The Bell, Bedford

This looks to be your quintessential country pub, set in an attractive village location, a friendly landlady, thatched roof and a riverside garden. What more could you ask? Well, firstly I think a but of artistic licence has been applied to the sign advertising the riverside garden. I walked down to the fence at the bottom of the garden which was some way back from the river bank. I could hear the river, see a bridge over it, but certainly not see the river itself. Probably not what most people have in mind when they visualise a pub's riverside garden. Inside the cosy country look continues though. It's a traditional pub, mostly carpeted apart from a few cream tiles in the middle and with plenty of low ceilings, black beams, horse brasses and the other paraphernalia one would expect. It's also quite a large pub, being a L-shape and with several different areas, although not entirely separate rooms as such. To the right is a small snug which was very cosy with a massive stone fire-place that had a wood burning stove giving off plenty of warmth (I heard the landlady telling one of the locals that they'd now had the fires lit for seven months), plenty of copper pots and plates and a couple of miniature beer barrels in the window sill. Decor wise it is fairly similar throughout, with cream plasterwork on the upper part of the walls and wood panelling that has been painted maroon on the lower half. The rest of the pub is largely given over to seating, although there doesn't seem to be any particular area set aside for dining which makes a pleasant change. A small section at the front of pub had bar stools around the perimeter and a ledge running around like a breakfast bar. Numerous papers were supplied, so this is clearly somewhere to just sit and read whilst supping your pint. There was a darts board in the rear bar and a sign advertised a regular quiz night. Elsewhere were a couple more stone fireplaces, although not on the scale of the one in the snug, and one of these too had a fire blazing away. The quiet background music was an eclectic collection and consisted of both Celine Dion and Black Sabbath among others. The food menu was a typical "pub grub" affair and listed various options such as Ham Egg & Chips, Chilli Con Carne, Burger, Fish & Chips, Sausage & Mash, etc. Most of the mains were priced at around the £8 - £9 mark. My Chicken Kiev was a little disappointing - it was a generous portion and a decent enough piece of chicken, but there was virtually no garlic butter. In reality it was little more than chicken in breadcrumbs. Beers on tap were slightly uninspiring, all being from the Greene King stable. These were London Glory, IPA and Abbott Ale. The solitary cider though was Stowford Press which makes a pleasant change from the crud you get in most of their pubs. All in all I really wanted to like this pub, and in many ways I did. But the disappointing beer choice and food, plus the fact that both the soap dispenser and hand dryer were broken in the gents means that I cannot score it as highly as I would like.

Official site of the Bell - www.thebellinodell.co.uk

An authentic country pub with a warm welcome, log fires, fine ales and a large variety of food that competes with quality restaurants. With a country park within walking distance, it makes it all a very enjoyable experience.

Official site of the Bell - www.thebellinodell.co.uk