Luton has lovely cycling on its doorstep and its bike-friendly urban infrastructure is growing, but there’s plenty of work to do

Bedfordshire’s biggest town is best known for its airport, London Luton, and its football team, Luton Town FC. The airport opened in 1938, was a key part of the package holiday boom in the Sixties, and today is one of the area’s largest employers. Luton Town, who won the 1988 League Cup Final, are nicknamed The Hatters – a name that reflects the town’s heritage.

Up until the 20th century, Luton was a world leader in hat making. Motor vehicle manufacture was subsequently huge in Luton, and to an extent still is. Vauxhall Motors continues to make commercial vehicles here but closed its car plant in 2002, which caused significant unemployment. The motor industry is why Luton is such a diverse, multicultural town: workers came here from across Europe and the Indian subcontinent. It’s also why the town was heavily bombed in World War Two – Vauxhall Motors was making tanks at the time.

Luton suffered the same post-war industrial decline of towns and cities further north. While it’s transitioned to a more service-based economy, the deprivation caused by the decimation of its car industry has left its mark. In a 2023 survey of over 100,000 people by satirical website ilivehere.co.uk, Luton was rather unfairly declared ‘the worst place to live in England’.

The real picture is more complicated than that, something borne out by the fact Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip spent part of their honeymoon just outside the town at Luton Hoo hotel. Luton is surrounded by some beautiful countryside – and a bike is an excellent way to escape into it. Within the town, meanwhile, there have been some recent positive changes for public transport users and cyclists.

The best type of bike for cycling in Luton

Luton is situated in a break in the Chiltern Hills. While its elevation is over 100 metres, making is slightly chillier than lower lying towns in the South East, it’s not especially hilly in the town itself. It’s not flat either, and outside Luton you’re soon into chalk hills, some of them steep.

To enjoy leisure rides in this landscape as well as riding to work, good options are an e-bike or a gravel bike. For although a road bike might seem better suited to the network of country lanes around Luton, road bikes generally have high gears. Unless you’re fit, you’ll struggle riding around the Chiltern Hills in a 34/28 bottom gear. Gravel bikes have lower gears and give you the option of riding on bridleways as well. You can always change the tyres to slick ones if you plant to stay on tarmac.

You don’t have to pay a fortune to get a decent gravel bike. The Marin Four Corners 1 has an RRP of just £999. It doesn’t come with a pannier rack or mudguards but has mounts for both, as well as multiple bottles and/or bikepacking cages. Its steel frame will survive hard knocks on the commute, while its triple chainset Shimano Sora drivetrain will help you scale any hill. The mechanical disc brakes are good for the price – Tektro Spyre-C – and the 40mm multi-surface tyres won’t be troubled by potholes or off-road shortcuts.

The Whyte RHeO 3 (RRP £2,299) is an e-bike with the same sort of multipurpose capability: ride to work Monday to Friday; enjoy leisure rides at the weekends. It comes commute-ready with mudguards, a rear rack, integrated lighting and a kickstand. The dropper seatpost is more common on mountain bikes but is nice to use while waiting for the lights to change, as it lets you put your foot down flat. The RHeO 3 is lightweight for a fully equipped e-bike – just 16.9kg – making it easier to manhandle and more pleasant to ride. The 250Wh battery and 250W Kynamic hub motor will provide assisted pedalling for up to 65km per charge.

Luton’s transport network

Luton has good road and rail links because of its location. The M1 and the Midland Main Line pass through here because it’s the easiest route across the Chilterns. For cyclists, however, it’s a mixed picture.

As Luton Borough Council’s downloadable cycling map shows, the cycling network is like that of most British towns and cities: mostly on roads in the form of recommended quiet streets. There are traffic-free cycle tracks here and there,  particularly in the vicinity of some of the schools. And there’s a couple of handy arterial routes, both part of the National Cycle Network: NCN 6 next to New Bedford Road and alongside the River Lea; and NCN 606, a really useful commuting corridor between Dunstable and Luton beside the guided busway.

Luton has three train stations: Luton, Luton Airport Parkway and Leagrave. Services are provided by East Midlands Railway and Thameslink. East Midlands Railway trains take two bikes, usually on a first-come, first-served basis. Reservations are required for services to and from London and between Liverpool and Norwich. Apart from folders, bikes are not carried on weekday trains arriving in London St Pancras before 10am or leaving it between 4pm and 7pm.

