The London Literary Pub Crawl

Please sign up for our occasional newsletter. (We NEVER share your information.)

Showing Tag: "ts" (Show all posts)

Maverick Theatre and TWO in the Pub. Shot with Tradition..!

Posted by Nick Hennegan on Friday, April 21, 2023, In : London's Literary Pubs 


Shots. Not big or clever. Although one per production should be okay! The TWO gang… Greg, Nick and Claire. 

It’s not big, and it’s not clever, but it’s a tradition we have at the Maverick Theatre Company that dates back to the 1990’s. The first night shot! Of course, it’s not compulsory for Maverick people to have a shot after our first production, or indeed drink any alcohol, but it goes back to the early days of Maverick at the Billesley Pub in Birmingham.

Our first pro...


Continue reading ...
 

London. It’s about community, stupid! (Leave your baseball bat at home…!)

Posted by Nick Hennegan on Tuesday, June 29, 2021, In : London Life 

Love of the common people. Some of the team behind the Fitzrovia Arts Festival.



Full disclosure. I’m from Birmingham. And I love Britain’s Second City. But I’ve been flirting with London for nearly 40 years and I’ve been here full-time for over 15 years. When I first came to live in London – south of the river – I travelled with a baseball bat for security. Now this might sound extreme, but remember, no one from my family had ever been further from Brum than Wales for summer holida...


Continue reading ...
 

20 years since we lost the Alan Ginsberg Beat, man!

Posted by Nick Hennegan on Saturday, April 8, 2017, In : Nick Hennegan 
Although our ‘manor’, as they say in all the best cockney gangster films, is most definitely London, there was an anniversary this week involving an American writer that I had to mention. - especially as he came to London for a while.  Now, as you know, I love Americans.  I’ve not met a bad ‘un yet.  It’s interesting that since His Trumpness became boss of the good old US of A, there has been a huge rise in the sale of George Orwell’s dystopian novel, 1984.  Shows you what a good ...

Continue reading ...
 

If you are planning on coming to London, check out this creative guide.

Posted by Nick Hennegan on Friday, February 10, 2017, In : Hennegan's Best Bohemian Literary Pubs 
Good Areas for Creative Pubs in London. 

1.  CHISWICK, LONDON, W4.
Chiswick (Listeni/ˈtʃɪzᵻk/ chiz-ick) is a district of West London, England. 

Chiswick, or ‘leafy  Chiswick’ as it seems to be known colloquially throughout London, is an interesting area for many reasons. Not least of which is the fact the London League of Irish Writers was established here in the 20th Century. This may have had something to do with the fact W.B. Yeats made his home here, as did the poet Alexander Pope, ...


Continue reading ...
 

The real Dylan Thomas?

Posted by Nick Hennegan on Sunday, January 29, 2017, In : Writers 

It’s been great being involved with the new International Dylan Day. 14 May each year has been designated Dylan Day to mark the first time his play for voices ‘Under Milk Wood’ was performed in public in the USA. It’s a direct lift from Blooms Day, an annual event inspired by one of the lead characters in Ulysses, by James Joyce. We're going to celebrate it this year with an extra tour and extra Dylan content.  Book now for 13th May - the Saturday before the day.  We also have some id...


Continue reading ...
 

Memories of Dylan Thomas and chapel Wales.

Posted by Nick Hennegan on Saturday, May 21, 2016, In : Writers 

Having just celebrated the second Dylan Thomas day, we came across this on Facebook.  Written by Josh Brown, it's self-explanatory.  Nick Hennegan, our writer, really liked it and Josh gave us permission to repost it, so here it is.  Thanks Josh!

 

 
Brown's Hotel, Laugharne, Wales.

 

I have meant to post about my visit to Laugharne in the 70's since joining the [Dylan Thomas Facebook] group. Here it is........

 

I was born in a snowstorm in 1947, 6 years before Dylan died. My mo...


Continue reading ...
 

John Steinbeck on Writing

Posted by Nick Hennegan on Sunday, April 3, 2016, In : Writers 
I found this on the site of our friends at brainpickings.org.  I've written a random diary for years and sometimes felt it was a waste of time.  I also love "writing instruments" and paper and thought I was a bit weird!  Maria Popova and JS puts that right...

John Steinbeck on Writing, the Crucible of Creativity, and the Mobilizing Power of the Impossible
“A good writer always works at the impossible.”
BY MARIA POPOVA



An advocate for the creative benefits of keeping a diary, Virginia Woolf sa...
Continue reading ...
 

We've moved! The Fitzroy Tavern closes!

Posted by Nick Hennegan on Friday, July 17, 2015, In : Nick Hennegan 
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 ...
Continue reading ...
 

Interview With An Actor.

Posted by Nick Hennegan on Wednesday, May 20, 2015, In : Simon Says. 
She's the Queen of Kings at the moment - the star of Henry V - Lion of England at The Wheatsheaf Pub in Fitzrovia, London W1.  Produced by our theatre company Maverick, and written by our writer Nick Hennegan, we asked Simon Plant to go talk to star, Eleanor Dillon-Reams about being Shakespeare's most famous King.


