Friday 30th of June: The Chesterton Road Crawl
Let’s try this again...
Meeting in Thirsty Cambridge at 7:30pm.
7 pubs visited.
Attendance: Edward Brown, Holly Smith, Thomas (all pubs), Jake Humbles (Thirsty to Boathouse)
- “Thirsty Cambridge” is on the left (south) side of Chesterton Road, opposite part of one-way loop. It may not be a pub, but does appear to sell beer, and is most likely to be the start of this crawl given the situation with the Alcademy.
- Turn left out of Thirsty to continue west along Chesterton Road. The Waterman, which apparently is open again but has not been Jolly for some years, is on the left, on the far side of the junction with Victoria Avenue.
- From the Waterman, cross straight over Mitcham’s Corner (safely) and veer left without going up Milton Road. The Portland Arms is on the nirth side of the gyratory. Note that those who like to walk farther but are scared of crossing roads might insist on going straight to the Tivoli from here. I would advise everyone stick together and pay attention, since this has gone wrong before.
- From the Portland Arms, turn slightly right and cross Mitcham’s Corner again, this time on the other side of the green area, with Lloyds Bank on your right. When you get back to the south side, turn right to head west. The Tivoli is a large building that will be on your left. For a while it was recovering from being on fire, and this is not the only pub on the crawl with that distinction.
- From the Tivoli, turn left and then left again, because the adjacent building is the Boathouse.
- Leaving the Boathouse, head north across Chesterton Road, taking your pick of how many lanes of traffic you like to deal with at once. You’ll eventually want to veer left onto Victoria Road, heading west. The Carpenters Arms is on the right (north) side of the road just before French’s Road and the rear end of Histon Road Cemetery.
- Turn left out of the Carpenters to backtrack east along Victoria Road, then take the next left, and pay attention. Stay on Stretten Avenue, not getting distracted by Harvey Goodwin Avenue which peels off invitingly left. Stretten Avenue is taking you reassuringly in exactly the right direction (just east of straight north); it eventually brings you to Gilbert Road, which you should cross carefully, then enter Carlton Way. Given that the remaining pub is the Carlton Arms, you may not be shocked to find it on the left (after going north for a bit).
- Ah, curry. You don’t really want to start from here, but since you have little choice that’s not a taxi, your best bet is to head right out of the Carlton Arms and backtrack across Gilbert Road and down Stretten Avenue to Victoria Road. Cross and keep going straight down St Lukes Street. Where St Lukes veers left onto Magrath Avenue, instead continue south west into a car park, then head south to find a footpath which heads southwest. This will take you past the Octagon (Shire Hall), and on to Castle Street, which you will no doubt recognise from the most recent crawl. You are conveniently opposite Pakka, which seemed nice and stayed open late after the Castle Street festivities, but has a slightly nontraditional menu. You could also head southeast down Castle Street/Hill and cross the crossroads onto Bridge Street; after the Cam, a mini roundabout and a church, you’ll find the Baron of Beef and the Mitre, between which is a route to the Curry King. In recent times it’s had some staffing difficulties and been running a reduced menu, though, so you might want to stick to Pakka. Please note that I have only proven that this route exists on Google Maps, not tried it.
Wednesday 21st of June: The Granchester Crawl
Meeting in The Green Man (Trumpington) at 1pm.
Three Two pubs in Cambridge visited, with four, bonus pubs in Grantchester outside the city limits.
Attendance: Edward Brown (all pubs, except for The Lord Byron), Chili Qin (all except for The Lord Byron and The Green Man Grantchester)
- The Green man is on the east side of Trumpington High Street, which is on the left as you head out of Cambridge. This is quite a long way, so either start early or consider motorised transport.
- Turn left out of the Green Man, south along the High Street. Hudson’s Ale House (formerly the Tally Ho) is on the left, a little way down.
- From Hudson’s, cross the High Street and turn right, the head left into Church Lane. The Lord Byron is on the right.
- Prepare for a long walk to celebrate finishing the crawl of genuine Cambridge pubs. Turn right out of the Lord Byron, southwest down Church Lane, then west on Grantchester Road. Stay on Grantchester Road as it winds and turns into Mill Way, then Grantchester High Street. As the road splits, “Vera The Green Man” is on the right — the Green Man was a long-standing pub that’s been closed for a few years but seems to have reopened as a somewhat posh establishment, but if they let you in, go for it. Don’t mention the time Pete Keevash got kicked out for emptying vineger sachets into the condiments saucer.
- From the Green Man (or after passing it if they think you’re too scruffy), follow round to the right. The Red Lion is very nearby on the left.
- Turn right out of the Red Lion and return to the High Street, then turn right. Follow the High Street round to the right as it turns north into Broadway. The Rupert Brooke is on the right.
- Turn right out of the Rupert Brooke north along Broadway. The Blue Ball Inn is on the left.
- To head back to town, turn left out of the Blue Ball, north along Broadway. Broadway becomes Grantchester Road; veer right at Selwyn Road and left onto King’s Road to cut a corner before hitting Barton Road (this is famously a long walk and typically an opportunity for singing rude songs). Veer right on Barton Road, follow around to the left for Newnham Road, cross the roundabout and turn right at Silver Street to get back to the town centre. Alternatively, it is possible to walk back from Grantchester alongside the river, if one prefers stepping in cow pats and cattle grids in the dark to being run over. There is no obvious curry opportunity, but there’s no way go get back in time for one either — the only option is a taxi from the Blue Ball.
Saturday 17th of June: The Cherry Hinton Crawl
Meeting in The Red Lion (20 Mill End Road Cherry Hinton — not Grantchester) at 7:30pm.
- Note that this year’s Cherry Hinton crawl is in the opposite direction to last year’s. You can get to the Red Lion by taking Regent Street out of town south onto Hills Road, going past the station, turning left at the junction with Cherry Hinton Road, continuing to the crossroads with Fulbourn Road and Queen Edith Way, taking the left onto Cherry Hinton High Street, then taking the left again onto Mill End Road — in which case much of this crawl will look familiar when you do it backwards. You can also get there by going down Mill Road to the big Sainsbury’s on Brooks Road/Barnwell Road/Coldham’s Lane, take Coldham’s Lane southeast to Cherry Hinton High Street (mourning the Rosemary Branch), turn right to head southwest down the High Street (mourning the Five Bells), turn right onto Mill End Road (mourning the Unicorn), and entering a pub that’s still there. You could also get a taxi, although make sure you’re not taken to the Red Lion in Grantchester, because that’s next crawl.
