The London Literary Pub Crawl: A Great Night Out for Solo Travelers

If you’re a fan of literature and/or history and are looking for a fun night out in London, the London Literary Pub Crawl might just be the perfect fit.

The London Literary Pub Crawl is a guided walking tour takes you pub hopping through Fitzrovia and Soho, stopping at bars and taverns where famous British writers, artists, and filmmakers used to hang out. And if a literary pub crawl sounds pretty tame to you, let me assure you it’s a proper night on the town. 

I was able to join the pub crawl on my most recent trip to London (I make it there a few times a year and make it a point to check out every literary experience and bookish destination I can), and I’m here to let you know what this unique London tour is all about. 

In this post, I’ll tell you a little bit about the history of the tour and then dive in to share my experiences, because while I enjoyed it, I’ll be the first to tell you it’s not exactly what you’d expect it to be based on how it advertises. Still, I think it’s a great choice for a certain kind of traveler.

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A Brief History of the London Literary Pub Crawl

In this section, I’ll go into the history of the tour and what it professes to be on its website. In the next section, I’ll tell you about my personal experience of the tour and how it measured up (and the many ways it differed) from my expectations based on its advertisements.

This unique London literary tour was created by Nick Hannegan, a theatre man who is the Writer, Producer and Artistic Director of the non-profit Maverick Theatre Company. He wanted to offer London visitors a unique tour that was more a performance than an actual tour. 

The London Literary Pub Crawl that he created is a non-profit tour that takes place on Saturday evenings in Soho and Fitzrovia. Guests walk about a mile in distance over the course of the tour, stopping in for drinks at historic London pubs with a connection to an English writer (and sometimes, musicians and artists, too). 

The tour is advertised to be led by actors portraying Charles Dickens and occasionally Virginia Woolf, who also do dramatic readings associated with various stops on the tour. 

As they say on their website, 

““We’re less a traditional tour and more a guided performance.”

This London literary tour has won a Society of London Theatre Award. 

On its website, they tell you the tour takes approximately three hours, but can vary with the needs of each group. They also promise “encounters with long-gone writers!”

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Related: If you’re a book lover in London, you won’t want to miss the nearby Charles Dickens Museum or the Sherlock Holmes Museum.

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My experience on the literary pub crawl

I have to say upfront that the London literary pub crawl was really not at all what I expected, but I had a fantastic time of it anyway. 

The pub tour begins in Fitzrovia at 5 pm on Saturdays year-round. You’re sent an email with the specific meet up point, which is also your first pub of the night, so you grab a drink at the bar and head upstairs to meet the tour guide.

For my tour, the guide was named Richard, and he has been leading the tour for the last 5 years. He seems to thoroughly enjoy the job and takes the train in each Saturday from his hometown to lead each group.

Once we were all assembled, Richard had everyone in the tour introduce themselves, and then he proceeded to give us an overview of the tour.

Right from the start he wanted to know who all had other plans for after the tour, because he said he has never finished it within the advertised 3 hours. He let us know his longest ever tour had been over 10 hours, something I initially assumed was a joke until later in the evening when I heard the full story.

He let us know we were always free to quit the tour whenever we needed, but that he would carry on until the last person wanted to call it a night. 

Tame literary gathering, my ass! This was going to be a real party. 

In general, the literary pub crawl is far less formal than I’d expect based on the website. It seems that the advertised tradition of the tour being led by actors portraying the characters of famous writers has essentially ended. While Richard did have a script, he preferred to chat with us like a friend and rather informal tour guide. 

We walked through London’s Fitzrovia and Soho neighborhoods, with him stopping to tell us interesting stories about London, its history, writers, artists, and musicians. Richard clearly has a love for London’s history and finding out interesting and lesser known facts about this particular neighborhood. 

As we stopped at each pub, we paused outside to hear him tell us about the pub’s literary connections (or sometimes its connections to musicians or other prominent cultural or historical figures). Richard loved quizzing us to keep us on our toes, but it was lighthearted and low pressure, and there was no expectation that the people on the tour need know the answer to each question. 

On the London literary pub tour, we stopped at pubs connected to George Orwell, TS Eliot, Virginia Woolf, Dylan Thomas, Anthony Burgess, and more. Even though I have a strong background in literature (hello, I run a literary travel blog!), I still learned lots of new and interesting facts I hadn’t known before.

