About Us

ne day, I had the genius idea of holding a pub crawl with my friends at CAMRA’s Great British Beer Festival. As a bunch of 20(ish)-year-olds from the suburbs, we had been used to visiting busy, overpriced London bars whenever there was a birthday, promotion or other such event to celebrate. 

I wanted to find an alternative that would be cheaper than buying cans of lager in a nightclub, that avoided the pounding loud music of an awfully overpacked bar and that allowed us to take in some of the historic pubs and surrounding landmarks of this city.

I started researching and was surprised at the sheer amount of history that had been surrounding me since my childhood, but that I had not known. Even in the most auspicious places it was initially fairly easy to find ancient pubs of interest or ones that had cultural significance. And they all serve real ales and were within easy walking distance!

The first crawl took a group of around thirty friends through Soho and the back streets, during a sunny Saturday afternoon. Despite the fact it was busy as we wondered through, everybody had a blast. The success meant that ultimately folks were asking when the next one would be.

Very quickly, the organisation ahead of the day and along the route became difficult to manage, and several friends stepped up to create ‘teams.’ Whilst there was never a formal competition, this made the route enjoyable as it was easy to split across pubs, stay flexible with the timings and avoid an unserviceable amount of people turning up at the bar at the same time. (Turns out bartenders don’t love it when you order thirty pints of lager at once. Oh, and some salt and vinegar crisps, please.)

Over the years we have had as many as eighty people join us as we have mooched around Westminster, Baker Street, Chancery Lane and along the river. Taking in some iconic pubs such as Mayfair’s The Marlborough Head; a favourite of mine due to the subtle features like toilets hidden in the bookcases and booths made of coffins.

Whilst we often fit in some more functional pubs for some cheap pub-grub, the route predominantly covers historic venues such as the Princess Louise in Holborn – famed for its listed urinals! 

The routes allow you to immerse yourself in history at venues including the birthplace of the Dictionary: Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese and Spectacular Lord’s; the home of cricket.

Many of these pubs have stood for years alongside iconic landmarks such as St. Pauls Cathedral, Downing Street, Trafalgar Square and Marble Arch; but despite London’s rich history the crawl has taken in some of the more ‘trendy’ spots such as a pleasant stroll over Primrose Hill and Camden Town.

We have also seen some of the more modern installations such as the Tate, London Eye, or the Gherkin. 

Alongside the rich history, the routes take in areas of particular cultural importance or regeneration such as the likes of Spitalfields Market by Brick Lane, Coal Drops Yard in Kings Cross or one of my very favourite walks along the Southbank.