Taxis & Private Hire in Luton

Luton

Luton is a town and unitary authority of Bedfordshire, England, 32 miles (51 kilometres) north of London.

Luton, along with its near neighbours of Dunstable and Houghton Regis, form the Luton/Dunstable Urban Area with a population of over 230,000 (06/2008).

Luton is home to Luton Town Football Club, whose history includes several spells in the top flight of the English league as well as a Football League Cup triumph. They play at Kenilworth Road stadium, which has been their home since 1905.

London Luton Airport, opened in 1938, is one of England's major airports. During the Second World War it doubled as an RAF base.

Part of the University of Bedfordshire is located in the town.

The Luton Carnival, held on the late May bank holiday, is the largest one-day carnival in Europe.

The town was for many years famous for hat-making and was also home to a large Vauxhall Motors factory; the head office of Vauxhall Motors is still situated in the town.

Car production at the plant began in 1905 and continued until 2002, but commercial vehicle production remains.

Wardown Park is situated on the River Lea in Luton. The park has sporting facilities, is home to the Luton Museum & Art Gallery and contains formal gardens.

The park is located between Old Bedford Road and the A6, New Bedford Road and is within walking distance of the town centre.

Stockwood Park is a large municipal park near Junction 10 of the M1. The park houses the craft museum, the Mossman Collection and the period formal gardens which are all free of charge for visitors.

There is an athletics track, an 18-hole golf course, several rugby pitches and areas of open space.

The park was originally the estate and grounds to Stockwood house, which was demolished in 1964.

Luton Museum and Art Gallery is housed in a large Victorian mansion in Wardown Park on the outskirts of the town centre. The museum collection focusses on the traditional crafts of Bedfordshire, notably lace-making and hat-making.

There are samples of local lace from as early as the 17th century.

The Wenlock Jug, a rare example of a jug cast, was almost sold to New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art for £750,000 but was export-stopped in October 2005 by culture minister, David Lammy, based on a recommendation by the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest, run by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council.

Based in Stockwood Park, Luton, the collection of rural crafts and trades held at Stockwood Park Museum was amassed by Thomas Wyatt Bagshawe, who was a notable local historian and a leading authority on folk life. Bagshawe was born in Dunstable in 1901 and became a director of the family engineering firm.

The collection only contains examples from Bedfordshire and the borders of neighbouring counties, giving the collection a very strong regional identity.

The Mossman Carriage collection is held at Stockwood Park, Luton and is the largest and most significant vehicle collection of its kind in the country, including originals from the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries.

The Mossman collection of horse drawn vehicles was given to Luton Museum Service in 1991.

It illustrates the development of horse-drawn road transportation in Britain from Roman times up until the 1930s.

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