- Turn left out of the Red Lion and head to the High Street, mourning the Unicorn if you haven’t already done so. Turn right to head south and cross the road. The Robin Hood (formerly with Little John but they seem to have broken up) is on the left just before Fulbourn Road crossroads.
- Leave the Robin Hood and head to the opposite corner of the crossroads. Head southwest onto Queen Edith’s Way and keep wandering until you find Wulfstan Way on your right. Head north, and you’ll find The Queen Edith on the right. Last time I went there it was much nicer than it used to be.
- Turn right out of The Queen Edith (once you’re back at the road) and head north along Wulfstan Way until you reach the end, which is Cherry Hinton Road. Veer left and cross over, passing the shops and the roundabout to head north on Perne Road. Cross over and you’ll find the Dumpling Tree. If you find the web site maintainer’s old house, you’ve gone too far. The Dumpling Tree has historically been the Med, the Master Mariner, and closed on inconvenient occasions; good luck.
- Leave the Dumpling Tree and turn right to head back down Perne Road to the roundabout, then turn right to head west along Cherry Hinton Road (if you hate the traffic you can also turn left out of the Dumpling Tree and left again to cut the corner via Lichfield Road). At some point you’ll want to be on the south side of Cherry Hinton Road, so cross over when you can. The Rock is on the corner of the crossroads with Blinco Grove, and I don’t think answers to “Dwayne”. If you get to Rock Road you’ve ironically gone much too far.
- Turn left out of the Rock to head west along Cherry Hinton Road, crossing at your convenience (which may be some traffic lights). When you reach the junction with Hills Road, turn right to head north, crossing the railway bridge and passing the Junction (unless you prefer ten pin bowling to crawling). If it’s gone horribly wrong there’s a Travelodge. Anyhoo, once the road returns to ground level you should find the Earl of Derby on your right, near the traffic lights for Brooklands Avenue. If you work out what “Cambridge power signal box of excellence” is, do let me know.
- If you’re just retuning to Cambridge, head north along Hills Road. For a curry, you really want to reach Mill Road, which the brave could do via Warren Close and the less brave can do by going down Hills Road to Station Road and turning right. Either way, take Tenison Road north off Station Road and keep going until you get to Mill Road (a T-junction). Turn right, head towards the railway bridge, don’t accidentally cross it, and the Curry Queen will be on your right and hopefully open. If not, at least you’re opposite the White Swan.
Saturday 10th of June: The Station Road Crawl
Meeting in SLINGERS Smokeworks Station Road at 7:30pm.
6 pubs visited.
Attendance: Edward Brown, Harley Jones, Emmy Charalambous, Sam Clayton, Holly Smith (Smokeworks to Salisbury Arms; also bonus Bird or Worm)
- The “SLINGERS Smokeworks Station Road” is, oddly enough, on Station Road, which is the road that leads to the (train) station — from Hills Road, turn left at the statue unless you’re coming from Homerton. It used to be “@ar Moosh”, for those with a long memory. Even those with a less long memory may wish to salute the Flying Pig and Osbourne Arms, which used to be nearby on Hills Road. Don’t confuse this Smokeworks with the one on Free School Lane, or you’ll have a long walk.
- Turn left out of the Smokeworks and head towards the station (the clue is in the name). As you head down there, you’ll pass the Clayton Hotel, which you‘ll not recognise as the alternative venue where the Club Dinner didn’t happen. Just before buying a ticket, turn left, pass the M&S (not that one), and the Old Ticket Office is on the right, in the station building.
- Turn right out of the Old Ticket Office. See that pub? That’s the Station Tavern.
- Turn right out of the Station Tavern onto Station Square (north), then head left on Great Northern Road (west), passing Sainsbury’s. Veer right onto Tennison Road, then keep heading vaguely north (there’s a slight wiggle) until you find the Salisbury Arms on your left, at the corner with Wilkin Street. If you hit Mill Road (or even Felton Street) you’ve gone too far.
- Turn left out of the Salisbury and head (slightly north-)west along Felton Street. Turn right at the first junction (Mawson Road), and you’ll find the Live and Let Live on the left just before the crossroads with Cross Street. You may or may not be able to use a card to pay for drinks.
- Turn left out of the Live to continue north(ish) along Mawson Road. Turn left onto Mill Street (not Mill Road — or Mill Lane) and the Six Bells is on the corner of the T-junction with Covent Garden.
- You want a curry, obviously. Turn right out of the Bells onto Covent Garden heading north, and the next junction you find that’s not Mill Street is Mill Road. There you can turn right to head southeast out of town, and the Curry Queen should be waiting for you on your right, opposite the White Swan and shortly before the railway bridge. Most of Cambridge can be reached by going the other way (northwest) along Mill Road, which will bring you to the corner of Parker’s Piece. If you’re still lost, you’re also near the police station, and can ask — but remember you can’t trust a special like an old time copper if you can’t find your way home.
Friday 10th of March: The Chesterton Road Crawl
This crawl was cancelled due to illness and lack of availability, and will be rescheduled for Easter term.
Meeting in Thirsty Cambridge at 7:30pm.
7 pubs to visit.
- Alcademy
(apparently 56 Chesterton Road, on the corner of Trafalgar Road) — also apparently closed until a ticket-only event on April 1st
- Thirsty Cambridge
(46 Chesterton Road, near the eastern bifurcation of the Mitcham’s Corner gyratory) — debatably not-a-pub
- The Waterman
(32 Chesterton Road, junction with Victoria Avenue)
- The Portland Arms
(129 Chesterton Road, near where Milton Road meets Mitcham’s Corner)
- The Tivoli
(16 Chesterton Road, by the Boathouse)
- The Boathouse
(Chesterton Road by Mitcham’s Corner, opposite Croft Holme Lane)
- The Carpenters Arms
(182 Victoria Road, by French’s Road)
- The Carlton Arms
(53 Carlton Way)
- Step 1: Wait until Easter Term when this scrawl will be rescheduled, possibly with Alcademy and hopefully with fewer ill or unavailable attendees.
