The test centre at Chilwell is located at Unit 24, Eldon Business Park on Eldon Road (having been relocated from the Beeston Test Centre in late 2016). The entrance road to the test centre (off Eldon Road) is shared with other business and leads to a small car park outside the entrance to the building. There are seven bays to park in at the test centre. Five bays are directly opposite the entrance to the test centre (positioned on the right hand side as you drive in) with a further two bays providing an option to park on the left. The two bays on the left are perpendicular to the other five bays but are not a good option for people who use the “Three Line” method of bay parking. The two bays on their own are also contained by a kerb, which means that parking needs to be very accurate as there is very small room for error. Interestingly, the seven bays provided are not equally sized with the widest bay being almost 10% wider than the narrowest bay!
As there are usually 4 or 5 learners arriving at the test centre to take tests at the same time (often at the same time as learners returning to the car park at the end of their test), the car park can be quite congested at times.
The waiting room (with plenty of chairs) is on the ground floor of the building opposite the main parking bays. There is one toilet next to the waiting room for use by learners/instructors. Given that instructors are not allowed to bring their learners to the test centre more than 10 minutes before the test time, this means that there could be up to 5 learners and their instructors needing the toilet at the same time!
Leaving the test centre car park leads you back to a traffic light controlled crossroads. You need to be careful as the road leading to the traffic lights can get congested with business vans and lorries. If turning right at the traffic lights, there are no markings in the middle to indicate where to wait (for any oncoming traffic), so it is useful to view this junction before your test. From those traffic lights, test routes can go in several directions (towards Long Eaton, Breaston, Toton, Stapleford, Sandiacre and Risley or towards Attenborough, Beeston, Bramcote, Dunkirk, Lenton and Wollaton).
Like most test centres, Chilwell has over 20 different test routes. These routes are updated from time to time but are not published. While it is not sensible to prepare for a test by simply travelling around/trying to memorise test routes, it is helpful to be familiar with the general test area as it includes many multiple lane and busy roundabouts (notably Bramcote Island, Bardills Roundabout and the roundabout at M1 J25) as well as several quirky roads/junctions (including roads that are shared with tram lines, one way roads, no entry roads and traffic lights with left filter arrows).
If you are not familiar with the Chilwell Test Centre area and have a test booked there, you might want to consider booking a lesson or two with me to explore some of the test area. Please be aware that, while I do not provide my car for use at a test for people who have already booked a test, I do offer a mock test service (subject to mutual availability). If you are interested, please contact me using my contact form, by telephone or send me a message (text or WhatsApp) using any of the contact details at the bottom of this page.