The Bedford

I had the pleasure of attending a live music evening at The Bedford and it was such a wonderful experience from start to finish. The venue itself is absolutely beautiful — full of character and charm, and the stage and lighting create a really appealing, intimate atmosphere that perfectly complements live performances. The organiser/presenter was also lovely, making the evening feel warm, welcoming, and thoughtfully curated. The highlight of the night for me was Cosima and her band, but all three music acts were very good, each bringing something unique to the stage. All in all, it was a most enjoyable and genuinely fun evening. I would happily return for another event there and highly recommend it to anyone who appreciates great live music in a beautiful setting.

— Betty

I rarely leave reviews, but this experience at The Bedford was bad enough that it deserves mentioning. First, the only positive: the bar staff were fantastic. Friendly, professional, and clearly doing their best to create a good atmosphere. In fact, they even quietly apologised to us afterwards, which says a lot. Unfortunately, the behaviour of the female manager completely ruined the experience. After a football match finished, we politely asked if it would be possible to switch the TV over to another game. A very normal request for a pub that shows sport. We were told it wasn’t possible — which, fair enough, sometimes there are limitations. But instead of simply leaving it at that, the manager walked over and turned the TV off directly in front of us, just as we had sat down with fresh, full pints. No explanation, no courtesy — just switched it off and walked away. It was unnecessarily rude and came across as incredibly petty. The reaction felt completely disproportionate to what was a simple, polite request. The most telling part was that the staff themselves clearly didn’t agree with the decision and apologised to us on the side. When your own team feels the need to apologise for management’s behaviour, that speaks volumes. It’s a real shame because the staff are excellent and deserve better leadership. Sadly, the manager’s attitude leaves a very sour impression of the place. Great staff, extremely poor management, and we will not be back.

— Eoghan

We ( 3 girls, 21, 22, 22) came here for an impromptu drink after a delightful brunch at Milk cafe on a Monday at 2pm. We were asked for our ID at the bar (perfectly reasonable). One of our friends didn’t have her ID but she was going to order a non alcoholic drink, once she realised she didn’t have it on her. Me and my friend handed over our ID’s, which they proceeded to put through the scanner. They returned with our ID’s claiming they were fake and that they had to seize them and notify the police. We explained that we are definitely of legal age, offered to show corroborating evidence in the form of university student IDs, passport photos and pension letters… which they did not believe or accept. Context clues available would have displayed that we are of legal age. Of course we did not want to leave without our very real ID’s, so we explained to the staff that they are real and that they need to check them again. From the start the way the situation was handled by the bar staff was incredibly rude and made us feel criminalised and uncomfortable. They made us wait for a while longer as they went to ‘double check’ with their manager. After which they finally admitted that they were mistaken and reluctantly gave us our ID’s back. They offered to serve us with no compensation but we took our business elsewhere as we felt too unwelcome to stay. Whilst we understand establishments must check ID’s and mistakes happen, the way this occurred was unnecessarily confrontational and accusatory. Please be warned as a young person, as they told us they have a ‘stack’ of confiscated ID’s that were verified by a machine that obviously is inaccurate!

— Ava James

Went to the Bedford for some live music and had Sunday lunch before the show. The menu was all over the place. The specials board was not accurate or up to date and the main menu had so many items off or changed. My burger was dry burnt and rock hard. The cheese was unmelted and just in a block on top of the crispy patty. I asked if the desserts were homemade and the waitress checked and I selected the one she said was. It came covered in nuts which is one of the key allergens and was not indicated on the menu. It had just 3 raspberries instead of the summer fruits detailed on the menu. It was quite clearly it was a shop bought cheesecake and not homemade as advised. My friend had a fruit sundae but the spoon they served it with was too big to get to the bottom of the glass to finish the dish. A real shambles in terms of food and dining experience. Will not be eating here again .

— karen chung

We stumbled across this pub on the way to our accommodation. The pub stood out as was beautiful traditional pub. Inside was very grand and warm. Drinks were reasonably priced. Plenty of seating. Staff very friendly.

— Rebecca Louise