- It does not appear that the Alcademy is open yet, since it’s advertising a “tickets-only opening event” on April 1st. Of course, it could be joking. If it’s open, it appears (from the pictures) to be at 56 Chesterton Road, which is between Thirsty and the Old Spring, on the corner of Trafalgar Street.
- If you’ve unaccountably got in to the Alcademy, turn left to leave again and head west along Chesterton Road. “Thirsty Cambridge” is on the left (south) side of Chesterton Road, opposite part of one-way loop. It may not be a pub, but does appear to sell beer, and is most likely to be the start of this crawl given the situation with the Alcademy.
- Turn left out of Thirsty to continue west along Chesterton Road. The Waterman, which apparently is open again but has not been Jolly for some years, is on the left, on the far side of the junction with Victoria Avenue.
- From the Waterman, cross straight over Mitcham’s Corner (safely) and veer left without going up Milton Road. The Portland Arms is on the nirth side of the gyratory. Note that those who like to walk farther but are scared of crossing roads might insist on going straight to the Tivoli from here. I would advise everyone stick together and pay attention, since this has gone wrong before.
- From the Portland Arms, turn slightly right and cross Mitcham’s Corner again, this time on the other side of the green area, with Lloyds Bank on your right. When you get back to the south side, turn right to head west. The Tivoli is a large building that will be on your left. For a while it was recovering from being on fire, and this is not the only pub on the crawl with that distinction.
- From the Tivoli, turn left and then left again, because the adjacent building is the Boathouse.
- Leaving the Boathouse, head north across Chesterton Road, taking your pick of how many lanes of traffic you like to deal with at once. You’ll eventually want to veer left onto Victoria Road, heading west. The Carpenters Arms is on the right (north) side of the road just before French’s Road and the rear end of Histon Road Cemetery.
- Turn left out of the Carpenters to backtrack east along Victoria Road, then take the next left, and pay attention. Stay on Stretten Avenue, not getting distracted by Harvey Goodwin Avenue which peels off invitingly left. Stretten Avenue is taking you reassuringly in exactly the right direction (just east of straight north); it eventually brings you to Gilbert Road, which you should cross carefully, then enter Carlton Way. Given that the remaining pub is the Carlton Arms, you may not be shocked to find it on the left (after going north for a bit).
- Ah, curry. You don’t really want to start from here, but since you have little choice that’s not a taxi, your best bet is to head right out of the Carlton Arms and backtrack across Gilbert Road and down Stretten Avenue to Victoria Road. Cross and keep going straight down St Lukes Street. Where St Lukes veers left onto Magrath Avenue, instead continue south west into a car park, then head south to find a footpath which heads southwest. This will take you past the Octagon (Shire Hall), and on to Castle Street, which you will no doubt recognise from the most recent crawl. You are conveniently opposite Pakka, which seemed nice and stayed open late after the Castle Street festivities, but has a slightly nontraditional menu. You could also head southeast down Castle Street/Hill and cross the crossroads onto Bridge Street; after the Cam, a mini roundabout and a church, you’ll find the Baron of Beef and the Mitre, between which is a route to the Curry King. In recent times it’s had some staffing difficulties and been running a reduced menu, though, so you might want to stick to Pakka. Please note that I have only proven that this route exists on Google Maps, not tried it.
Saturday 25th of February: The Castle Hill Crawl
Meeting in The Travellers Rest at 7pm.
7 pubs visited.
Attendance: Edward Brown, Bertie, Harley, Andrew, Sam Clayton (up to and including the Castle, possibly due to suspect beer in the Grapes), Chilli and Hilary (Travellers Rest only)
- The “Travellers Rest Beefeater” is so far down Huntingdon Road that it’s almost but not quite outside the city limits, and probably mostly known to Girtonians. You might want to start early. It’s on the left, anyway.
- To return to civilisation, head southeast along Huntingdon Road until you get to the large traffic light junction with Histon Road/Victoria Road. Turn left to head north along Histon Road, and the Grapes is on the left.
- Turn right out of the Grapes and return to the traffic light cluster where Huntingon Road hits Castle Hill; cross to the southeast to head down the hill. The Newton is on the left. Bonus marks for taking the short cut through the car park instead.
- Leaving the Newton, turn left to head down Castle Hill, and cross the road. The Architect is on the right.
- Leave the Architect and cross the road, continuing to the right to head southeast down Castle Hill. The Castle is on the left, just after the actual castle. You could reasonably switch the order of the Architect and Castle, but this is slightly more linear.
- From the Castle, cross back over the road and head southwest down the side of the Architect along the pedestrianised Whyman’s Lane. Turn left onto St Peter’s Street Way, then right onto Pound Hill, heading southish. Follow Pound Hill as it curves southeast; the Punter is on the left at the corner of the junction with Northampton Street.
- Head left out of the Punter and east along Northampton Street. Cross the road at your convenience, and when you get to the traffic lights at the bottom of Castle Street, turn right to head southeast onto Magdalene Street. The Pickerel is on the right, shortly before the bridge over the Cam.
- You are now conveniently close to the Curry King, so it seems churlish not to partake, although evidence of the 2023 Cambridge Open suggests that the choices may be limited and this may take some time. Turn right out of the Pickerel and head southeast, crossing at your convenience. After a mini roundabout, you’ll see the Baron of Beef and the Mitre on your left; head between them, and you’ll find the Curry King. Continuing along Bridge Street and possibly veering right at St Johns Street will get you to most people’s definition of an obvious bit of Cambridge and hopefully a way home.
Note: The Curry King is still running a reduced menu, and despite that had some difficulty hosting us on the Cambridge Open weekend. Edward, Bertie and Andrew experimented with “Pakka” on Castle Hill, with some success (although their menu is unusual); notably they claim to be open until 11:30pm on Friday and Saturday evenings.
Thursday 16th of February: The Town Centre Crawl
Meeting in The Regal at 7:30pm.
