The Travellers Rest, Dunstable

The pub building and interior have been well described by other reviewers, with no discernible changes when I visited. I would only add that this is the first pub I can recall to feature two bicycle stands on the grass outside the garden gate. There were three hand pumps on the bar, with two Sharps beers, Doom Bar and Atlantic, plus Ubu Purity. My half of Purity was in good condition, and I utilised a very nice chair at one of the dining tables near the log fire for my short stay. For a longer visit the snug would have been an attractive option, but I had to get back on my bike to complete my ride from Tring to Luton.

An attractive looking pub which has some pleasant gardens around the perimeter, although the outlook is not that great being right on top of a double roundabout. Food seems to be very much the focus here, not that you’d be unwelcome to pop in for a pint, but certainly about 95% of the punters were dining on a recent visit and they were quite often greeted at the door and shown to a table. The downside of this of course was that there were several occasions when there was actually nobody behind the bar to serve anyone. It’s clearly had a makeover at some point, and whilst I suppose they’ve done quite a sympathetic job, it seemed to be lacking perhaps in a little character. There’s nothing at all wrong with it, but perhaps I was just in the mood for something with a little more rustic charm on this occasion. It consists of an L-shape room around the bar area, although this was largely open space with only limited seating. A smaller snug was off to the left and a restaurant area to the right. Décor wise it’s mostly carpet on the floors with some attractive large tiles around the bar area. There is some exposed stone walling and old timberwork, although the timbers on the ceiling looked much newer and were interspersed with cream painted wood panelling. The restaurant area looked quite homely with drape curtains at the windows and a large brick fire-place, whilst the snug was quite cosy with a low, dark ceiling, cream wood panelling on the walls and a leather sofa and a couple of arm chairs in front the fire-place. A small TV was also perched somewhat incongruously here, but fortunately this was not in use. Food wise, the menu offered a good selection of dishes and there should be something to suit most tastes. It was divided in to sections such as Vintage Classics, Vintage Pies, Steaks & Burgers, etc. The classics section contained a number of pub grub dishes including Sausage & Mash, Fish & Chips, Hunter’s Chicken and a Gammon Steak, and these were mostly priced somewhere in the £8 - £12 range. My Aromatic braised pork belly served on crusted sweet potato and cabbage with black pudding, roasted pear and a sticky ginger beer glaze was a decent enough dish and a generous portion, although some crackling on the pork would have been good. Beers on tap were Doom Bar, London Pride and Timothy Taylor Landlord. A chalk board also listed Ubu Purity and Brakspear Bitter, although I did not spot these on the bar. The solitary cider was Strongbow, unfortunately.

This is a "Vintage Inn", so the standard company menu rules. But, at the moment, they have got some good deals going, and the food is pretty good too. The beers on the pumps, when we visited, were London Pride, Brains Bitter and Spitfire. I will say one thing about the Vintage Inns that I have visited; they really keep their beers in excellent condition. The Travellers rest is NOT an exception. The Spitfire was spot on. Shame about the location, the garden is next to a double roundabout. Not the fault of the Pub, the building was there first.