The Pilgrims Progress (JD Wetherspoon), Bedford

This is a largish corner Spoons dating from 1997 that was originally a furniture shop. The name recalls some local bloke who wrote a book called this donkey's years ago. It's an L shaped open plan single room where the most attractive area is around the bar at the back of the pub which leads to a paved patio. There is a screen and projector here for sporting events which to my relief was not in use on my visit. The room is filled with the usual Spoons mix of tables and chairs. The bar has two banks of three hand pumps and a further six at the side. The net result of this was the two GK beers doubled up, Doom Bore, Broadside, Milestone Classic Dark Mild, Hambledon Nightmare, Stonehenge Pigswill, Moorhouse Farmhouse and two beers available soon. I went for the Moorhouse Farmhouse (£1.99) which was in very good nick. Overall I thought this was the better of the two Bedford Spoons. The fact that the toilets are at bar level must be worth a point in itself.

The Pilgrims progress is a large Wetherspoons that has been converted from an old building. Once inside there was a very large room with different drinking areas and the pub had lots of windows if you want to watch the world go by. There was a good choice of real ales on the bar and i had a drink of Hop Back Summer Lightning which was a very nice drink. The pub was very busy with the usuall Spoons type of customers. Pub visited 20/1/2001