76 pubs visited (not including the Bird or Worm?)
Attendance: Edward Brown, Bertie, Holly
- Possible bonus start:
Bird or Worm? (122 Newmarket Road) (The Bird or Worm? is closed on Saturdays, when the King Street crawl was run) — Edward was running late, so the Bird or Worm? remains unvisited
- The Regal
(38-39 St Andrews Street, under the Art’s Picture House, next to the Castle Bar)
- The Cambridge Tap
(32 St Andrew’s Street, corner of Downing Street)
- The Pint Shop (10 Peas Hill)
- BrewDog (15 Bene’t Street)
- The Bath House
(3 Bene’t Street)
Smokeworks (Tap bar) (2 Free School Lane) — the Smokeworks Tap was closed when visited
- The Eagle
(8 Bene’t Street)
Note: This map includes both the Bird or Worm? as an optional starter and a Curry King as a dessert, since neither are conveniently close to the rest of the crawl, just more convenient than anything else...
- If you’ve decided to start at the Bird or Worm? as a catch-up for the King Street crawl, you’ll find it on the south side of Newmarket Road, just east of the roundabout with East Road (behind the old Rose and Crown and near where the Five Bells once was, neither of which bits of information are helpful). The Bird or Worm? closes at 9pm on Thursdays, so start here. Then drink up, because it’s a long walk to the Regal if you’re expecting to be there at 7:30. To get there, turn left, walk southwest along East Road (crossing at some point without dying), cross Parker’s Piece on the westbound diagonal (past the Reality Checkpoint), then head northwest up Regent Street, crossing the road. It’s a bit tenuous whether the Bird or Worm? is a pub or bar? so you might be forgiven for missing this.
- The Regal is on the southwest side of Regent Street, opposite some of Emmanuel (but not the entrance). It’s big, which may or may not mean you can get served. The Baptist Church is to its south if you need to pray for directions.
- Turn left out of the Regal to head northwest along Regent Street, passing the Castle (not the Castle Inn, which is by the castle) and remembering that it’s Not A Pub — and the Wagamama and Nando’s, remembering that they’re Not A Curry House. Opposite the entrance to Emmanual you’ll find Downing Street on your left, and The Cambridge Tap on that corner. There used to be a Rat & Parrot around there, although it wasn’t really a pub.
- Turn left from the Tap and head west along Downing Street (on which Downing isn’t). Cross the road near “Bar-OH”, which could possibly once have been Quinn’s and the not-very-nice start to the typical Freshers’ Crawl, but is now also Not A Pub (what it is is a little obscure, based on looking at their website to try to find out why they were named after a hydroxide ion; they do have the largest infinity mirror lamp shade I’ve ever seen, though). Take Corn Exchange Street northwest, ideally without getting flattened by anything. (You can avoid some of the traffic by going under the hotel by Bar-OH and emerging from the car park, but I’m not going to tell Google that.) At the end of Corn Exchange Street, be thankful that you don’t have to visit the Red Cow, because it was unpleasant, and turn left past the actual Corn Exchange. The Pint Shop is on the left, just before it would be opposite with Peas Hill.
- Leave the Pint Shop and turn left twice quickly to be in BrewDog. This is the theme for the rest of the crawl.
- Turn left out of BrewDog to head west down Bene’t Street and cross the road. The Bath (occasionally Bath House, occasionally Bath Ale House for anyone accidentally ending up in a meeting hall on Mill Road) should be obvious and in front of you.
- Turn right to leave the Bath and cross the road, heading down Free School Lane. Smokeworks is on the left (if you’re in a Porter’s Lodge you’ve gone too far), and it has a “Tap” bar, which apparently we’re calling a pub. This used to be the Eraina, which used to have an enormous menu of vaguely passable food, a strategy since outsourced to the Cheesecake Factory.
- Turn right from Smokeworks, then left onto Bene’t Street, crossing the road again. You might like to note that on your left is St Bene’t’s Church, sometimes confused with St Botolph’s (which originated the “...since 1320” terminology used by CUTwC); St Bene’t’s is even older. Despite the name, it’s not from Yorkshire. More importantly, the Eagle is on your right, and is also very old.
- Obviously you want a curry, which is inconveniently distant. Turn right from the Eagle then right again onto King’s Parade, which is the clue to where you’re going. Go past King’s Chapel and Great St Mary’s onto Trinity Street (through the road furniture), and continue up Trinity Street without getting hit by any cyclist who ignores the one way system or tripping on the cobbles. At the end (after St John’s), turn left onto Bridge Street and cross the road, potentially noting that the Round Church is on the right if you’re feeling this crawl should continue being theological. There are two entrances to the Curry King, but the obvious one is to go down the alley between the Mitre and the Baron of Beef. Then enjoy curry.
Saturday 28th of January: The King Street Crawl
Meeting in The Wrestlers at 7:30pm.
6 pubs visited.
Attendance: Edward Brown (all pubs), Chili Qin (from the Burleigh Arms)
- The Wrestlers is on the left if you start walking out of town down Newmarket Road and regret it once you realise it’s by the Tescos and retail park, because it’s a long way.
- Turn right out of the Wrestlers and return southwest towards town, passing the Seven Stars and bemoaning that it’s a curry house and not a pub these days. The Corner House is on the right just before River Lane, before you get to Coldham’s Lane.
- From the Corner House, keep heading west and cross Newmarket Road whenever it’s convenient or at least safe. The Bird or Worm? is new, and we hope it’s a pub; it’s not far from where the Five Bells (that wasn’t in Cherry Hinton) used to be, although that probably won’t help many of you. It’s not as far as the roundabout.
- Turn left from the Bird or Worm?, head towards the roundabout, potentially note the Rose and Crown that has been a solicitors’ rather that a pub for the last few years but still has signs on it on the corner, and take the underpass. The optimal route is to go straight across the gap under the roundabout and turn left at the end, which will take you to the north side of Maid’s Causeway. Keep heading west (not down Elizabeth Way; we don’t have a Fleur de Lys any more), passing the Bird (occasionally In Hand) which is possibly currently Navadhanya, and eventually find the Burleigh Arms on the right, just after a church, which was at one point a little ironic given eccelsiastical policies on inclusion.
