The Gary Cooper (JD Wetherspoon), Dunstable

Large and modern branch of Wetherspoon's situated in a retail park just to the east of Dunstable town centre. It feels quite spacious and much brighter than most old-style 'spoon's. Customers here were forming an orderly queue for the bar. Most were ordering meals. So, I'm not sure if this is the 'done' thing here, or whether these particular customers decided to create a queue. I duly joined the back, in any case. For beers, the usual suspects were on - Greene King Abbot, Ruddles Best & Sharp's Doom Bar. In addition, there were 3 guests from Kelchner - Masquerade, Local Is Lekker & James Blonde. My Masquerade was a little cloudy, but just about drinkable. Real cider is no longer stocked, or at least was not apparent.

This is a mid-sized, open plan Wetherspoons set in a modern building close to a large college campus and Grove Park. The room roughly follows a C-shape, with the usual ‘Spoons carpeting throughout and a familiar mix of high tables and stools, standard tables and chairs and one or two comfier banquettes and tub chairs here and there. Unusually, the high tables aren’t lined up directly opposite the bar, as tends to be the case in most ‘Spoons, with that honour going to some tables and chairs formed into booths by the positioning of Covid screens. An L-shaped servery can be found down the right-hand side of the room, with a plain wood counter front embellished with a few stylish inserts and a basic bar back that has been given some cursory decorative flourishes. All of this sits underneath a vast, curved wooden canopy which looks a bit like a gigantic bus shelter, although I feel this description does no favours to the dramatic effect of the whole thing. The room has large for to ceiling windows down two sides, which help make it feel light and airy inside, whilst the walls are painted mostly in red or other such warm shades and decorated with large mirrors, abstract art pieces and the usual muted TV screens. A very large, elaborate wall-mounted arm has been used to hang a pretty big light feature at one end of the room, whilst you can find a life-size statue of the eponymous Hollywood actor sat on a horse at the other end of the room, next to the stairs leading up to the toilets. To the left, doors lead out to a good-sized patio seating area with lots of picnic benches, many of which are sheltered by jumbrellas or small gazeboes. There were three ‘Spoons regulars on the handpulls alongside two guest ales from the Kelchner Brewery from nearby Ampthill. I ordered a pint of the latter’s Masquerade Red Ale from the waitress who was despatched to my table despite me being sat right opposite the bar and perfectly capable of giving my order to the lady behind the bar without having to get up and approach the counter (as were the rules at the time of my visit). The beer turned out to be nothing special and was perhaps starting to turn a little, with most other customers seemingly favouring lager and bottled beer. I quite liked this modern building which I thought helped the place stand apart a little from the usual shop-converted branches of the chain. However, it did seem a little too sterile, even by ‘Spoons standards, and didn’t exactly help its cause with sub-par beer and a cluttered, messy feel to the layout. I may have caught this place on a bad day, but I left feeling I could quite happily have dropped this from my itinerary without feeling like I missed out on much.

Official site of The Gary Cooper (JD Wetherspoon) - www.jdwetherspoon.com

Official site of The Gary Cooper (JD Wetherspoon) - www.jdwetherspoon.com

Large 'L'-shaped 'spoons named after the Hollywood star nearby before emigrating to America with his family. Housed in one corner of the large modern Dunstable Centre development (with BBC Three Counties and the Grove Theatre as neighbours), this has a towering ceiling and full-height windows so feels light and airy. Some external tables can also be found overlooking the Grove House Gardens. Not much doing on the two banks of five handpumps, with the Cairngorm Trade Winds (just £1.89 on a Monday) being about the best of three beers and a cider as alternatives to the trio of Ruddles, Doom Bar and Abbot.

This is a JDW situated on a corner location as part of a modern development which also houses the centre for BBC Three Counties radio. Unusually for the brand there is lots of natural light, courtesy of the two elevations having full height glazed curtain walling however as on this occasion there was an enormous virtual monsoon taking place we did not benefit. Poor for a 'spoons as regards guest beers, only three I made it, repeated over both banks of pumps, we all went for the Purple Moose Elderflower Ale. Four pints for £7.60 with four vouchers was a redeeming feature of course. Cavernous inside and very noisy due to poor acoustics and unchecked children, decor includes unusual metal objects fixed to the walls, large mirrors, exposed services plus a statue of Gary Cooper mounted on his horse.....certainly one of the more dubious associations of Wetherspoon pub naming. Busy, functional and adequate, nothing more.