The Five Bells, Leighton Buzzard

An attractive village pub which is almost hidden from the main road by the lawns and large trees in front of it, only the pub sign gives a clue to it’s presence. Driving down the drive to the car park, a sign warns you to take care of any chickens that may be wandering around, although I didn’t spot any! It’s a good sized pub, with a large and attractive garden at the rear and divided in to eating and drinking areas. The main bar area has some partitioning to break up the space a little, but essentially it’s all one open room. It’s a cosy space with a low beamed ceiling, wood strip floor and a few old black and white photographs on the wall as well as five bells mounted on a board. A small fireplace was off to one side with a couple of seats either side of it, and at the opposite end was a snug with dark wood panelling on the wall. The dining area was also a large room stretching along the rear of the pub and this had slate tiles leading out to the garden, with parquet wood flooring in the remainder. Food wise the menu was a step or two up from your normal “pub grub”, and although it included options such as a burger or fish & chips, the majority of the dishes were slightly more adventurous and priced accordingly, with most of the mains being around the £12 - £15 mark, or even up to £20 if you went for the steak. On top of this you need to budget an extra £3 for any extras such as potatoes, chips or a fennel slaw. My herb crusted salmon fillet with a Sinatra basil salad, gran padino and fresh anchovies was a decent enough dish and quite tasty, but was it worth £14? Probably not. Beers on tap were Seafarer’s Ale and London Pride, although there were another two pumps that were unused so there may on occasions be others. Ciders were Stowford Press and Aspall’s Suffolk which makes a pleasant change from the usual dross you get around these parts.

Five Bells page at the official Fullers brewery site - www.fullers.co.uk