- Turn right out of the Burleigh and continue west along Maid’s Causeway, crossing the road at your convenience. The Zebra and the Ancient Druids used to be found on the left, but sadly neither are still pubs. Boo. At the roundabout, keep to the left and cross Short Street, taking King Street just after the Methodist Church. The St Radegund (occasionally spelt Rhadegund and possibly being unbeatified, depending on where you look), hopefully now resurrected, is on the right. Historically it’s tiny; let’s see what they’ve done. Apparently Radegund is the patron saint of Jesus College, which is nice. Traditionally this is where one would start the King Street Run of consecutive drinks in consecutive pubs in a hurry, which explains the next pub name.
- Veer right out the the St Radegund and cross King Street as you head west. The King Street Run is on the left.
- Turn left out of the King Street Run, and left again into the Champion of the Thames (after a very short walk).
- Turn left from the Champion of the Thames and continue west along King Street. You will be passing New Court of Christ’s on the left, at which you might want to doff a cap to the founding location of CUTwC. You should also cross the road, because the Cambridge Brew House is on the right, just before Malcolm Street. Sadly the Cambridge Arms is no more, so this is where the crawl ends, not with a bang, but with a whimper. Unless you’re lucky. Or both, if that’s your thing.
- The word “King” in the crawl probably tells you where to get a curry: turn right out of the Cambridge Brew House and head north up Malcolm Street, then left onto Jesus lane. Follow it west as it bends, then turn right onto Park Street. Professionals will go through the car park to the Curry King via the back passage; if you’ve chosen this crawl because you’re prone to getting lost, you could also go down Round Church Street, veer right onto Bridge Street, and head down one of the alleyways on the right (between the Mitre and Baron of Beef is a traditional option, although not the only one) where blessed curry can be found. As a route back from Cambridge Brew House, this may be a bit out of your way if you don’t like curry, but in that case I can’t help you.
Friday 20th of January: The Mill Road Crawl
Meeting in The Brook at 7:30pm.
6 pubs visited.
Attendance: Jake, Harley, Ed Green, Edward Brown
- The Brook is on the south west corner of the junction between Brookfields Avenue (the continuation of Mill Road) and Perne Road. Essentially head down Mill Road out of town until you can’t go any further, then head into the nearest pub rather than going to Sainsbury’s. You can start by bemoaning that the Mill Road pub crawl used to need to be split into the Yon, Hither and Mid versions because there used to be a lot more pubs, not that all of them were very nice.
- Stay on the south side of Mill Road and head west towards town. Do not deviate, for we are Not Here To Enjoy Ourselves. The (now Royal again) Standard (a resurrected traditional pub) is on the left.
- From the Standard, walk straight north along Belgrave Road, then take the first left onto St Philip’s Road. After passing a couple of roads, the Empress is on the right, on the corner of Thoday Street.
- Head south down Thoday Street until you hit Mill Road, then turn right. The Earl of Beaconsfield is shortly before the bridge over the railway, so you shouldn’t miss it.
- Turn right out of the Earl, and cross both the bridge and the road, probably not both at once unless you like getting run over. The first left is Devonshire Road, which is A Clue to the fact that the Devonshire Arms is down it (on the right, a little away from Mill Road; if you hit a bend you’ve gone too far).
- Return north to Mill Road; on the opposite side of the road, on the west junction with Kingston Street, is the White Swan. You know what to do.
- If you have an interest in curry, and who wouldn’t, you will notice that the Curry Queen is almost opposite the White Swan, which is what we call convenient. Turn left from the Queen, or (if you must) right from the Swan to head northeast along Mill Road and you should be able to find Parker’s Piece, Reality Checkpoint, and the rest of Cambridge, or the police station if you’re really lost.
Saturday 3rd of December: The Sturton Street Crawl
Meeting in The Dobblers Inn at 7:30pm
7 pubs visited.
Attendance: Edward Brown, Marc Mills
- The Dobblers is a little in the middle of nowhere, but you could try walking along Mill Road until you get to Kingston Street and the White Swan, head north past the Kingston Arms, jink to keep heading north past the Petersfield, and keep an eye out on your right. Which is basically this crawl backwards. You could also get there by aiming at the Blue Moon from East Road, veering left onto St Matthew’s Street, then right onto Vicarage Terrace.
- Head south from the Dobblers past Milford Street, then turn left onto Sleaford Street. The Geldart is on the right, at the junction with Ainsworth Street and (opposite) York Street.
- This pub crawl unfortunately requires a lot of backtracking; this is where it starts. Turn left out of the Geldart to return west along Sleaford Street, then turn right to head back north along Sturton Street. This time take the left to head west on Milford Street. The Alexandra Arms (occasionally just the Alex) is on the left just before Gwydir Street.
- Leave the Alex and head south along Gwydir Street. The Cambridge Blue will, after a bit, be on your right (the west side). Be nice to them, they’ve hosted a lot of winks events in the past.
- Turn right out of the Blue to head south along Gwydir Street, then take the left onto Hooper Street. Keep going past Kingston Street through the road furniture, and you’ll find the Petersfield on the left, on the corner of Sturton Street (remember that?) and Hooper Street.
- Turn left out of the Petersfield and head east along Hooper Street. Turn left at the very end into the taproom of Calverley’s Brewery.
- From Calverley’s, head back west along Hooper Street past the Petersfield, and turn left just after the Hooper Street road furniture to take Kingston Street south. The Kingston Arms is on the right about half way down, although for some reason Google Maps at the time of writing thinks it’s on the left as well.
- Obviously you want a curry, so turn right out of the Kingston Arms (unless it actually has moved) and head south along Kingston Street to Mill Road. Note the White Swan on the right, which will be useful in a later crawl, but cross over (mind the traffic coming over the railway bridge) and head to your right (west); the Curry Queen is on the south side of the road, nearly opposite the Swan. If you unaccountably don’t want a curry, or if you’ve just finished eating one, keep going in this direction and you’ll get to Parker’s Piece.
Tuesday 15th of November: The Laundress Green Crawl
Meeting in The Red Bull at 7:30pm
78 pubs visited.
