Support Bassetlaw businesses with free afternoon parking for shoppers
Visitors to Worksop and Retford will be able to enjoy extended free parking in all Bassetlaw District Council Car Parks later this month.
Parking will be free after 1pm each day, from Saturday, November 28, 2026 until Monday, January 4, 2027, as the Council encourages more people to support high street businesses in the lead up to Christmas.
The annual free afternoon parking coincides with the Christmas Lights Switch-On events in Worksop and Retford, as thousands of people visit the town centres to celebrate and get the Christmas spirit underway.
Coun Alan Rhodes, cabinet member for corporate and financial services, said: “We recognise that this is an incredibly important time for local businesses and our high streets, and we hope that this will entice more people to shop local this Christmas.
“Visitors can take advantage of five hours of free parking each day in all council-owned or operated car parks, as well as the one hour of free parking we offer in two of our town centre car parks in Worksop and Retford.”
Visitors can use Queen Street Car Park, Worksop, and West Street Car Park in Retford, free for one hour at any time of day, Monday to Saturday.
There is now greater flexibility when paying for parking in Bassetlaw’s council- owned car parks, with a wider choice of parking apps available.
In May, the Council joined the National Parking Platform (NPP), a Department for Transport-backed initiative that enables drivers to choose from a range of approved payment providers rather than being tied to a single parking app.
Since then, motorists have been able to pay for parking using trusted providers including RingGo, JustPark, PayByPhone, AppyParking, Caura and APCOA Connect.
The move supports a growing preference for digital parking payments with 46 per cent of the total income of car parks over the last six months coming from digital payments.