I’ve already uploaded a couple of my favoured pub crawl routes to this blog and I intend to upload a lot more in the coming weeks, months, years – maybe even decades (will blogs still exist in the 2030s?). But why do I so enjoy pub crawls, and how do I come up with the routes and what else do I consider when putting a crawl together? In this blog post, I’m going to tell you everything I can about my crawls and I hope you’ll find it useful when you put together such excursions yourself. So without any further ado, let’s get into the art of creating pub crawls.
Why One Crawls
If you think a Pub Crawl is just an excuse to get drunk, you’re wrong. Ok, you’re not necessarily wrong, but my Crawls are not designed around the idea of getting one sloshed. Yes, this can be a side effect, but there are so many better reasons to enjoy one of these trips. It’s a great excuse to meet up with friends, you can try new beers (or even new fruit juices if you don’t fancy a pint) and, crucially, discover new parts of a town or city. When I lived in London, I learned more about the different areas I crawled than I could have done reading Wikipedia, and by the time I left, I could navigate the city by pubs. seriously, I think I could walk you from the Slaughtered Lamb to the Shaftesbury and tell you about every pub on the route. You learn the streets, see the sights, and discover those bizarre little quirks about the locale you’ve chosen to enjoy.
It’s a good bit of exercise if you do it right, and it’s a lot better for you to walk a couple of miles and enjoy beer, than it is to just plonk yourself down in one spot and guzzle ale for the day. And I promise you, every town, borough, and locale has at least one or two interesting things to see, and you can plan your route to include these highlights. So all in all, a Crawl is a good day out, with friends, where you will learn and discover. And if you pick the right pubs, it can be magical.
The Magic Number
When you’re planning a pub crawl, you need to keep your numbers tight in terms of the number of pubs you’re planning to visit. Too few and you’ll miss out, while too many and you’ll end up too drunk to remember the day. As a general rule, I aim for 6-7 pubs, and I’ll have a spare in my back pocket. The spare is good to have in case a pub turns out to be too full or unexpectedly closed, but also if you just happen to get through the others too quickly and you fancy one more stop.
Pick those 6-7 locations from pubs you either know, or really want to visit. Check their opening times too – not all pubs open early or stay open late so be flexible in your planning and set a start/meeting time that works with your route.
Routing For The Day
Planning a route can influence the pubs you choose as you don’t want too long between each venue. To keep your fellow crawlers happy, put a 10 minute walk between pubs as your upper limit if that’s possible. Trust me, it saves some (admittedly good natured) complaining.
If you’re traveling to a town or city to do your Crawl, try and plan a circular route that gets you back to the train station (or car park if someone’s volunteered to be sober enough to drive), because there’s nothing more annoying than finishing and realising that you’ve now got a 40 minute walk or a taxi trip back just to start your journey home. That being said, you don’t want to miss out on a splendid pub just to keep the route tight, and circuitous routes are not always possible – merely preferred.
And, as mentioned previously, if there’s something interesting or nice to see that could be on the route, take a few little detours here and there. A particularly beautiful house or street, a statue with an interesting story, some street art, a blue plaque or something famous or recognisable – they’re worth a couple of extra minutes of walking. And it’s your job, if you’re leading the crawl to know about this stuff, so do your research.
Themes & Activities
You may also want to consider some other things to make the day even more fun, or the Crawl more significant. In London, I put together a Crawl that was called the “Ye Olde Pub Crawl” and all the pubs featured “Ye Olde” or “Old” in their names. I’ve themed crawls around animals (there’s usually plenty of Red Lions and White Horses around), or a particular character from history or fiction. You could do listed pubs, or new pubs, or pubs with Art Deco styling. You could theme it along the route you’re taking which might be significant. There are lots of options to make it all a little different.
And to encourage participation, you could design some activities for your fellow crawlers to enjoy. The obvious one is a pub quiz, maybe themed around the names of the pubs you’re visiting and do a round in each one. Or you could do a scavenger hunt, or enforce rules such as “you have to wear a hat” or “you’re not allowed to drink the same type of beer more than once”. Even these little things can help to keep the day interesting for all involved.
Eating Isn’t Cheating
On these crawls, sampling food can be just as enjoyable as sampling beers. Always know the pubs on your route that are renowned for their meals – review sites are your friends here. And if none of them tickle your fancy, take a look at the local restaurants and maybe even book a table (a potentially risky move if you have some slow drinkers in your party). Think too about when you’re starting and thinking of ending. If you’re kicking off at 3pm, tell people to eat before they come and aim for an evening meal. If you’re starting at 12pm, might people be home in time for dinner, and instead need lunch?
Whatever the case lining stomachs is a very good idea on days when the beer flows, so keep well fed as well as well watered.
I think that’s it…?
Like anything you do a lot, you assume knowledge and I have run a lot of pub crawls over the years, all over the country. But I think I’ve given you all of the key info that could help you. If you want any further tips, just drop me a comment or send me a message – always happy to help get good people to good pubs. And with that, I’m off to the bar. Cheers!
Ye Olde Pub Painter 