Thameslink’s cycle carriage policy can be summed up as: turn up and hope for the best. Some bikes (the number isn’t specified) are carried on some trains, although not on peak-hour services to and from London, and never on trains between Bedford and Luton Airport Parkway. 

Luton Airport Parkway now has an automated, light rail shuttle service, the Luton Dart, which connects the station and the airport. Ironically, given Thameslink’s ban, full-size bicycles are carried on the Luton Dart.

Buses in Luton are operated by Arriva, Grant Palmer and Centrebus. All of them carry folding bikes only. Arriva recommends that they’re bagged, while Grant Palmer and Centrebus will carry them only if there is sufficient space.

Local rides in Luton

There’s a shortage of family-friendly, traffic-free rides in Luton. You can follow NCN 606 west (alongside the guided busway) and then continue to Stanbridgeford, but after that you’re back on roads. The Forest Centre & Millennium Country Park at Marston Moretaine (20 miles away) has about five miles of bike paths, along with hire bikes and various activities, so that could make a good day out. There are also the off-road centres such as Chicksands (see below).

Road cyclists, on the other hand, are spoiled for choice. There’s a dense network of country lanes and plenty of pretty villages to pass through, such as Barton-le-Clay and Old Warden. If you need inspiration, try the Chilterns Cycleway, a 170-mile loop that you can ride in sections. The Chiltern Society has weekly group rides, and there are other local clubs such as the Icknield Road Club and CC Luton. If you’d prefer to go exploring by yourself, Komoot has a good selection of routes to download.

Off-road riding around Luton is hampered by the fact that many of the bridleways inexplicably segue into footpaths. The Icknield Way is rideable for its whole 170-mile length, however. For other natural trails you’ll want a good guidebook such as Vertebrate’s South East Mountain Biking: Ridgeway and Chilterns. There’s a few mountain bike destinations nearby: Chicksands at Shefford, which has singletrack trails for all abilities, including beginners; Woburn Bike Trails on the outskirts of Milton Keynes; and Aston Hill Bike Park, which is currently closed.

Bike shops in Luton

Luton has just one Cyclescheme retailer, Cycle King, which is on Dunstable Road. It’s one of 23 branches of the UK’s largest independent bike retailer. Open seven days a week, the store’s bike brands include Claud Butler, Coyote, Dawes, GT, Mission, Tifosi and Wisper. Cyclescheme customers give it a five-star rating.

There are other Cyclescheme retailers nearby. Pedalworks in Dunstable is five miles away via the Luton-Dunstable Busway cycle route. As well as sales and repairs, Pedalworks offers bike fitting and performance coaching. Its bike brands are Bianchi, Cannondale, Colnago, Giant, Liv, Tern and Trek. Cyclescheme customer comment: “James from the team was especially helpful. I did have a few problems, but Pedalworks provided solutions and resolved any issues quickly.”

Harpenden Cycles in (you guessed it) Harpenden is a similar distance away. In business since 1989, the staff are keen cyclists themselves and organise weekly shop rides. Bike brands sold include Bergamot, Genesis, Scott and Trek. Cyclescheme customer comment: “Liam and the rest of the staff at the shop are excellent professionals.”

Keeping your bike secure in Luton

Luton has had its fair share of problems relating to deprivation, including council estate riots in the 1990s, but its levels of bike theft are about average for England and Wales and they’re not rising significantly. (There was a 0.5% bump in the last year.) Theft hotspots in the area are the town centres of Luton and Dunstable.

Always lock your bike whenever you turn your back on it, ideally with a Sold Secure Gold or Diamond rated lock. Lock the bike through the frame to a sturdy piece of street furniture or a dedicated cycle stand. If you have a high value bike or will be leaving it locked up for an extended period – for example, overnight – use two locks.

The vast majority of bike thefts take place not on the street but in ‘semi-private’ locations at home. That means on your property but not in the house – for example, a garage, shed or garden. Lock your bike to a wall or ground anchor if it will be in one of those locations. Alternatively, park it indoors.