadway, Cheap Street, Kings Road West, Pelican Lane, West Mills, Newtown Road (North) and the Faraday Road industrial estate roads
- Kingsland Centre, Thatcham is the one daytime tariff that runs Monday to Saturday rather than Monday to Sunday
Two more traps that apply everywhere. A free period still needs a valid ticket displayed. And the evening charge is payable on top of everything you accrued up to 6pm, not instead of it.
Newbury car parks
Central KFC, Pelican Lane, West Street, Corn Exchange (Bear Lane), Newbury Central Library and the Kennet Centre multi-storey all share one tariff, 8am to 6pm every day:
| Stay | Charge |
|---|---|
| Up to 1 hour | £1.80 |
| Up to 2 hours | £3.20 |
| Up to 3 hours | £4.50 |
| Up to 4 hours | £5.90 |
| Up to 6 hours | £8.00 |
| Up to 8 hours | £9.60 |
| Over 8 hours | £13.90 |
| Evening, 6pm to 8am | £2.70 |
Eight Bells, Wharf and Northcroft Lane run the same rates but stop at four hours, which is a maximum stay rather than a price point.
Northbrook multi-storey is cheaper: £1.60 for an hour, £2.70 for two, £3.70 for three, £4.80 for four and £5.90 beyond that, with the same £2.70 evening charge.
Newbury Football Club charges £1.10, £2.10, £3.20, £4.30 and £5.30 over four hours.
Goldwell Park and Northcroft Leisure Centre: free up to three hours with a ticket, £1.10 up to four, £2.10 up to six, which is the maximum stay.
Northcroft Lane West runs 8am to 10pm, longer than the rest of the town:
| Stay | 1 April to 30 September | 1 October to 31 March |
|---|---|---|
| Up to 1 hour | Free (2hr free band) | £1.10 |
| Up to 2 hours | Free | £2.10 |
| Up to 3 hours | £1.10 | £3.20 |
| Up to 4 hours | £2.10 | £4.30 |
| Over 4 hours | £4.30 | £5.40 |
Station parking
Newbury Station multi-storey had the steepest rise of any charge in the district this year. The off-peak daily rate went from £4.40 to £5.30, up 20.5%, and the peak rate from £7.30 to £8.20, up 12.3%.
| Monday to Friday | Saturday and Sunday | |
|---|---|---|
| Up to 2 hours | £2.10 | £2.10 |
| Up to 4 hours | £4.30 | £3.70 |
| Arrive before 10am, all day | £8.20 | n/a |
| Arrive after 10am, all day | £5.30 | £5.30 |
Day tickets expire at 23:59, so a late train home is covered.
Thatcham Station is a flat rate: £3.85 before 10am Monday to Friday, £2.35 after 10am and at weekends.
The bays immediately outside the railway booking office on Station Road, Newbury are pay and display, not station parking, and the council flags this specifically because people assume otherwise. On-street Station Road costs £1.30 for two hours, £2.40 for four and £4.30 beyond.
Thatcham, Hungerford, Theale, Pangbourne and Lambourn
| Car park | 1 hour | 2 hours | 3 hours | 4 hours | Over 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Church Street, Hungerford | £1.10 | £1.60 | £2.10 | £2.70 | £6.40 |
| Station Road, Hungerford | £1.10 | £1.60 | £2.10 | £2.70 | £3.20 |
| River Meadow and Station Road, Pangbourne | £1.10 | £1.60 | £2.10 | £2.70 | £6.40 |
| Kingsland Centre, Thatcham | £1.10 | £1.60 | £2.10 | £2.70 | £3.70 |
| Burdwood Centre, Thatcham | Free (2hr) | Free | £1.30 | £1.70 | £3.20 |
| Gilbert Court, Thatcham | Free | £0.90 | £1.30 | £1.70 | £3.20 |
| Theale Main | £0.90 | £1.30 | £1.70 | £2.10 | £3.20 |
| Theale West | £0.90 | £1.60 (max) | |||
| High Street, Lambourn | Free | £1.10 (4hr) | £2.10 |
Evening charges are £1.10 at all of these. Hungerford’s evening charge runs 6pm to 6am, two hours longer than the 6pm to 8am used everywhere else, so an early start from a Hungerford car park can still be chargeable.
