Monopoly pub crawl

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A Monopoly pub crawl is a pub crawl involving the visiting of public houses on each of the streets of a city which appear on that city's version of the Monopoly board. This is classically done in London, following the British version of the game, but could just as easily be applied to anywhere else having a dedicated Monopoly board and a sufficient quantity of pubs or bars.

London version

The London version of the pub crawl follows the list of locations in the British version of the game of Monopoly. Different routes are required, depending on whether the properties are to be visited in the same order that they appear on the board, and whether the four stations are to be included. Finding an optimal route is an example of a travelling salesman problem.

Visiting all the properties including the stations in strict order is a long route and requires much back-tracking. Visiting just the regular properties in strict order, with the stations interspersed where most convenient (Fenchurch Street, Liverpool Street, Kings Cross and finally Marylebone), is much shorter, although the Strand has to be traversed twice. Allowing more flexibility in ordering allows for shorter routes.

In any case, Old Kent Road is a logical starting point as it is both the first property on the UK London Monopoly board and the most distant property from the others.

It is not uncommon for participants to take a Monopoly board on the route and have each pub sign the corresponding square of the board.

Properties and pubs

Old Kent Road

Not to be confused with New Kent Road, which it adjoins.

• The Lord Nelson, 338 Old Kent Road
• The World Turned Upside Down, Old Kent Road

Whitechapel Road

• The Blind Beggar, 337 Whitechapel Road

King's Cross Station

There was one pub inside the station:

• The Duke of York (now closed)

or

• The Champagne bar is upstairs in St Pancras Station
• The Big Chill near Kings Cross

The Angel, Islington

The Angel, Islington is a specific inn which stood on the corner of Islington High Street and Pentonville Road until 1921 and no longer exists. The original building is now a Co-operative Bank. This term also informally refers to this part of Islington.

• The Angel, 3–5 Islington High Street, is a Wetherspoon's next door to the original building

Euston Road

• O'Neill's, 73-77 Euston Road

Pentonville Road

• The Castle, 54 Pentonville Road

Pall Mall

There are no pubs in Pall Mall.

• The Red Lion, 23 Crown Passage, is in an alley off the road

Whitehall

• The Old Shades, 37 Whitehall
• The Silver Cross, 33 Whitehall

Northumberland Avenue

• The Sherlock Holmes, 10 Northumberland Street

Marylebone Station

There is one pub inside the station:

• The Victoria and Albert

Bow Street

• The Kemble's Head, 61-62 Long Acre, is the only pub which has a door on the very short Bow Street
• The Nell of Old Drury, 29 Catherine Street, is just past the end of Bow Street

Marlborough Street

Marlborough Street on the Monopoly board actually refers to Great Marlborough Street, not the other Marlborough Street which is some distance away to the south.

• The Shakespeare's Head, 29 Great Marlborough Street

Vine Street

There are no pubs on Vine Street, and most of the pubs nearby are on streets already represented by other Monopoly Squares, such as Piccadilly and Regent Street.

• The Glassblower, 42 Glasshouse Street, is reasonably close to Vine Street

The Strand

• The Coal Hole, 91 Strand

Fleet Street

• The Old Bank of England, 194 Fleet Street
• Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, 145 Fleet Street

Trafalgar Square

• Albanach
• The Chandos

Fenchurch Street Station

There is one pub inside the station:

• The Fen

Leicester Square

• The Moon Under Water, 28 Leicester Square

Coventry Street

There are no public houses on Coventry Street.

• Waxy O'Connor's, 16 Rupert Street

Piccadilly

• 5th View, on the fifth floor of Waterstone's bookshop, 203-206 Piccadilly

Regent Street

• All Bar One, 289-293 Regent Street

Oxford Street

The only pub on this long shopping street is:

• The Tottenham, 6 Oxford Street

Bond Street

There is no Bond Street in central London; the term refers collectively to Old Bond Street and New Bond Street, neither of which have pubs.

• Shelley's, 10 Stafford Street
• The Hog in the Pound, 29 South Molton Street

Liverpool Street Station

There is one pub inside the station:

• Hamilton Hall

and also

• The Wren opposite Boots

Park Lane

• The Grosvenor House Hotel, 90 Park Lane

Mayfair

Mayfair is a district of London, not a street.

• The Audley, 41 Mount Street
• Ye Grapes, 16 Shepherd Market

Cultural references

• In the Red Dwarf book Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers by Grant Naylor, Dave Lister went on a drunken Monopoly board pub crawl with his friends to celebrate his 25th birthday, where he got very, very drunk — when he awoke, he was on Mimas, one of Saturn's moons, wearing a lady's pink crimplene hat and a pair of yellow fishing waders, with no money and a passport in the name of "Emily Berkenstein", and a worrying rash.

External links

• Website for a recent London Monopoly Pub Crawl
• Website for a regular London Monopoly Pub Crawl
• Website of another regular London Monopoly Pub Crawl
• Website with the day's diary from a successful London Monopoly Pub Crawl in 2001 using the suggested route
• Pub crawl web site showing map of easiest route