The Grove Lock, Leighton Buzzard

As others have said, this is a pleasant canal and lock side pub that was at one time the lock keeper's cottage and has since been extended and refurbished. There is a good amount of outside seating, consisting of both garden alongside the canal as well as wooden decking elsewhere. Inside it's on a couple of different levels. The lower part where the bar counter is has quite a contemporary look and is roughly an L-shape. The upright leg of the 'L' has a large and open arched roof with plenty of oak beams and maroon paintwork, and this colour scheme extends to the walls. The flooring here is a dark parquet wood with some large rugs and there are a number of old black and white pictures of the locality dotted around the walls. A prominent feature at the rear was a modern fire-place with a wood burning stove and a large steel chimney rising up to the apex of the roof. The "fire" itself is actually on two different levels, with the upper and smaller part being the functional half, whilst below that is a pile of brightly illuminated logs. Seating here is mostly conventional tables and chairs, although there were a couple of sofas in front of the fireplace. A small glass display cabinet at the corner of the 'L' housed a collection of wine bottles and Fuller's beer bottles. Up a few steps to the rear are a couple more rooms, and this is the original part of the building. Consequently it's much narrower here as opposed to the large open plan space on the lower level. The paintwork here is a pale green and the flooring is a mixture of more wood and some attractive mottled tiling. These rooms run alongside the canal lock so offer a good view of the activities outside to any punters sat here. There are also a couple more fire-places, including a freestanding dual aspect chimney, but although they were stacked full of logs I suspect these are more decorative than functional. A couple of sofa's and leather armchairs at one end provided a more relaxed space to sit and sup your pint. The food menu consisted of a reasonable selection of dishes, mostly of the typical pub grub genre with options such as Pie of the day, Fish & Chips, Chicken Kiev and a Burger. That said though, the prices were a step up from your usual pub fair, with most of the mains being around the £10 mark. My Salmon & Herb Fishcakes were ok, but I've had tastier ones and at £11 they seemed expensive, especially considering all they came with was a Beetroot & Cucumber Salad (that was singularly bereft of any cucumber) and a small pot of herby Crème fraîche. A waitress walked past my table several times empty handed but didn't clear my plate away or ask I if I wanted anything else. Beer choice was a little disappointing considering the eight hand pumps on the bar, and consisted of just three offering from Fullers - ESB, London Pride and Chiswick. The solitary cider was Aspall's Suffolk. Drink prices too seemed steep with a pint costing me £4.20, but I guess you're paying a premium for the location. Far enough on a pleasant summer's day perhaps when you can make the most of it, but do the prices drop at other times? I suspect not. This is a slightly tricky one to mark. On one hand they've done a decent refurbishment of an old building, and it is of course a great location. On the other, beer choice was not brilliant, prices were high and service could have been better.