Attendance: Marc Mills, Edward Brown, Sam Clayton, Bertie Politi (Granta to Baron of Beef), Chili (Mill to Maypole)
- The Red Bull is on Barton Road, by St Mark’s Church (if you’ve not yet learned to identify churches by what pub they’re near). You can get there from Selwyn (or Robinson) by heading south along Grange Road, then turning left on Barton Road to head back towards Cambridge (and crossing the road). Visitor from other colleges may get here by crossing The Fen Causeway or heading south down Queen’s Road and following Barton Road out of town. The Red Bull is convenient for tournaments at Selwyn, so be nice to them.
- Leave the Red Bull and turn right (unless you leave by the back, in which case turn left a couple of times first to get back onto Barton Road) to head east along Barton Road, and follow the curve of the road northeast. When you get to the roundabout, don’t turn right onto Fen Causeway, and instead continue northeast until the road (by then Newnham Road) turns north; at that point you should have the Granta (and the Mill Pond) on your right. I recommend going in and buying a drink, since this would be a bad time to hire a punt.
- From the Granta, head back south (straight out of the door) along the west edge of the Mill Pond, and continue skirting the Mill Pond as a footpath bends east (left); stay on the path (and don’t fork right) to head northeast across some greenery known as Coe Fen, watching out for cow pats. When you reach the path beside the Cam, veer left to head north until you reach the weir, and turn right to cross the Cam, ideally without falling in and having a tournament named after you. The Mill is on the corner of Mill Land and Granta Place, straight ahead of you. Tourists may be interested to know that Laundress Green is apparently the tiny patch of greenery immediately above the weir. Don’t get distracted by this and forget to buy a drink.
- Leave the Mill (I appreciate this may be hard). If you find yourself facing the river, turn right; if you took the other exit, veer slightly left. You’re aiming for Laundress Lane, which is a northward pedestrian path partly protected by bollards and only slightly looks like you’ll get mugged (being hit by a bike is more likely). Once you reach the end, turn left, but only a bit because the building to your left is the Anchor, and your destination. Sadly you’ll have to walk a little west along Silver Street to find the door, but if you reach the bridge you’ve gone too far, so it shouldn’t be too challenging.
- Leave the Anchor and turn right to head east along Silver Street, noting parts of Queens’ College to your left (including the tower which once housed Dr Sage and the Erasmus Room, long-time home of CUTwC). You can either listen to Google and follow Silver Street to the end (this giving you a chance to face St Botolph’s Church, formerly on the south gate of Cambridge and dating in parts to 1320, this being the origin of the “worst Committee since...” phrase), then turn left to head north along Trumpington Street along the east side of St Cat’s, or you can do the traditional and more urine-smelling approach of keeping Queens’ on your left to head north onto Queens’ Lane between Queens’ and Cat’s, then veering right to head east onto King’s Lane between King’s and Cat’s, which will also bring you to Trumpington Street (at which point you should turn left to head North and the routes have joined up). The latter route is more useful for avoiding tourists, but that may not be a major issue by evening. Continue north onto King’s Parade (passing Bene’t Street on the right — don’t worry, the Eagle et al. are on another crawl, and yes, we did consider it). After passing King’s (on your left), turn right to head east onto St Mary’s Street, opposite the Senate House; you will be heading clockwise around Great St Mary’s. Continue along the north of the market as Market Street veers slightly northeast (don’t get distracted by Gardie’s), but do head left to veer north-ish onto Market Passage (with what was once the Eaden Lilley department store on your right). Veer right (east-ish) as Market Passage does so, and the Town and Gown will be on your left. This may come as a surprise to those who remember the Town and Gown as a former name of the Punter (and Camptown Races), but I wouldn’t hold that against it.
- Turn left from the Town and Gown to continue east along Market Passage, then turn left to head north along Sidney Street. If you’re doing it right, after a bit you’ll notice Sidney Sussex college on your right, and Sainsbury’s on your left. At the north end of Sidney Street (now heading northwest) continue onto Bridge Street. You then have a straight route (although you’ll want to be on the northeast side of the road) onto Bridge Street (St John’s will be on your left, eventually; the Round Church, which is a round church, will be on your right). The Mitre is on the right, just before the passage apparently called Blackmoor Head Yard (which is odd, because the Blackamoore’s Head was on Victoria Road); astonishingly Google Maps is slightly confused about where it is, but the front door is probably the way to go (in). Hopefully you’ve worked out what to do having reached a pub by now.
- As you may have noticed when you reached the Mitre, the next bit is very complicated. Leave the Mitre, and the Baron of Beef is the pub that you’ll walk into if you head north. It’s probably better to use a door, though. Celebrate the end of the crawl, especially if you can find a seat.
- The Maypole was added at this point (presumably by walking through the car park, of which it is at the back) as a means of avoiding a potential future qwxcl with the size of the King Street Crawl.
- No doubt at this point you’ll be seeking something complicated. Good news: if you’re after a curry, you can turn left out of the Baron (if you’re on Bridge Street, do it again but better to head between the Baron and Mitre). After a walk to the northeast that involves you not going as far as the car park, you should find the Curry King, almost definitely on your right but hopefully you can work it out by now.
- Return southwest to Bridge Street to find civilisation; the town centre can be found by backtracking, but hopefully you know where you are, or if you don’t then my directions aren’t going to help you.
Saturday 5th of November: The Arbury Crawl
Meeting at The Fort St George from 6:30pm
7 pubs visited, in various orders.
Attendance:
| Fort St George | Old Spring | Milton Arms | Ship | Golden Hind | Green Dragon | Haymakers |
Edward Brown | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓† | ✓† | ✓ | ✓ |
Sam Clayton | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | † | ✓† | | |
Katherine Drew | | ✓ | ✓ | ✓† | ✓† | ✓ | ✓ |
Ed Green | | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Jake Humbles | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
James Ireland | | ✓ | ✓ | ✓† | ✓† | ✓ | ✓ |
Harley Jones | | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Marc Mills | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓† | ✓† | ✓ | ✓ |
Bertie Politi | ✓ | ✓ | | | | | |
† Some attendees "decided" to walk farther by going to the Golden Hind before the Ship (which was the traditional route when the Jenny Wren was still a pub and this crawl ended up in the Carlton Arms rather than going to Chesterton), despite the web site maintainer slaving over a map to try to provide helpful directions...
