Saturday 23^rd of November: The Sturton Street Crawl

Meeting in The Dobblers Inn at 7pm.

7 pubs visited.

• The Dobblers Inn (184 Sturton Street, junction with Fairsford Place)
• The Geldart (1 Ainsworth Street, junction with Sleaford Street)
• The Alexandra Arms (22 Gwydir Street, junction with Milford Street)
• The Cambridge Blue (23-25 Gwydir Street)
• The Petersfield (2 Sturton Street)
• Calverley’s Taproom (23A Hooper Street)
• The Kingston Arms (33 Kingston Street)

Directions:

• 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 5^th of November: The Arbury Crawl

Meeting at The Fort St George from 6:30pm, or at least having finished your drink by the end of the fireworks that start at 7pm.

6 pubs to visit.

Due to poor attendance (just Jack) it was decided that this crawl should be void, and rescheduled.

• The Fort St George (near Victoria Avenue, on the river at the corner of Midsummer Common)
• The Old Spring (Between Hamilton Road and Ferry Path, near Chesterton Road)
• The Milton Arms (205 Milton Road)
• The Golden Hind (355 Milton Road, junction with King’s Hedges Road)
• The Ship (Northfields Avenue, by Cameron Road and Aragon Close)
• The Carlton Arms (53 Carlton Way)

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?” Another traditional response would be “my, what a nice bonfire” but that seems to have been replaced with the chance to rant about someone who decided it wasn’t conducive to air quality. Possibly the oik with the 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.
• We've gone back to the old crawl route, so this bit is easy: turn left out of the Milton Arms and continue northeast along Milton Road. You’ll eventually meet the crossroads with King’s Hedges Road, and find the Golden Hind opposite you on the north corner. Hopefully you can work out what to do.
• Leave the Hind and turn right, heading northwest along King’s Hedges Road, crossing at your convenience. Historically, when the Jenny Wren was a thing, we’d take a left into Campkin Way and wiggle around to it — there is a Tesco Express near that site now. You could still choose to do that, which involves an exciting walk through unlit pathways by Nuns Way Pavilion, or you can stay on King’s Hedges Road and get there via Kirkwood Road instead. In either case, head to the west edge of Nuns Way Recreation Ground (there’s a footpath which is more obvious in daylight) and, passing north of the Nuns Way houses, follow the footpath southwest alongside Cameron Road. The Ship will eventually appear on the right — you may choose to enter via the car park if you can avoid being tempted by a kebab, or walk around.
• From The Ship it is probably least confusing to exit onto Northfield Avenue, which is the road, but not field, to its north. Head southwest until you have the option to turn right at a mini roundabout, onto Sackville Close. Immediately turn left onto Roxburgh Road to conitnue southwest. Continue onto Hanson Court, then the footpath which leads to Arbury Road. Turn right to head northwest, then take the next left onto Mere Way. Keep heading southwest, traditionally for long enough to wonder whether you really should just have had five pints to drink, and Mere Way eventually turns into Carlton Way. Eventually the Calrton Arms will appear on your right, to the northwest side of the road. If you get to the traffic lights with Gilbert Road you’ve gone too far.
• The obvious curry uses a taxi (and traditionally failing to check that it’s open), but the spry may note that continuing south along Carlton Way, crossing Gilbert Road and onto Stretten Avenue, will eventually get you to Victoria Road; turning right will get you to Castle Hill, wherein there is curry. You could also cut a corner by continuing onto St Lukes Street and taking the footpath (before St Lukes turns into Magrath Avenue, past Citibase Cambridge and The Octagon, not the one in Reading) through Castle Park, at least I think. If all else fails, there’s a nuclear bunker there.

Friday 1^st of November: The Prospect Row Crawl

Meeting in The Clarendon Arms at 7pm. The President requests hallowe’en costumes.

7 pubs visited.

• The Clarendon Arms (28 Clarendon Street)
• The Elm Tree (Orchard Street, Elm Street/Eden Street, opposite the Cricketers)
• The Cricketers (Melbourne Place/Prospect Row)
• The Free Press (Prospect Row)
• The Tram Depot (Dover Street)
• The Duke of Cambridge (Adam & Eve Street/East Road)
• The Blue Moon (2 Norfolk Street, junction with Staffordshire Street)

Directions:

• 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.

Saturday 19^th of October: The Regent Street Crawl

Meeting in The Grain & Hop Store at 7:00pm.

Five Four pubs visited.

• 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)
  — The OBS is now a reservation-only restaurant, confirming our “not a pub” assertion from last year.
• The Panton Arms (43 Panton Street, by Coronation Street)
• The Alma (26 Russell Court)

Directions:

• 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 and cross the road to the south side, walking around (or through, if you&rsqsuo;re athletic) the car park of the chemistry department. Don’t be distracted by The Tall Trees, which used to be the Snug (the Snug that was the Spread Eagle, not the one which was the Vine, which is why it has a bird on it) — it’s not a pub. If you get to the roundabout on Trumpington Street, turn back, you’ve gone much too far. Instead, turn south down Panton Street, which should be a clue to which pub is next. The Panton Arms is on the left just after Coronation Street (not on the telly); go past it and turn left to get in.
• 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.
• Obviously you want a curry, so head north and opposite from the Alma and from the footpath onto Coronation Mews, then turn right onto Coronation Street (not the one on TV). Head east until you hit Hills Road; don’t go into a church. Instead, turn right, which ought to get you to the Rajbelash. The bad news is that the Rajbelash (formerly the Saffron Brasserie, hence in CUTwC circles the Saffron Brassière) might be the Golpo Bengal instead, although it might still serve curry. It doesn’t do so very late, though, so probably get on with it. For your entertainment, you may wish to learn that you’re near the Raspberry Pi Foundation, but a pie will take the edge off your curry.
• Should you tire of curry, there is no hope for you, so you may as well turn left out of the Golpo Bengal to head northwest along Hills Road, passing, as it happens, where the web site maintainer’s office would be if he actually went to it. If you keep going you’ll find the thing on the corner that goes dong again, and can continue to Regent Street. Since this is where you started, hopefully you can work it out from here, although if it goes badly wrong you could cross Parker’s Piece to the police station if you really need help. But it’s probably easier to ask the porters of Downing.