As I’m almost caught up with the blog now, and no idea where I’ll be tomorrow on my birthday, I’m starting a series listing my Top half dozen pubs in each Beer Guide county. It’s a bit hit-and-miss, as some of these will have been visited last month, some before Mary Earps was born.
No, actually, I’ll do five, YOU suggest a sixth.
Let’s go alphabetically rather than that stupid regionally driven order in the GBG, and start in bucolic Bedfordshire; it’s a very dull place to start.
Ampthill – Albion (last visited 20 years ago)
The first pub in the Good Beer Guide, and has been for 20 years, unless there’s an entry in Aadvark near Flitton I missed. A classic beer house in one of Bedfordshire’s few really smart towns (almost Bucks, really), it seems to have survived the transition from Banks & Taylors to Everards with loads of guest beers (see also : Elm Tree).
Bedford – Wellington Arms (top) (last visited 2016).
I could just copy-and-paste the description for the Albion, I guess, which shows how good those Banks & Taylor pubs were. The sort of place you might find Bass.
Or not. Occasional Bass stockists are so passé.
Broom – Cock (last visited 2016)
Not exactly packed with off-the-wall suggestions this list; perhaps I should have picked the Bedford Spoons.
Nope, you’ll want to do the Cock, Abbot straight from the jug I guess. Classic multi-roomer with lovely fire, and you can stock up on granola at Jordan’s factory shop.
Henlow – Engineers (last visited 10 years ago)
Mainly included as it’s the closest Proper Pub to Henlow health farm, and again it’s a cosy all-rounder of a beer house I’m mainly picking on the strength of this glorious BBB festival.
On the downside…
and finally Leighton Buzzard – Black Lion (last visited 2015)
Gorgeous old pub with proper seating, Top 10 Bass (or it was).
Just up the road from my Mum’s birthplace (and where I spent my honeymoon) in Eaton Bray, and Buzzard itself is my favourite Beds town. Which isn’t saying much.
Transport between those five is probably possible, if you have a spare fortnight to wait for buses.
You suggest a sixth. Votes for this one,
will be discounted.
UPDATE : I have decided to award that coveted sixth spot to;
Luton – The Bricklayers Arms, the town’s GBG perennial and Hatter’s favourite. I must make a return visit before longstanding landlady retires next June.
retiredmartin 
What a great blog idea. Love it. Great way to kick off the day before the most important day of the year.
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As long as one American likes the idea it’s worth it. Not quite “A guide to the best pubs in Newark” or whatever but that format is a lot harder. Here I just look at the GBG and search my own blog and Facebook pages and ruminate.
I think Berkshire may be more interesting.
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You won’t get much help from me on this county.
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Nor from me, as it’s one of only three counties I’ve never stayed in.
And you can’t judge anywhere on day trips.
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You’ve nailed it there Martin, although Leighton Buzzard is a bird I’m not familiar with. I’ll put a vote in for Fox at Carlton which was very fine on the one occasion I visited.
https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/5052902543459422840/6878109349722642983
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Try: https://pub-games.blogspot.com/2020/02/the-fox-carlton-bedfordshire.html?m=1
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I’d go for that, Mark. Nice pub open all day with skittles near a country park.
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It has to be the Bricklayers Arms in Luton. Whenever I’m there it seems to be full of Luton Town supporters. Small world, init.
The landlady, Alison Taylor is retiring next June after 37 years at the pub. She’d be so chuffed to hear that her pub was in your Top Six Pubs in Bedfordshire.
I’d offer to buy you a pint there for your birthday, but I’m spending most of tomorrow on the train back from the Lake District, and the remainder claiming refunds for cancelled and delayed trains.
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I shall edit my post accordingly, Will. Alison WILL be in te Top 6.
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And “Alison Taylor is” probably not too distant a relative.
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I used to work with an Alison Taylor 37 years ago.
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Just before, she decided to run a pub?
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I have a copy of the “Good Pub Guide” from the early 80s that I was given as a Christmas present. They say they struggled to find good pubs in Bedfordshire. The one they did pick out was the Three Fyshes at Turvey, which has long been a favourite of that kind of guide, although I’m not sure it’s ever appeared in the GBG. The 1978 edition includes the similarly-named Three Cranes at Turvey which is still going. No doubt the two were sometimes confused.
Over the years, I’ve been in fewer pubs in Bedfordshire than any other county in England and Wales – I think a grand total of two.
Until about 1996, Avon came alphabetically before Bedfordshire before it was put out of its misery.
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There’s a few smart dining pubs in Beds, but those west of the county town like Turvey feel a bit closer to Bucks in style.
The Silver Selection (the 25 pubs that had been in every GBG to 97) had four entries, and the Sow & Pigs in Toddington would have been a must visit but it closed a while ago.
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Four out of twenty-five suggests a county where pubs didn’t change much.
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Nothing much new, just the occasional dining pub getting in the GBG by putting one of those Wells “Origin” beers on or a fairly poor Bedford Brewhouse & Kitchen or Spoons in Biggleswade. Northants is very similar but pub and beer quality is at least higher there.
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T’other Mudgie,
I got in the Three Cranes at Turvey two or three times as a Paines of St Neots pub.
The most I’ve got to Bedfordshire was Bedford on the London Midland £10 ‘Great Escapes’ day tickets which covered their whole network, Euston, Lime Street and dozens of railway stations in between, a much missed Proper Day Out each February and October.
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or inactive branches.
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