Local Area

Bicester is a rural market town community, which lies 4 miles to the east of junction 9 of the M40, midway between London and Birmingham with Oxford 15 miles to the west. Milton Keynes, Aylesbury, Buckingham and Banbury are all within 25-30 minute drive, the M1 is 35-40 minutes away via the A43 Silverstone by-pass.

Although Bicester is a small community it has all the normal commercial facilities of a town. There are 20-25 pubs, all of the major banks and building societies, restaurants and takeaways including Chinese, Indian, Pizza, Kebabs and a Burger King on the outskirts of town.

Accommodation

Officers, SNCOs and JR's will all be accommodated together at the Bowman Training Centre, St George's Barracks, Bicester Garrison, OX25 1PP. Be advised that this accommodation is basic and that it may be prudent to bring along items to make it more comfortable: i.e side lamp, TV, radio etc. Lockers are available in the accommodation, however they have no padlocks. In order to secure your possessions you are advised to bring your own. Single accommodation is at a premium and all personnel, regardless of rank, will be expected to share accommodation.

Transport

Students are expected to make their own transport arrangements for travel to and from the Bowman Training Centre, St George's Barracks before and after the course. There are 2 railway stations in Bicester. Bicester North which is serviced by the Chiltern Line with fast and efficient service to London Marylebone and Bicester Town which is serviced by Thames Trains to Oxford with it's Inter City connections. Service MT is provided for course personnel for the daily journeys between Bicester Garrison and JSPC(W).

There are regular daytime bus services between Bicester and St George's Barracks at approx £3.00 return. A taxi fare into Bicester is approx £8.00 before midnight and increases after midnight. The taxi fare to Oxford is approx £25.00 - £35.00.