Lindsay Lohan is known for not passing up the opportunity for a couple of drinks. We would be seeing her on this crawl but alas not to drink with her. Some tickets for the play 'Speed the Plow' had been purchased and in order to make a day of if, Avril, Richard Bradshaw and I, decided to squeeze in some pubs.

After alighting the train at Marylebone, the well trodden path to the Royal Oak for toilet and beer was taken which was characteristically pleasant and quiet. We sat outside for a swift half. It was then back to the station and onto Theatreland. The Ship and Shovell, tucked in underneath Charing Cross station in a place that we couldn't remember, was our chosen meeting point for Richard where we used the quieter side of the pub for some small drinks, halves of Badger for me, as a warm up for drinking plus bladder emptying exercise.

The Playhouse Theatre at Charing Cross is a fine old building with very steeply banked seats. We sat right up the top to watch and it was a long way away. Having said that, we did also find ourselves next to their very expensive bar and felt obliged to have one at half time. I had to have a Scotch. After the performance we waited for the actors to emerge and when both the minor celebrity males had left and returned, and still no sign of Ms Lohan apart from a car with tinted windows, we gave up and headed to the Old Cheshire Cheese on Fleet Street for some Sam Smith's beer. This pub had been on our lists for ages but for some reason we never seemed to get there. Finally on this occasion we did and, whilst it was OK, the Cittie of York and Princess Louise are much better. Lots of rooms and cellars and not much bar access, so maybe we missed the best bits?

Down some quite interesting backstreets is the Cockpit at Blackfriars, a salt of the earth boozer where a decent range of well-kept beers can be found. Of note also is the small gallery where one could watch cock fights. In complete contrast and home to a different variety of cock was Madison, a rooftop bar in St Pauls. Atmospheric enough, it could have been improved if one was actually allowed to view the cathedral with drink in hand. Service were slow and there were a lot of twats wanting awkward drinks but we finally managed to get somewhere for our more simplistic order (lager only on tap!) and at first were pleasantly surprised with the price, but then realised that the beer was served in obscure 2/3 pint glasses. Still, if you can tolerate the company, a nice place to have a few drinks (maybe just one) even on a November evening, and not too cold.

We had planned a visit to the Paternoster but it had already closed so, with bladders filing, we dived into an empty All Bar One at St Pauls where food was also purchased. We would not normally frequent such a place, but given that the need had arisen we had no other choice and actually, seeing as there were only about three other people in there, it wasn't too bad. Food arrived quickly and they had a couple of decent beers on. It was also very easy to get served. Might head back to another All Bar One in about 15 years.

Suitably revitalised we quickly made our way back to something purporting to be a real pub, the Punch Tavern. Subtly different, it actually presents itself as a gin palace and a splendid place it is indeed. A bit scruffy inside and served by a swarthy Eastern European man, we headed to the bar thinking that the choice of two or three beers would be it. How wrong we were - there is a massive selection of interesting gins from all over the place. Even though even the most basic were at least a fiver, we all partook and enjoyed them heartily. Buoyed by this, we then got a new Routemaster a few stops back to Charing Cross, for the final pub of the evening, the Theodore Bullfrog. This was not the best pub of the evening, but did at least have another good selection of beer. It was also lively, and set in a modern but quirky environment, very much like a Geronimo Inn, though I thought it was just a touch chavier, but maybe that was simply due to proximity to Charing Cross station.