please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
Still a class pub with plenty of differing ales on for around the £3.80 mark can now be reached from Milton Keynes by the 34 bus as well.
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This is the first entry you will find in the Good Beer Guide and it's a worthy place to start. Of 11 Bedfordshire pubs visited yesterday, this was by far the best. It's been almost 9 years since I was last in Ampthill. But I'm fairly certain this must be the best pub in town. Whilst run by Everard's, only their Tiger is on offer. There are 3 ales from Banks & Taylor - Dragon Slayer, Shefford Bitter & Golden Fox. 8 guests were Lincoln Green Robin Hood, Milton Medusa, Shefford Plum Mild, Milestone Centenary Ale & Raspberry Craft Beer, Dow Bridge Summer Light, Wadworth Studs Up & Shardlow Chancellor's Revenge. Ciders were Weston's Old Rosie & Family Reserve, with Knight's Malvern Gold being a guest. The inside has a fairly old fashioned feel with suitable vintage music. In addition to the main bar area, there is a smaller room at the rear. Each table had a bowl of complimentary snacks. There were other tempting items on the bar. Well worth a visit.
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Have passed this place enough times so felt it was finally time to check it out.
Feels like a proper community pub, which is a rarity these days.
Decent beer selection. I'm never bothered by Banks & Taylor ales but plenty of others to choose from. My pint from Manchester's Blackjack microbrewery was £3.30 and well kept.
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Beer quality of late seems to have gone downhill. Went in earlier this week and had four different pints, all of which were lacking. This isn't the only time this has been the case just recently. Also, why are they charging 30-40p more for beers than their sister pub The Welling ton in Bedford?
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An excellent local in the diverting Georgian town of Ampthill, its winningest feature is the 'bats' which allow you to try a third of a pint of each of the ales on tap - usually 12 in all. The selection was also also excellent with a range from local outfit Banks and Taylor prominent as well as the Oxfordshire Brewery's Marshmellow. Good beer paraphernalia and literature too - including a CAMRA guide to Prague and the Czech Republic.
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This pub serves the best quality and range of beer that I have ever experienced – if only all landlords supplied such service, no pub would need to close for lack of custom. The Albion is co-owned by Everards and Banks &Taylor – two great breweries. It’s not a huge pub, it’s not a food pub (but who cares?), parking is best managed some way off, but the beer is fantastic, the manager excellent and the staff friendly and knowledgeable. Little doubt that this is the best pub in the County.
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Another award for a great British pub with top landlord and staff and great quality beers cider and wines.
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Has now - deservedly - won the CAMRA Bedfordshire Pub of the Year for 2012. Well done to all involved.
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What a lovely pub the beer is allways good with twelve hand pumps, bottled foreign beers plenty of knicknaks to choose from, very friendly service lovely people and it shows that the landlord takes pride in what he does as he updates little things like the coloured chalk boards and the different little signs plus i believe he has converted one of his garages for an outside snug and a very clean place too. well done
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In here last Saturday and what a gem of a place.
A lot bigger than it looks from the outside.
Has 12 hand pumps with a chalked up list on the wall
Had a pint of Elgoods Snickelmas @ �3.10
Would have stayed for another but for the invasion of kids with parents.
Some kind of after football game meet up (should have taken the little bliters home!!)
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Saturday spent at globe last weekend 5 out 10 this weekend Banks and Taylor's Albion at ampthill 9 out 10 the difference bright and clean great range and quality beers friendly staff and a landlord that comes round and talks to his customers.
Well done all at the alblion you be getting my vote for pub of the year.
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What a great pub! Visited during the cider and cheese festival and found the staff incredibly friendly and helpful and the locals a delight. Well done B & T will be visiting more often.
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As good as it gets. Love this place, great beer and conversation.
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I never visited the old version of the Albion so I went into this pub without any pre-conceptions. However I had heard it was a Banks & Taylor pub so I was expecting good things and I wasn't disappointed with just the 12 real ales on! It amazes me how Banks & Taylor can put on 12 real ales in a small pub like the Albion in a small town like Ampthill and make it successful. All credit to them. If Banks & Taylor can do it I don't see why other breweries can't. Think this pub will be a regular stop whenever I have a night out in Ampthill :-)
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Having lived most of my life in Ampthill, The Albion used to be the last pub you'd visit. However, since the revamp, it has become a haven for the beer drinker. As noted by others, a version of Bedford's Wellington Arms (but tidier!) and therefore a very good thing indeed... Looks like they will be starting Beer Festivals too!
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The Albion emerges from a brief shut-down to become a real ale paradise. Like most of the pubs that B&T have taken on over the years (The Wellington in Bedford and The Globe in Dunstable to name two in particular) it has had it's fair share of problems in the past, but when B&T take over those problems disappear. I hope that the same will apply here and that it will remain a great place for a drink. The ciders are good, the ales are good and the staff friendly. I wish them all the best for the future.
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Recently re-opened and refurbished in Victorian style with framed prints of old beer ads etc on the walls. I believe it's pubco owned but run by B & T (Shefford). Average sized bar on a lower level at the front than towards the back. Thirteen handpumps (10 were 'on' on my visit) serving a varied selection of ales - tried the ordinary Shefford Bitter and their Golden Fox - both quite drinkable. May take a little time for the 'newness' to wear off and some more character to develop. Can see it becoming a favourite with the CAMRA 'luvvies'. The J4 and X42 bus routes (Bedford to Flitwick) stop outside - it's about two and half miles walk/cab from Flitwick station.
anonymous - 27 Apr 2010 17:37 |