- Make your way to the Fort St George. This is on the river at the corner of Midsummer Common near Victoria Avenue, by the pedestrian bridge which links to Pretoria Road, and at the junction of several paved paths across Midsummer Common. Since we are doing this crawl on the evening of the fireworks, it will be the pub with the enormous queue of people buying beer and waiting for the fireworks; therefore, don’t turn up late. Unlike the olden days you have electronic means to find each other, which is good because finding a table may be a challenge. If in doubt, wait near the pedestrian bridge over the river to watch the fireworks, to beat the rush across the river when they finish. Gawp at the fireworks and try not to get too soggy in the rain. Traditional responses are “ooh”, “aah”, “bloody hell that was loud” and “why is some oik stinking out everyone within fifty yards with a cigar?”
- Cross the pedestrian bridge promptly when the fireworks finish (when you’re allowed to), because otherwise the imminent beer buying process will be incredibly tedious, and either head up Pretoria Road (then left at the end onto Hamilton Road) or veer left past Peterhouse Boat Club onto the Ferry Path, depending on which is muddier and less full of people. Either way, head north, and before reaching Chesterton Road you should see the Old Spring on the left, which will almost definitely be full of people even if you followed the instruction about leaving early. Enjoy the dichotomy that (if the weather remains as predicted at the time of writing) it will be full of wet people while you have to wait ages to get a drink. You may take this opportunity to reflect on the fact that this is a stupid evening to do the Old Spring and the web site maintainer has been pointing that out for years. Yay tradition.
- Leaving the Old Spring, having presumably finally achieved beer, head north up Hamilton Road to Chesterton Road. Cross the road, without getting squashed by the traffic, and veer slightly left before heading north up Herbert Street. (If you can’t tell left from right, you can go right and turn north up George Street instead.) These tend to be a bit dark, so don’t twist an ankle (or go the long way round Mitcham’s Corner if you are paranoid). At the end you should be able to turn right to head northeast along Milton Road; cross whenever you find it convenient. The Milton Arms is on the left, quite a long way up (you will have crossed a roundabout and some fairly major traffic lights with Arbury Road en route). By this point expect to be damp, and not in a good way.
- This bit is new and exciting: turn left out of the Milton Arms to continue northeast along Milton Road, then take the left onto Downham’s Lane. Stick with Downham’s Lane northwest as you cross Woodhead Drive (with a slight jink), and when you run out of obvious continuation turn right at the mini roundabout (still on Downham’s Lane). You should hit a T-junction with Hawkins Road; head left (west) and follow Hawkins Road as it bends north. It wiggles a bit northeast and northwest, but eventually you should reach another roundabout with Campkin Road, at which you should head southwest. Take the next right (northwest), then turn left onto Crowland Way at the end; this starts southwest, veers northwest, then veers southwest again — at which point you should abandon it and head northwest on a footpath between houses. Cross the roundabout at the end (Wynford Way/Crathern Way) and continue fairly north to the T-junction with Cameron Road. Veer left and cross over, then follow northeast onto Northfield Avenue; The Ship should be on the right. (You might also be able to turn right onto Cameron Road and veer left if there’s still an entrace that way via the car park.) The Ship was not very pleasant, then closed, but has now been refurbished. Hopefully it’s now worth the walk.
- Leaving the Ship, your next target is Cameron Road, which may be easier if you took the car park entrance; it runs along the southeast side of the Ship. You probably want to keep heading left; Google seems to think you should walk up Northfield Avenue northeast instead and then turn right, but you do you. Turn left onto the pathway beside Cameron Road, then take a diagonal path that goes straight east. At this point you can keep going until you hit Kirkwood Road (approximately Screwfix) then veer right at the end onto King’s Hedges Road, crossing over and eventually finding the Golden Hind on the left just before the junction with Milton Road. Antitraditionalists may choose to veer right from the aforementioned diagonal to follow beside some houses down to Campkin Road (past a Tesco Express and the former Jenny Wrenn); if you do this, follow Campkin Road East, southeast, then northeast, then turn right onto King’s Hedges road and cross over sometime before you get to the Golden Hind.
- From the Hind, turn left and cross Milton Road, heading southeast along Green End Road. Green End Road will gradually curve southwest, passing Enniskillen Road and Stew’s flat; avoid the curse of Scotland (Road) and turn left to stay on Green End Road, southeast. Again it’ll curve southwest, and this time your southeast route of choice is Water Lane; veer right to head southwest along Water Street, and the Green Dragon is on the right. Google thinks it’s in two places at once, which is clever.
- Turn right out of the Green Dragon and follow Water Street southwest then northwest onto Ferry lane. Swing left at the end onto the High Street. Follow its wiggles vaguely west, and you’ll find the Haymakers on the left opposite Union Lane.
- If you turn left out of the Haymakers you’ll reach the roundabout with Elizabeth Way and Chesterton Road after a bit, which should help you find your way home. However, if you want a curry you probably don’t want to start from here, and might like to investigate taxi/Uber options.
Friday 21st of October: The Prospect Row Crawl
Meeting in The Clarendon Arms at 7:30pm
7 pubs visited.
Attendance: Edward (all pubs), Jake and Sam (Elm Tree to Free Press, at least), Bertie (Elm Tree onwards), James Ireland (Free Press onwards), Chili (Duke of Cambridge on)
- The Clarendon Arms is, helpfully, on Clarendon Street. One way to find this is to head down Regent Street until you find the University Arms hotel. This used to be a big building that looked a bit like the Kremlin, but now appears to have gone a bit classical. If you find a cycle path crossing Parker’s Piece (RIP Pizza Hut), you’re slightly too far south, because you really want to look for Park Terrace, the one way street that’s alongside the University Arms. Go down it the right way, and keep going where it crosses Parker Street and Parkside (otherwise you’ll end up in a bus station or a police station) and you’ll find Clarendon Street. The Clarendon Arms is on the left, a little way up.
