London Calling: Join us for the Great DrupalCon London Pub Crawl

Download your full #DrupalConCrawl Cheat Sheet with full directions here

With DrupalCon fast approaching, we wanted to give all those attending an excuse to get out and experience the sights and sounds of our great capital.  And after a busy day at the conference, what better way to enjoy a tour of London than to add a few of the City’s most popular drinking holes to keep us nice and refreshed en route!

We are proud to present the Great DrupalCon London Pub Crawl, brought to you by Ubelly and the Drupal UK Community.

Spanning the distance between Tower Bridge and Blackfriars Bridge, our pub crawl will take us along the River Thames, past the historical Tower of London,  the impressive HMS Belfast and the rather creepy Clink prison – to name but a few.   And with 6 pubs in total, there will be plenty of time to kick back, relax and enjoy the sights whilst sipping on your favourite tipple. So join us on the eve of Tuesday 23rd for a bit of Drupal-style drinking. We’ll even have a limited number of special t-shirts for those that survive the night.

We’ve set up a Foursquare list on Ubelly for you to check in along the way, which will also allow you to pick up your exclusive tee!

Fancy getting involved? We need to get an idea of numbers, so register yourself below to confirm your attendance, and we’ll make sure the beers are chilled (None of your info will be kept by us after the event, by the way). And remember, have fun but drink responsibly!

Register

Map

We’ve also put together a Bing Map at http://ubel.ly/DrupalConCrawlMap to give you a clearer route of where we’re going

Pubs

The Draft House

206-208 Tower Bridge Road
Our area: Tasting rooms
Nearest tube: Tower Hill

The Draft House, sitting right on London’s iconic Tower Bridge, boasts over 18 eclectic beers on tap and apparently over 50 different bottled beers.

Tower Bridge dates back to 1894, when commercial activity in London’s East End meant that a second crossing was needed east of London Bridge. Because of the tall-ships that needed to dock further up near London Bridge, a traditional bridge couldn’t be constructed. Therefore, a ridiculously ostentatious bascule/suspension bridge was designed, becoming one of London’s iconic structures, probably only second to Big Ben.

Horniman at Hays

Unit 26 Hays Galleria
Our area: Downstairs Bar
Nearest tube: London Bridge

Horniman at Hays is a gorgeous traditional pub, sitting in the rather nice shopping area of Hay’s Galleria. More importantly, they have an impressive range of ales on tap, as well as the odd cider and lager. The view out the front takes in Tower Bridge, Tower of London and the HMS Belfast.

HMS Belfast was launched in 1938, just before the Second World War and saw active service as one of Britain’s largest naval ships. After campaigns throughout the Second World War, including the Normandy Landings, the ship was used in the Korean Wars in the 1950s before being entered into reserve in 1963. In 1967 it became a museum ship, and now receives over a quarter of a million visitors per year.

Behind HMS Belfast stands the Tower of London, where many famous names were imprisoned and executed, including Anne Boleyn, Jane Boleyn, Catherine Howard, Lady Jane Grey, Guy Fawkes and the Two Princes. It is said that a lot of the prisoners still haunt the Tower, with many odd goings on happening when the sun goes down.

Barrowboy & Banker

London Bridge
Our area: Mezzanine Level
Nearest tube: London Bridge

Barrowboy & Banker is an old converted bank, with high ceilings, big windows and a sweeping staircase. Being a Fuller’s pub, they have a number of lagers and ales on tap and sits on London Bridge. Hopefully it won’t be falling down for us.

London Bridge is one of the oldest bridges in London, with a bridge existing on that spot for over 2000 years. However, t the current bridge only dates back to the 1960s. The previous bridge being sold to a Missourian entrepreneur. The story goes that the Entrepreneur, Robert P. McCulloch, thought he was buying Tower Bridge (a mistake people still make) when he bought London Bridge, and instead ended up with a rather expensive, rather boring stone bridge, that is still standing in Lake Havasu City, Arizona.

Anchor Bankside

34 Park Street
Our area: Terrace Bar
Nearest tube: London Bridge

Anchor Bankside dates back to the 1600s, and happens to the place where diarist Samuel Pepys (who we’ll get to later) saw the Great Fire of London in 1666. The pub is a rabbit warren of corridors, with a large range of drinks and a rather nice little fish and chip place in the heart of the pub.

Anchor Bankside also sits in what used to be the less salubrious area of Southwark. Southwark used to be the playground of sailors, prostitutes and vagabonds, and the Anchor used to be a popular place for the notorious press gangs. The press gangs would walk into pubs en masse, forcibly removing drunk patrons from their stools, beating them, then dragging them back to their ships to act as crewmates on their next voyage. Not the nicest recruitment methods…

Samuel Pepys

Stew Lane
Our area: Balcony Bar
Nearest tube: Mansion House/Cannon Street

Samuel Pepys, taking its name from the great diarist, is a nice little bar that sits on the north bank of the Thames.

Samuel Pepys the diarist was a politician and naval administrator. The diary he kept between 1660 and 1669 is one of the most important primary sources to historians from the English Restoration Period, detailing personal revelation and eyewitness accounts of important events including the Great Plague, the Great Fire of London and the Second Dutch War.

The Centre Page

29 Knightrider St
Our area: Downstairs Bar
Nearest tube: St Pauls/Mansion House

Originally called The Horn, this pub has been standing since the 1660s, and was also documented by Samuel Pepys. Past patrons have included Charles Dickens and Guy Fawkes, with the current clientèle coming from the nearby city offices and buildings. The Centre Page has a nice range of cask ales, as well as continental lagers and liqueurs.

We look forward to meeting you all on the crawl next week! If you’re tweeting about it, make sure you hashtag #DrupalConCrawl