At the moment I just cycle with trainers and normal pedals. Talked to a cyclist today who showed me his pedals, one side was clipless and the other side was a normal pedal (never seen these before) for one reason and another they would be ideal for me. Any advice on these - makes,are they any good? and any other advice on them would be great

The pedals you describe have been standard equipment on several new bikes I've bought. This style will let you try clipless if/when you want to while having the other side for regular shoes for casual riding. I didn't like the platform side because the pedal area was just too small. If you are seriously considering clipless, I'd buy a dedicated pedal. If you think you'll prefer the platform style, invest on good platform pedals.

I have Shimano A530 dual sided pedals on a beater bike. The clipless side is SPD and the other side a platform. The platform side is not super big but works fine. Shimano M324 are similar but with a different and larger platform size. The main penalty with these pedals might be weight(?) and cost. Shimano entry level road clipless R540 SPD-SL style pedals can often be found for less.

Shimano SPD-SL road pedals tend to be sturdy enough that you can ride them with sneakers tho it's a smaller contact area with street shoes/sneakers. I know some people ride on Speedplay pedals with regular shoes too, but they seem really small and slippery to me.

I use these: https://www.nashbar.com/bikes/Product...60_-1___202530 - Shimano PDM324 Multi-Purpose Mountain Bike Pedals, and I really like them. I've got them on all my bicycles now.

Thanks guys!