Romford UDC opened the park to the public in 1934, and instituted a museum in the house which locals seem to have referred to as Bedfords Mansion, this focussing on natural history and containing stuffed birds and animals from the local area. It was also around this time that a captive herd of red deer were introduced. During World War II Bedfords House was used by the Auxiliary Fire Service and afterwards was used as the council archive but was gradually allowed to fall into disrepair until it was demolished in 1959. In the 1960s a cafe was built on the site of the house until this also fell out of use in the 1980s.