The Crown of Route 66, Dunstable

Official site of The Crown of Route 66 - thecrownofroute66.co.uk

Official site of The Crown of Route 66 - thecrownofroute66.co.uk

Owned by the same team in charge of The Nags Head a few doors up, this is another of the Dunstable Town Centre pubs that doesn't threaten to set the world alight. You enter into an black-painted wooden-floored area commandeered by a pool table, rising up three steps to a long bar on the left. Surprise-surprise, there's no real ale, although Newcastle Brown and Theakstons XXB are available in bottles, and a couple of crafty Caledonian options (Coast to Coast and Three Hop) are on keg - a pint of the latter came in at £2.99. There's a further raised section to the back which leads to a tiny smoking area (called 'The Rooftop Terrace). Four televisions transmitted an England under-21s match to no-one in particular, and numerous posters screamed of the promotions available towards the arse-end of the week (think 2 cocktails for a fiver, Fishbowl Wednesday, etc.) Barman was friendly enough - I lost count of the amount of times he called me 'Sir' - but still, in the scheme of Dunstable, pretty poor for what it is.