Your ultimate guide to all things travel related

Cheapest and Most Expensive UK city centre parking

The UK’s Cheapest and Most Expensive Car Parks and On-street Parking Rates

More and more people in the UK are shunning public transport in favour of cars. Not only are cars more convenient and comfortable but they are also more practical too, especially if you have the kids in tow. However, one of the downsides of using your own car is that you have to find a safe and legal place to park, and in most instances, you have to pay for parking. And in some cities, you’ll shell out a lot more than in others.

With this in mind, we’ve researched the cheapest and most expensive cities in the UK for parking, both in car parks and on-street.

In some cities, there is free on-street parking on weekends and public holidays. So, for comparison purposes, we looked at hourly and overnight midweek parking rates in locations within 30 minutes walking time of the centre.

How does your city fare?


The cheapest and most expensive cities for hourly on-street parking

Those driving into Portsmouth are in luck as there are plenty of streets with free parking all within a few minutes walk of the city centre. Drivers in Nottingham also have it good with on-street parking for as little as £0.60 an hour. As for the most expensive city for on-street parking? Surprisingly, it’s not London, it’s actually Kingston upon Hull in East Yorkshire where on-street parking can cost an eye-watering £6.00 an hour. The City of London is the second most expensive city to park up on-street, with hourly rates topping £5.10.


The cheapest cities for on-street parking (per hour)



# City Price
1 Bradford £0.70 per hour
2 Newcastle Upon Tyne £0.80 per hour
3 Preston £0.90 per hour
4 Wakefield £0.90 per hour
5 Leicester £1.00 per hour
6 Southampton £1.00 per hour
7 York £1.00 per hour
8 Nottingham £1.20 per hour
9 Sheffield £1.30 per hour
10 Gloucester £1.55 per hour



The most expensive cities for on-street parking (per hour)



# City Price
1 City of London £5.10 per hour
2 Edinburgh £4.60 per hour
3 Bristol £4.00 per hour
4 Manchester £3.50 per hour
5 Kingston upon Hull £3.00 (2hr max.)
6 Leeds £2.80 per hour
7 Brighton £2.40 per hour
8 Liverpool £2.40 per hour
9 Derby £2.30 per hour
10 Lichfield £2.00 per hour



The car parks in the UK with the cheapest and most expensive hourly rates

Planning on a road trip to Chester? You’ll be happy to know that leaving your vehicle in a car park will cost you just pennies. In fact, Chester has the cheapest car park in the UK with an hourly rate of just £0.10. On the flip side, the most expensive hourly car park tariff is £7.80 in the City of London. This is a whopping £2.10 more per hour than the next most expensive car parks which are in Manchester and Brighton and Hove. You’ll also notice that, on average, the cheapest car parks are Council-run and the most expensive are privately-owned.



The cheapest car parks in the UK (per hour)



# City Price
1 Chester - Christleton Road £0.20
2 Lichfield - Greenhough Road £0.60
3 Bradford - Captain Street £0.50
4 Wolverhampton - Dudley Road £0.50
5 Birmingham - Lower Loveday Street £0.60
6 Sheffield - Trinity Street £0.80
7 Nottingham - Avalon Court £1.00
9 Southampton - Trinity Road £1.00
9 Exeter - Okehampton Street £1.00
10 Worcester - 8 Charles Street £1.00



The most expensive car parks in the UK (per hour)



# City Price
1 City of London - Upper Street £7.80
2 Manchester - King Street West £5.70
3 Brighton and Hove - RCP 44 North Road £5.70
4 Liverpool - APCOA Lime Street Station (Short Stay) £4.60
5 Leeds - APCOA Leeds Station (Short Stay) £4.50
6 Sheffield - NCP Arundel Gate £4.50
7 Birmingham - Somerset House Garage £4.00



The car parks in the UK with the cheapest and most expensive overnight tariffs

If you need to leave your car overnight in a car park, thankfully, most car parks have special rates that work out cheaper than the hourly rate. In fact, parking your car for 24 hours in Chester is cheaper than parking it for just an hour in most other cities. You’ll pay just £1.80 for overnight parking. It’s also super cheap to leave your car parked up overnight in Kingston upon Hull, Bradford, Wolverhampton and Wakefield where you can park for 24 hours for just £2.00. In contrast to this, you can pay a jaw-dropping £455 for 24 hours parking in the short stay car parks in Liverpool Lime Street Station and Leeds Station. Ouch! To park your car overnight in Birmingham’s Somerset House Garage you’ll have to fork out £100 and to leave your motor overnight in The Business Design Centre in the City of London, you’ll pay the princely sum of £76.80.


The cheapest car parks in the UK (for 24 hours)



# City Price
1 Chester - 57 Christleton Road £1.80
2 Kingston upon Hull - North Bridge Lime Street £2.00
3 Bradford - Captain Street £2.00
4 Wolverhampton - Dudley Road £2.00
5 Wakefield - Wakefield Kirkgate Station £2.00
6 Lichfield - Greenhough Road £2.50
7 Preston - UKPS Ritz £3.00
8 Worcester - 8 Charles Street £3.00
9 Leicester - NCP Lee Circle £3.50
10 Birmingham - Lower Loveday Street £3.60



The most expensive car parks in the UK (for 24 hours)



# City Price
1 Liverpool - Lime Street Station (Short Stay) £455
2 Leeds - Leeds Station (Short Stay) £455
3 Birmingham - Somerset House Garage £100
4 City of London - Upper Street £76.80
5 Edinburgh - Edinburgh Airport Multi-Storey £70
6 Newcastle upon Tyne - Copthorne Hotel Newcastle £48
7 Leicester - Havelock Street £36.50
8 Nottingham - 50 Lower Parliament Street £34
9 York - York Station (Long Stay) £34
10 Manchester - King Street West £32.50

*Please note all prices are for week days, core hours only and central locations. Weekend prices may differ from those listed.



Other popular articles

Enter your email address for the latest discount codes and special offers across car hire, holiday accomodation and much more!

Get the latest travel news and offers
Thanks for signing up