After learning about the literary connections at each pub, we’d head inside and order a drink, hanging out as a group there for 30-40 minutes and informally chatting. It wasn’t a multi-hour lecture, but rather little fun tidbits (and sometimes dramatic readings, which were lovely), in between lengthier periods of just chatting, hanging out in the pubs, drinking, and getting to know the other people on the tour. 

Related: If you want to be able to answer all the questions about Samuel Johnson on the tour, head to Dr. Johnson’s House before the tour. It’s a great, lesser-known London attraction that book worms will love.

After the three hour mark, some people started to taper off and leave the tour. As promised, Richard said he was ready to carry on until the last person wanted to go home. I hung with the group for as long as I could, but after 5.5 hours and 5 or 6 pubs, I was ready to call it a night and head back to my hotel to pack for my next day’s trip to Bath. 

I was disappointed that that meant missing out on some more of the literary pub stops ahead of us, but I knew I had to call it. 

Overall, I had a wonderful time on this tour, learning new literary facts and having a chance to hang out informally with a great group of people and get to know them. And Richard was a friendly, informative, and delightful host. 

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Related: Looking for other literary London walking tours? Check out my review of the London Harry Potter walking tour and a comparison of your options.

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Who would enjoy the London Literary Pub Crawl?

One might expect only literary aficionados to sign up for something called a literary pub crawl, but that didn’t seem to be the case. I was definitely the person on the tour who was most interested in classic literature, which surprised me but not unpleasantly so. 

Lots of other people on the tour signed up just to go on a pub crawl or to learn more about London neighborhoods. 

So, given my experience, I think you are likely to have a good time on this tour if you:

• Have an interest in literature and literary history
• Have an interest in London culture and history
• Are up for a late night on the town 

It’s a great choice for a solo traveler in London (like myself) to be able to experience London’s pub culture without having to do it on your own. However, it’s also a great choice for couples or small groups who want a night out that they don’t have to coordinate or manage. 

You certainly don’t have to drink to enjoy the tour, either. You won’t be looked down upon if you choose to order a soda at each pub, for example, though you may quickly find yourself the only sober one in the group, so if that bothers you, maybe choose something that’s not a pub crawl. 

Basically, I think anyone who’s looking for a fun Saturday night in London, who enjoys learning lots of little bits of trivia and history, will have a great time on the London literary pub crawl. 

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Related: If you’re a fan of Virginia Woolf, plan time for a day trip to Lewes, UK. In addition to some fantastic bookshops, you can visit Monk’s House, Virginia Woolf’s home.

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Tips for your tour

• You’ll be walking around London at night, so plan accordingly when it comes to your footwear and outerwear. Preparing for rain is always wise in London, and make sure you account for night time temperatures as the tour carries on. 
• While there’s plenty of chances to drink on this tour, there’s not really any chance to eat. As the tour starts at 5 pm, quite a few people were getting pretty hungry. If you sign up for this tour, I recommend eating a hearty meal beforehand. When I attended, I opted for a 3:30 pm afternoon tea at the nearby Dalloway Terrace, which was delightful and one of the best unique afternoon teas in London. It kept me full for most of the tour and was only a few minutes’ walk from the start of the tour.
• There are plenty of opportunities to the use the toilet on the tour 
• Don’t plan on going anywhere after the tour – it’s all but guaranteed to go on far later than you’d expect! 
• If you are drinking, keep in mind the lengthy night ahead of you and pace yourself accordingly. You’re likely to visit anywhere from 5-10 London pubs, so don’t start off with a strong drink if you expect to be able to keep up. 
• Consider taking a turn buying the tour guide a drink at one of the pubs by way of tip. 
• Consider spending some time in the area before the tour. You can check out the Virginia Woolf bust in Tavestock Square and see blue plaques associated with the Bloomsbury group and check out some of the best London bookshops located in the immediate vicinity. 
• Embrace the night out! Relinquish expectations! Have fun! 

You can also buy a voucher for the literary tour as a gift for a friend or loved one who might enjoy it. 

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Other bookish attractions in London

London is one of my favorite cities, and it’s a treasure trove of sights for the bookish-minded traveler. Here’s a quick reference to some of my guides to other London attractions you might enjoy:

• The Charles Dickens Museum where the author lived and wrote many of his bestselling novels
• The Sherlock Holmes Museum, a recreation of Sherlock and Watson’s fictional Baker Street apartment
• Dr. Johnson’s House, where he compiled the first comprehensive English dictionary
• For Harry Potter fans, a complete list of Harry Potter things to do in London
• How to visit the Globe Theatre (all your options, detailed)

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What other London literary tours are you interested in my reviewing?

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