Or Autumn, as we call it in London. We're obviously often busy in the summer, but the Autumn is a great time in London. The leaves start turning colour and falling and there's no better time to retreat to a cosy British Pub... often by a fire.


Richard, our current writer/guide LOVES our literary Pubs. To the point where it's probably best to plan to spend the whole evening with us! Even after the pubs have closed, we are friendly with some of the private members clubs in Soho. So the night can...
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As you know, we're writers and artists ourselves and crazy about our little bit of England and its literature. We've a books list on this website, but we really loved this blog in The Conversation by Heather Green, a PhD Candidate, Literary Heritage at Nottingham Trent University, who works for Wirksworth Heritage Centre.

Some books can really bring to life the place in which they’re set. Their words knit together in such a way that whole landscapes or entire floorplans of buildings you’ve...

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In these troubled times, I thought these books, suggested by Pam Lock, a Lecturer in English Literature (Specialist in Victorian Literature and Alcohol) from the University of Bristol, in the Conversation, might be of interest.

The evolution of the novel and short story in the 19th century brought us one of the greatest human sources of comfort, besides food and a nice hot bath. When someone tells me they are planning to “curl up with a good book”, I am filled with a sense of peace on thei...

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It’s been an incredible 2019 in all sorts of ways.  The worlds of politics on both sides of the pond have seen incredible events.  I’m sure George Orwell is smiling, wherever he is. Or maybe grimacing!  On a more domestic note, we sold out in the summer and I was at the Edinburgh festival fringe again with not one, but TWO new plays.  Well, one new adaptation - a footballing version of Romeo and Juliet with a feisty Juliet - and a comedy (some would say tragi-comedy) I wrote a few years a...

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It looks like the UK might be exiting the European Union - So a British Exit - Brexit! I love the wordplay, if not the concept.  I won't get into the politics here (nah, I don't think it's a great idea to leave, and I do remember when I was a kid we were known as the 'poor man of Europe' hence us joining the EEC, but...!) however, we have people from around the world come on our literary pub celebration, and one or two people have mentioned they'd heard stories of rationing and hoarding and w...
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It’s been a busy few weeks in London Literary Pub Crawl land. We’ve had three parties this week, including our first ‘Coffee Shop’ Tour - the non-alcoholic version of the Literary Pub Crawl - for 35 young students from South Africa. If you’ve been to see us you’ll know there are a few ‘adult’ stories. We took those out of course and the whole group were fantastic and really seemed to get what we were offering. 

Later we hosted a private tour with two Americans. Rusty was the Fa...

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Sorry... I mean the SHOW must go on!  And it is.  We've had snow in London!  It doesn't really happen very often and so when it does, we're not really prepared for it.  I think the last time the snow settled here was around five years ago.  Our cold spell only lasted about a week, which was quite long enough, thank you very much!  But now the weather has warmed up and it feels properly like Spring.  The daffodils are already out.  And I'm pleased to report, that in spite of the weather, the L...
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We're used to writers, artists and stars in London.  In the last few months, we've literally bumped into a Doctor Who, a Beatle, a Downton Abbey Lady and the most famous female author in the world!  We've also been asked not once, but twice, to provide a 'secret' performance tour for A-list Hollywood actors and their teams!
But Nick, our writer, remembers early days of Bowie in South London and we thought this might be of interest.  

It's by Andrew Frayn, a Lecturer in Twentieth Century Literat...

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We were all a bit surprised when Bob Dylan was awarded his Nobel prize for literature.  Our Charles Dickens Christmas Crawl stops at the very pub where Bob Dylan gave his first ever public performance outside the USA!  This is what Richard Brown, Reader in Modern Literature at the University of Leeds thought about it.

To the surprise of many, Bob Dylan has become the first singer-songwriter to win the Nobel prize in literature.

As the news broke, I was in the middle of teaching James Joyce to s...

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1.  Brexit is a word that has become used as a shorthand way of saying the UK leaving the EU - merging the words Britain and exit to get Brexit, in a same way as a Greek exit from the EU was dubbed Grexit in the past.  A referendum took place in the UK on Thursday 23rd June, 2016.  Everyone in the UK (almost) was eligible to vote, just like in a general election. But on the ballot paper were just two questions.  Should the UK leave the EU or remain in the EU.

2. The E.U. - short for the Euro...

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It's the New Year and you should come and visit us in London as soon as you can. Outside of town, check out some of the Literary Festivals we host in the UK.

