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Submitted on Monday, 25^th December 2006
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The Castle, Bedford

17 Newnham Street
Bedford
MK40 3JR

Phone: 01234353295

Correct details

Served areas

Bedford Central

Reviews of The Castle (Average Rating: 6½ of 10) Add Review see review guidelines

Please Note: This review is over a year old.

Pub SignMan left this review about The Castle

This is quite a pleasant, modernised town centre pub with a nice two room layout and a mix of traditional and contemporary styles. You enter into the compact main bar with a flagstone floor and a squat L-shaped servery to the rear left. The bar has a modern wood panel counter front and mirrored bar back, running through to the left-hand side room. There’s a nice comfy banquette under the front window, with some good quality chairs in support, screened by a shelving unit which acts as a partition from the left-hand room. High tables and stools run down the right-hand wall in the space opposite the bar, eventually giving way to a carpeted rear area with some padded bench and chair seating options. There are lots of dark wood beams and pillars throughout, and the walls have been decorated with a lot of old paintings and black and white photos, which helps the room retain a traditional pub feel in contrast to the modern furniture, unused TV screen and dreadful bird-themed wallpaper to the rear that’s really best not to dwell on. The side room has a smaller, but similar layout, with an unusual wall covering to the left and the bar down the right-hand side, as well as plenty of additional seating. A passage to the rear leads out to a well appointed patio garden with plenty of typical garden furniture, whilst back inside, a pop soundtrack played in the background, easily lost under the chatter of a surprisingly busy mid-week crowd.
Five ales were available on this occasion, albeit a fairly uninspiring mainstream selection of Wells Origin and Legacy, Courage Directors, Black Sheep Bitter and Youngs Ordinary. Against my better judgement, I went for the Origin (£2.10), which was well-kept but nothing to write home about. The bar staff seemed very friendly and welcoming to a new face and there was a remarkable churn of customers coming and going during the course of my relatively brief visit.
This is another decent Bedford backstreet pub, with a nice modernised interior that will appeal to a wider range of customers, and a sizeable ale range, albeit a little too focussed on mainstream bitters that can be found in numerous other pubs around town. A decent enough place to add to a crawl, but not somewhere I’d fancy stopping in for a longer session.

On 23^rd February 2022 - rating: 6
[User has posted 3350 recommendations about 3350 pubs]

Please Note: This review is over a year old.

Danny O'Revey left this review about The Castle

open pub, stone floor, nice

On 27^th January 2019 - rating: 7
[User has posted 1542 recommendations about 1519 pubs]

Please Note: This review is over a year old.

Bucking Fastard left this review about The Castle

Very close to The Three Cups, not as interesting internally but still popular on a Friday evening with plenty of bar blockers.It's a Charles Wells tied house and was offering across both the front and back bars three real ciders,Youngs Ordinary,London Gold and Special,Courage Directors,Eagle IPA all of which are brewed in Bedford at the Charles Wells brewery now under the ownership of Marstons plc.The guest beers were Pedigree and 61 Deep from Marstons in Burton,so not very guest like in my book.Lots of real ale,but nothing to get excited about caused a very brief visit.Can't understand how this place could possibly get into the 2018 GBG.

On 15^th July 2018 - rating: 5
[User has posted 2936 recommendations about 2936 pubs]

View more reviews of The Castle (6)

External web links for The Castle

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Official site of the Castle Inn, contains menu and event details - www.thecastlepubbedford.co.uk
Official page of the Castle at the Charles Wells site, contain real ale details - www.charleswells.co.uk