- Turn left out of the Clarendon to head north. After a while, on the right there’s a pedestrian alley that’s possibly a continuation of Orchard Street. Google Maps has historically been very confused about the Elm Tree, and although it now has the location correct, it still won’t let me check the name of this street. I suspect someone working for Google lives there and is playing silly buggers. Anyway, turn down the pedestrian thingy, and the Elm Tree is on the left at the end. If that doesn’t work for you, take the next right on Elm Street and walk around the Elm Tree at the end.
- Leaving the Elm Tree, you may notice that the Cricketers is basically opposite you, to the south, so you should be able to work out what to do; the entrance is on the pedestrianised Melbourne Place.
- From the Cricketers, turn right and get back to Prospect Row, and head southeast. The Free Press is on the left after a bit. Unless they’ve modernised, they’re a bit stroppy about people using phones, so memorise the next bit.
- Turn left out of the Free Press. Continue to the end of Prospect Row and veer left onto Adam and Eve street, then right onto Dover Street. The Tram Depot is on the left, and looks a bit like a tram depot.
- From the Tram Depot, turn left and walk to East Road (the big busy one). Then turn left to head northeast-ish. The Duke of Cambridge is on the left, just before a KFC (which would take the edge off your curry). You can also get into the Duke of Cambridge’s back passage via Adam and Eve Street, if you prefer.
- From the East Road exit of the Duke of Cambridge, turn left past the KFC and head northeast, crossing the road opposite the Tesco. You should be approximately in line with Norfolk Street, which is convenient because you should now head east along it. the Blue Moon is on the left, just after Staffordshire Street.
- From the Blue Moon, you could return to East Road, head south, then at the corner of Parker’s Piece walk diagonally across the Reality Checkpoint to get to Regent Street. But actually you want a curry, so you shouldn’t do this. Instead, continue east along Norfolk Street to the T-junction with Gwydir Street, and turn right to head south. You will walk quite a long way, in the process passing the Alex and the Cambridge Blue; don’t worry, we’ll come back to them. Eventually you’ll reach Mill Road, where we run out of Gwydir Street (or you can cut through the Gwydir Street car park if you prefer). Turn left and cross the road, and you should find the Curry Queen almost opposite the White Swan. Once full of curry, turn left to head west along Mill Road until you get to Parker’s Piece (big grassy thing), then cut across the diagonal to reach Regent Street. Hopefully you can cope from there, because we don’t like to lose students this early in the academic year.
Friday 14th of October: The Regent Street Crawl
Meeting in The Grain & Hop Store at 7:30pm.
Six pubs visited.
Attendance: Edward, Harley, Jake, Holly, Teddy (G&HS to Panton), Cynthia (G&HS to Panton), Bertie (Panton onwards)
- The Grain & Hop Store (previously the Avery, previously the Hog’s Head)
(69 Regent Street, down an alleyway)
- The Prince Regent
(91 Regent Street)
- The Old Bicycle Shop (104 Regent St, near Lensfield Road)
Tall Trees (formerly the Snug, formerly the Spread Eagle, not formerly the Vine) (67 Lensfield Road, near Brookside) — declared not, and will never be, a pub
- The Panton Arms
(43 Panton Street, by Coronation Street)
- The Alma
(26 Russell Court)
- The Emperor
(21 Hills Road, junction with St Paul’s Road, opposite the Saffron Brasserie or Rajbelash, depending on what you want to call it) — added as a late substitute
- The Grain & Hop Store (formerly the Avery, formerly the Hogshead, etc.) is a large pub accessible from Regent Street via a small alleyway beside City Kebab. You can also enter from Parker’s Piece. Fortunately this time it’s at the end of a crawl; sometimes this pub has been in the middle of a crawl, and the two exits have caused Google Maps a lot of confusion.
- Leave the G&HS via the Regent Street exit, and turn left, away from the entrance to Downing. The Prince Regent is, astonishingly, on Regent Street, on the left. If you get to a lot of traffic lights and a church, or what the web site maintainer used to consider “the thing on the corner that goes dong” when hostelled in Lensfield Road, you’ve gone too far. Don’t stop off at the other pubs on the way or you’ll be late — we’ll get back to them. The Prince Regent is a pub; you are encouraged to get a drink. Hopefully more experienced club members will demonstrate.
- From the Prince Regent, cross Regent Street, heading in the general direction of the thing on the corner that goes dong (that is, south). The Old Bicycle Shop, which was a bicycle shop for a long time but actually only fairly recently a pub, is on the right before the traffic lights.
- Turn right out of the Old Bicycle Shop to continue along Regent Street (hopefully you’re not getting lost yet), then turn right at the junction with Lensfield Road, which is where all the traffic lights are. Walk west for a while, eventually passing Tennis Court Road, and cross the road to the south side (or do those things in the reverse order only with Panton Street instead of Tennis Court Road). The Tall Trees used to be the Snug, but not the Snug that used to be the Vine. It also used to be the Spread Eagle, and may or may not therefore randomly still have a bust of an eagle on it. If you get to the roundabout on Trumpington Street, turn back, although you can probably see the pub from there. This assumes it actually is a pub at all, which is to be determined experimentally.
- Turn right out of the Tall Trees to walk back east along Lensfield Road past the Lensfield Hotel, then right again (south) onto Panton Street, which is shockingly the route to the Panton Arms. The Panton is on the left just after Coronation Street (the road, not the soap opera), although Google seems to think you want to go in the back way; you don’t — pass the pub and turn left.
- Edit: The Tall Trees was declared “not, and will never be, a pub” so the route could have gone directly from the Old Bicycle Shop to the Panton, traditionally by cutting the corner of the car park of the Chemistry Department and then worrying about the gate being closed.
- Leaving the Panton, turn left onto Panton Street and soon after left againt to be heading east on Russell Court. The Alma is on the right. I recommend you drink at it.
- You may wish to find your way to Hill’s Road after the Alma (turn right, wiggle a bit) and divert into Rajbelash (formerly the Saffron Brasserie, hence in CUTwC circles the Saffron Brassière), which can be found on the left en route, shortly after you pass the Emperor, although they often close early.
- Edit: After the dismissal of the Tall Trees, the Emperor, whose location is described above, was added in lieu.