The crawl that Avril and I undertook on Saturday 21st July 2012 was a rather hastily undertaken one. Richard Bradshaw had originally not been able to attend, but on our way down in the car it transpired that he was free after all and so, after the customary parental pleasantries, we got a taxi to Worcester Park to meet him in a pub. Selected drinking house was the God-awful Worcester Park, although if you like pubs with vest wearing Rottweiler leading chavs drinking Stella, then you will most likely be in mourning to hear that said shit hole is currently closed. This was an archetypal London estate boozer, L shaped and potentially dire although, the interior was actually not as bad as the clientele had suggested. Amazingly they had four beers on too - Doom Bar, London Pride, Greene King IPA and something else, and they weren't horrible. We didn't stay though and headed over the road for the train.

This took us to Waterloo and Richard indicated that there were a couple of good watering holes in the area. Sure enough, we went into the White Hart which was a reasonably trendy pub, the sort of place which fills with people who like to read the Sunday papers and have a roast dinner at about 4pm with perhaps a pint on the go all afternoon. Nevertheless, it is a friendly and lively establishment and their beer is good and ever changing: Windermere, Green Daemon, Doom Bar and London Pride on this occasion. Around the corner however is an even more superior boozer, because boozing is what is done there. The Kings Arms at Waterloo boasts an impressive array of as many as 10 beers. Our visit brought us Ale of Kings, Adnams Southwold, Worthington Red Shield, Butcombe, Bath Gem, Brakespear 99, Nethergate Russet Radiance, Reverend James, Dark Star Chestnut. This pub is very traditional to the point of having a Saloon bar and public bar and they are kind enough to list all beers in both bars. There is also a large back room, so never too much of a space problem (not that we have used this before), and the bar staff have a particular way of dressing, especially one barmaid whose unique style can be described as 'Amish Cowboy'. The bar man has a most entertaining moustache.

A bus ride across the Thames followed to the Lyceum, a Sam Smith's emporium on the Strand. It's got that rather traditional Sam Smith's feel to it, a slightly tatty bar, but some excellent booths, and a very good upstairs space too. We stayed here for a couple as we had managed to get ourselves a splendid booth by the bar and the beer was cheap. A couple of doors away is the Wellington, which is not a Sam Smith's pub but still pretty good, being in the Nicholson's stable. It's neo gothic apparently. This pub does quite well because it is long and thin but egress to the bar is still pretty easy. The selection of beer is good, St Austell Tribute, Doom Bar, London Pride, Green Daemon, Yorkshire Gold, Jaipur, Nicholson's Pale. We stayed here for a second.

My dad fancied using his free Oyster card and made an appearance at the next pub, the Nell Gwynne, an old favourite of ours tucked down an alleyway on the way to Charing Cross. It was busy and the jukebox was on, and the beer was not bad at all (Courage Best and Deuchars). The stairs to the toilet were familiarly precarious. Some may not like this place, but we now regard this as a favourite, largely because of the jukebox. We also lingered in here for some time. Next up, after a little walk, was another Sam Smith's offering, the Chandos. It was bedlam in here with lots of people taking advantage of cheap drinks, but not intolerable and we stayed for a while. My dad then retraced his steps home, while the three of us also headed in that direction a little later. On the way, we decided to stop off in Balham where, after a false start, we managed to get some last orders in the packed Bedford. This rambling pub was trying to do what many North London trendy places do, but given a slightly lower class of clientele, was not quite succeeding. Still, it was pretty good, and they had some quite interesting ales, about 5 of them, including some Itchen Valley offerings which Richard was very pleased to have.