There are now literary festivals throughout the year in most areas of the country. The largest ones include:

The Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival, at the end of March
The Hay Festival, in late May
Edinburgh International Book Festival, in August (Hear Nick Hennegan at the 2015 Festival on our podcast page)
Cheltenham Festival of Literatu...
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The roots of the Literary Pub Crawl lie in the Fitzroy Tavern. I was doing my Masters at the University of London and looking for a cheap pint.  My mate from Birmingham, filmmaker Andy Bloom, suggested I could get a cheaper pint at the Fitzroy, as the pub was run by the Sam Smiths Brewery and they were considerably cheaper than other pubs in the area.  He also told me about the Writers and Artists Bar at the pub, which certainly appealed.

So I was nursing my cheap pint downstairs and couldn't ...
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...sorry... Henry V!  It only occurred to me whilst talking to a former Dr Who actor, that for our Henry V we will be recruiting the fifth actor to reincarnate the role since we first performed it back in 1992 - a bit like the famous BBC series does!

We're actively searching now for a new actor to take on the huge role!  It's always been a big ask!  The actor is onstage constantly for over an hour, has to play twelve characters with conviction and fight the Battle of Agincourt at the end!

Injur...
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It's me birthday!  Thanks!  Feel free to send cards. Or cash... :-)

Birthdays are often a time for reflection.  When I first got the idea for the London Literary Pub Crawl, it was because I was taking my M.A. and I was flat broke.  In spite of never having received a grant for education, for reasons known only to the Education Dept I had to fund everything myself.  It was tough - not only the fees, but living in one of the most expensive cities in the world.  But I don't think we'd have done t...
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So the world cup is over.  But here in London, things are still buzzing!  The weather has been fantastic and looks like staying so. And we've been nominated as one of the Top Ten Cultural things to do in London! That's fantastic.  So if you are thinking about visiting London this year, come and see us. We've been somewhat overwhelmed by demand and so we're training up some new actors and we've added extra dates.  We're looking at a new box office system too.  At the moment director Katie and ...
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Or at least the final blog of this particular production. What can I say! We’ve just finished and I’ve just got back from the last night.  And the consumption of a few drinks with the cast makes this not the best time to write this, perhaps! But it became a big deal for me. As you may have gathered from the previous blogs, I had a number of concerns with this production. Although small in scale it was large in ambition and my first toe in the West End water.  I only actually got to watch ...
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This week has been quite interesting in terms of Under Milk Wood.  The decision to do it as a fundraiser has been quite liberating.  It means we're all in the same boat and anybody who wants to be involved with the project will be doing it for the love of the piece and the experience rather than any hard financial reward. Any funds we do raise will go to Maverick in the hope we might be able to resurrect the youth group or The Peoples' Company.

After my last blog I had a Facebook comment tha...

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Seamus Heaney died yesterday. It's a loss in so many ways. Probably the finest Irish poet since Yeats, he was sometimes known as "Famous Seamus" because unlike many poets and writers, he wasn't particularly shy and retiring. He was something of a celebrity from an early age and was prepared to stick his head over the parapet to make a comment.



But I identify with Heaney the farm-boy. My folks are from the peat-bogs of Co. Mayo - he was from a Mossbawn farmhouse in County Derry, although he res...

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If you're coming to see us over the summer, the chances are you might meet one of this talented bunch of actors. If you've already been on the London Literary Pub Crawl, you may recognise the alleyway next to the Newman's Arms, George Orwell's local.
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One of the pubs we visit on the tour is The Newman Arms. It's a great pub and unusual in that it's one of very few pubs in the area still owned outright by a family, rather than a brewery. I'll go into more detail about the pub in a later post, but I love the place. And it's appeared in some famous films. But perhaps most famously it's where George Orwell used to drink and is widely believed to be the template for the Proles pub in his novel 1984. You can hear some of his description of the p...
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... are SO demanding, we've had to find more actors to 'channel' their spirit. And a rather talented bunch we've been seeing too! Watch this space.
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Thanks for your enquiries and keep them coming. We're currently looking for new performers in London and we're looking at raising some finance through the issue of shares in the company. So if you have any interest in either of those area, then please contact us. 
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If you are coming to London for the first time and would like any advice on where to stay or what to do (apart from the Literary Pub Crawl of course) please feel free to contact us. We'll do all we can to help.
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The first of our Christmas tours took place on Saturday 15th, and a great time we had too. This was the scene at the end of the tour in our last pub in Soho. The songs were imminently singable and we're gong to make it a regular Saturday evening thing going forward.

 Happy Christmas and we hope to see you in the New Year. Here's to 2013!



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This is a new feature and will be a mix of comments about our writers, tour and actors. Come back and say Hi and hopefully there's a bit that allows you to comment. Well it is a NEW feature...!
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