Freshers’ Pub Crawl 2007

After my discovery of the ULSCR and a very enjoyable freshers’ reception I was keen to take part in the freshers’ pub crawl. The thought of quality beer with friendly ringers easily beat an afternoon of reading textbooks on behavioural ecology, and so with this in mind I met Nick Hartley at Farringdon station to embark on the crawl.

As we walked towards the Jerusalem Tavern Nick explained who was maybe going to turn up later and who wasn’t at all as it was just the two of us. Inside the pub over the first refreshing pint Nick began the who’s who of the society. Soon our pints sat empty and thirst set in so we headed south to the Old Mitre. A second pint was soon drunk as we discussed life at Imperial and UCL. With the promise of more ringers to double the numbers we walked down to Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese. As we sat in another lovely pub that I had never been to before, Nick’s who’s who moved onto the immensely complicated relationships chapter. As time passed so did the beer but the glasses rarely sat empty for long. With fresh pints on the table Rupert arrived on his steed and shortly afterwards Jenny joined us from KCL.

More drinks were had and we were soon out in the evening air walking to the next pub. Jen had to return to work, so Rupert, Nick and I set off for the Market Porter where the challenge of drinking a different half pint for every drink was set. However hunger rapidly set in so Rupert and Nick led me to a reputable Chinese restaurant nearby. Rupert and I shared a couple of starters and a seafood platter while Nick tucked into a rice and pork dish wrapped up in vine leaves which was roughly equal to a house brick in terms of size but luckily not flavour. With full stomachs we returned to the Market Porter and the half pints were drunk but at a slightly slower pace. Jen returned and even the Poodle made a brief appearance in his canine form. The Southwark ringers arrived, swelling the numbers considerably.

Around 10pm we started to depart. I headed to the student night cheapskates in Soho. There I learnt the lesson that half a dozen rum & cokes, some crazy dancing and two burgers on a stomach full of beer is a very bad idea! I enjoyed my freshers’ pub crawl very much and my thanks go to Nick for organising the day and to everyone who came along.

By Guy Atchison