The Three Cups, Bedford

This is a pleasant backstreet boozer just a short walk from the town centre. The pub has an uneven U-shaped layout, with bare boards through much of the interior, plus some nice parquet flooring to the right of the entrance. The left side of the pub is a simple seating area with several tables and chairs centred around a brick fireplace with some nice mirrors set into the mantlepiece. Near full-height wall panels cover much of the room, decorated with a few paintings to break up the monotony. The servery is opposite the entrance and has a decent dark wood counter, broken by a couple of small pillars, with a mediocre modern bar back that uses a mirror with the pub’s name on it as a centrepiece. To the right, a mix of upholstered benches and Chesterfield sofas stand beneath similar panelled walls, before giving way to a series of tables and chairs further to the rear, mostly around another fireplace with a plain mirror above. Beyond, there’s a further seating area with nice banquettes to the right and a strange recessed booth to the left, with cramped padded benches and no real view of the rest of the pub. This rear area was decorated with balloons and birthday banners, suggesting some sort of private function might be taking place that evening. The whole pub had a bit of an ‘alternative’ vibe - everyone seemed to be wearing t-shirts of various metal bands for instance - but there was a bland pop soundtrack playing in the background which dispelled this illusion somewhat. There was a strong ale range at the bar, with a choice of Milestone Missy Sippy, Italia and English Rose, Greene King IPA, Wadworth 6X, Kelchner Lekker and one other that I couldn’t read. I tried the Missy Sippy, which was a pretty flavoursome old ale kept in excellent condition. The barman was very friendly and there was a small band of bantering locals on a late midweek afternoon, helping to generate a bit of a convivial atmosphere. It’s a shame I came to this place early in the day, as I could well imagine it’s a fine little boozer with a lively atmosphere. It has one of the better ale ranges I found across ten pubs I visited on my crawl and is a pleasant enough space to while away a bit of time in.

slightly modernised pub, but still has character, 6 real ales including local offerings. Nice place

Although still a Greene King pub, this lovely old building is now one of their "local hero" pubs, in conjunction with local White Park brewery. There are two of their beers on the bar (GB and White Gold) among eight hand pumps; also being served at the time of my visit were GK Old Speckled Hen, IPA and Suffolk Porter, Milton Nero and Banks & Taylor Shefford Bitter, plus a real cider. There's a really nice feel to this pub, with its old fashioned wood panelling and Paul McCartney on the sound system. OK, I could have done without Macca, and to be honest the heating was a bit high, too. Watch out for the big step down if you have to go to the gents. I would definitely include this on another visit to Bedford - apart from anything else, it breaks up the walk to or from the Devonshire nicely.