Eleanor Dillon-Reams.

Henry V is one of Shakespeare’s biggest plays.  How come you are the only actor?

The piece has been partly rewritten, edited and chopped up to a short and snap...


Continue reading ...
 

We missed you!

Posted by Nick Hennegan on Friday, May 15, 2015, In : Theatre News 


Continue reading ...
 

Neville Owen, a Boy's Man! RIP.

Posted by Nick Hennegan on Saturday, March 7, 2015, In : Nick Hennegan 
Forgive my indulgence. This post isn't really anything directly to do with The London Literary Pub Crawl, other than the fact I wrote the tour and the journal/diary I wrote in 1997 (How To Make a Crisis Out Of A Drama) is being released by Maverick Theatre to celebrate its 21st Birthday. Although booze plays a part, because this is about the first time I got drunk!  And Neville Owen died last month and I went to his funeral, so I wanted to mark his passing. I wrote this in 1997 and I hope it ...
Continue reading ...
 

London sightseeing: Top 3 bus routes. - Visit Britian

Posted by Nick Hennegan on Saturday, June 7, 2014, In : Travelers Tips 

London sightseeing: Top 3 bus routes

Hopping on a London bus is one of the best ways to see the city on a budget –  it’s only £1.45 a ride with your Visitor Oyster Card.

To celebrate the Year of the Bus in London, here's a guide to three bus routes which are perfect for a cut-price sightseeing tour, taking in the majority of the city's most famous sights.

Route 24: Pimlico to Hampstead Heath

Westminster Abbey

You can catch the 24 from Victoria, where it passes both Westminster Cathedral and Westminster Abbey....


Continue reading ...
 

Commit Financial Theatrical Suicide with Dylan Thomas! Part One.

Posted by Nick Hennegan on Thursday, October 10, 2013,


I love the image above we are using for Under Milk Wood.  It has a wistful quality to it and that is how I feel about some of our writers - especially Dylan Thomas, who was taken from us so tragically early. I also love Wales, and this image kind of sums up my schoolboy holidays in out-of-season seaside towns. This bench has seen a lot, you can just tell.  And it quietly waits for the next joyful - or maybe melancholy - experience. 

But enough wooden bench and more Milk Wood.  He was a smart c...
Continue reading ...
 

The Maverick Newsletter - Writers Retreats and our first books!

Posted by Nick Hennegan on Wednesday, September 11, 2013, In : Writers 

Writers Retreat! New Books! 

It's been a busy few months...!

So how was your summer? I had a bit of an odd one. But I want to tell you about -

  •   Our new URBAN WRITERS RETREATS
  •   Our first BOOKS
  •   Under Milk Wood by Dylan Thomas
  •   The London Literary Pub Crawl and how you can buy a bit of the action!


The big news is that we are finally starting our 
LONDON WRITERS URBAN RETREATS. 
Saturday, 28th September, 2013.  11am - 5pm.
Then every last Saturday of the month.

The Fitzroy Tavern, Charlotte Street, Lon...


Continue reading ...
 

Diggin' the late Seamus Heaney.

Posted by Simon Plant on Saturday, August 31, 2013, In : Nick Hennegan 

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...


Continue reading ...
 

Visiting London.

Posted by Simon Plant on Sunday, March 3, 2013,
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.

Continue reading ...
 

Nick Hennegan and 2012 in London

Posted by Simon Plant on Sunday, December 23, 2012, In : Nick Hennegan 

Well, what a year 2012 has been.  The Silver Jubilee, the Olympics and more importantly (to us anyway) the launch of the London Literary Pub Crawl.  It's because we are a not-for-profit charity with no budget that the critical and audience acclaim we've received early on has been so important and so crucial... and so moving.  Partly inspired by the Olympics coming to London, I felt a desire - perhaps a passion - to share what I'd found out about the struggle some of the worlds most famous wri...


Continue reading ...
 

Put your (Christmas) Hands in The Air...

Posted by Simon Plant on Monday, December 17, 2012, In : Nick Hennegan 
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!




Continue reading ...
 
 

About Us


Nick Hennegan Hello. I'm Nick Hennegan and I started the London Literary Pub Crawl. Most of the blogs on here will be by me. I've always written but my first theatrical success was an adaptation of Shakespeare's 'Henry V' (www.HenryVPlay.com) I founded Maverick Theatre in 1994. (www.MaverickTheatreCompany.com) This pub crawl is really more a promenade theatre performance than a tour and I'm running it with a bunch of enthusiastic local actors and writers. I love sharing my passion for the area and the artists. I also present a weekly radio show, 'Literary London' on Resonance 104.4fm - London's Arts Station and a podcast on our site. If you haven't visited us in London yet, I hope you'll come soon. Have a look at my new site, www.BohemianBritain.com. And feel free to leave comments or email me at nick @ LondonLiteraryPubCrawl.com - I reply to them all and I love to hear from you.

Tags

blog comments powered by Disqus