Hungerford High Street on-street is the one place where the evening charge is free. Daytime it is £1.10, £1.60, £2.10, £2.70 and £6.40 over four hours.
Season tickets
Worth it if you park daily. An annual pass is priced at 80 times the daily ticket, a quarterly at 25 times and a monthly at 10 times.
| Zone | Annual | Quarterly | Monthly |
|---|---|---|---|
| Newbury central (KFC, Library, Kennet Centre, Pelican Lane) | £1,112 | £347.50 | £139 |
| Newbury Northbrook | £472 | £147.50 | £59 |
| Newbury Station | £656 | £205 | £82 |
| Pangbourne Station Road | £512 | £160 | £64 |
| Thatcham Kingsland Centre | £296 | £92.50 | £37 |
| Hungerford Station Road and Theale Main | £256 | £80 | £32 |
| Lambourn High Street | £168 | £52.50 | £21 |
The Newbury Station pass rose fastest, up 12.1% on the annual and 13.9% on the quarterly. Council-approved volunteers get 50% off if the vehicle and a valid Blue Badge are registered to the same person.
Resident and visitor permits
Permits are banded into four tiers by zone:
| Tier | Zones | First permit | Second permit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hungerford High Street, Newbury Park Terrace | £85.50 | £128.25 |
| 2 | Newbury except Park Terrace | £53.50 | £80.25 |
| 3 | Hungerford (except High Street), Pangbourne, Thatcham, Theale | £43 | £64.50 |
| 4 | Chieveley, Lambourn | £32 | £48 |
Blue Badge holders get 50% off a resident permit.
Visitor permits cost £1.20 each for the first 100 in a year and £1.70 after that, and are not available in the Hungerford High Street or Newbury Park Terrace zones. An annual special parking visitor permit is £32. Carers’ all-zone permits are £11.20 for medical professionals and non-profit care companies, £56.20 for commercial providers, with a two-hour maximum stay in any one location.
Blue badge
Three hours free in every West Berkshire car park. You must display both a valid Blue Badge and a time clock, and the council is explicit that the clock is required, not optional. Stay longer and you buy the extra time: park four hours, pay for one.
A new or replacement Blue Badge costs £10, unchanged this year.
Paying
Most car parks take coins. These nine do not:
- Goldwell Park, Newbury
- Northcroft Lane, Newbury
- Northcroft Lane West, Newbury
- Northcroft Leisure Centre, Newbury
- Newbury Station multi-storey
- Kennet Leisure Centre, Thatcham
- Station Road, Thatcham
- Theale Main
- High Street, Lambourn
Card payment works at:
- Newbury: Central KFC, Eight Bells, Football Club, Northcroft Lane, Northcroft Lane West, Pelican Lane, West Street and Wharf
- Thatcham: Kingsland Centre
- Hungerford: Church Street
- Pangbourne: River Meadow and Station Road
- Theale Main and Lambourn High Street
Five car parks are pay on foot and take notes as well as cards:
- Central Library, Newbury
- Corn Exchange, Newbury
- Kennet Centre, Newbury
- Northbrook, Newbury
- Station Road, Hungerford
Pay by phone carries a 5p service charge per transaction. Each car park has its own location number, shown on the tariff board.
Two warnings from the council itself. It does not use QR codes for parking payment, so any QR code you see on a machine should be reported on 01635 521905. And it does not send text messages about penalty charge notices, so those are a scam.
Also useful: Newbury roadworks and travel, Newbury bin collection days and Newbury council tax bands.
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