Pub Crawl

Every stop on every map is someone's livelihood, someone's neighbourhood, or someone's quiet corner of the world. Whatever you're exploring — a pub, a gallery, a heritage site — you're a guest there. Act like one.

The map is a guide to help you find your way, not a right of way. If a route takes you near private land, closed ground, or somewhere you're plainly not meant to be, that's the map being wrong, not permission being granted. Use your judgement.

Whatever kind of journey you're on, keep an eye on the people you're with. Check in. Slow down for stragglers. Nobody gets left behind at a strange stop, on any kind of map.

Every map on The Local Network is a starting point, not an itinerary you're bound to. Skip a stop, linger at another, double back if the mood takes you. Have fun — that's the actual point of all of this.

Every journey has an Origin Pub and a Destination Pub. These are your termini. A full round must be bought at each: one to launch the journey, one to mark its end. No exceptions. A crawl without a proper send-off or a landing drink is just... walking.

You may add as many Waypoint Pubs to your route as your legs and liver will allow. These are your intermediate stations. Pop in, have a drink, move on. There is no upper limit on waypoints. There is, however, a lower limit on dignity: plan accordingly.

Not every pub on a line need be visited. If two pubs sit on the same line, you are free to skip stations between them. Nobody is obliged to stop at every local on the map. This is a crawl, not a sponsored endurance event.

Changing lines? Then you're at a Junction Pub: one of the great interchanges of The Local Network. A round must be bought here before your group boards the next line. The Junction Round is non-negotiable. It is the price of passage. It is also an excellent excuse.

Retracing your steps from a waypoint is entirely legal and encouraged. Sometimes the best pub is back the way you came. A Return Leg simply counts as a waypoint visit in the other direction: the route is yours to navigate. The Network rewards the bold and the nostalgic equally.

Sometimes a pub is simply too good to leave behind. Returning to a previously visited pub on the same journey is known as The Repeat. The Repeat is fully permitted, but a pub may only count once towards route completion. Be warned: too many Repeats and your carefully planned pub crawl may quietly become "an afternoon in the same pub."

Soft drinks are a fully valid ticket on The Local Network. Not everyone drinks alcohol, and not everyone should on every occasion. Drink aware, drink your way. A round includes everyone at the table: nobody gets left on the platform because they're on the lemonades.

The Local Network runs on goodwill. Check on your group. Make sure everyone is keeping up: physically, financially, and otherwise. If someone needs to tap out early, they tap out with a send-off. If someone needs water, food, or a sit-down: the journey pauses. No one gets left behind at a strange station.

Have fun. The route is a suggestion. The pubs are the point. The people you're with are the reason. If the plan needs to change, change it. The best crawls are the ones nobody fully remembers planning but everyone remembers doing.

A single stop on a map — a pub, a gallery, a landmark, whatever the vertical calls for. Every map is built from stations connected by lines, in the tradition of a transit map.

A themed route connecting a run of stations, drawn and coloured on the map the way a tube line would be. A map can have several lines crossing the same city.

A station at the end of a line — the start or finish of a particular route. Termini are usually where a journey along that line begins or ends.

A station where two or more lines meet, letting you change from one route to another mid-journey — the map's equivalent of an interchange station.

A pub must serve beer, lager, cider, and a reasonable selection of other beverages. The Network welcomes variety, but a venue that cannot provide a proper pint, or a decent glass of vino, (not Pinot "bloody" Noir) is unlikely to qualify for service.

Wine bars are perfectly acceptable members of The Local Network. While the Network has great affection for a good pint, passengers should never be denied a decent glass of wine, should the mood or company require it.

A pub must be capable of serving passengers during both the daytime and the evening. Establishments that emerge only after dark, such as nightclubs and similar nocturnal habitats, are not considered pubs and therefore do not appear on the Network map.

A good pub should permit conversation without the need for semaphore signals or industrial hearing protection. Excessively loud music counts against inclusion, except during organised entertainment such as live music, quizzes, sporting events, or other scheduled occasions where a little noise is part of the attraction.

Food is entirely optional. Many excellent pubs survive perfectly well without a kitchen. However, some form of bar snack should be available. Crisps, nuts, pork scratchings, or their regional equivalents are recognised as essential infrastructure.

A pub must be open to the general public without membership, sponsorship, secret handshakes, blood oaths, or family connections. Any passenger should be able to walk through the door and purchase a drink.

At least part of the establishment should exist primarily for drinking and socialising rather than dining. The Network celebrates food, but a pub should still feel like a pub even when nobody is ordering a main course.

An establishment must be properly licensed and operate as a genuine public venue. Your front room, garden shed, garage, or conservatory may be delightful and well-stocked, but opening it to strangers on a Saturday afternoon does not automatically create a pub.

Ultimately, inclusion on The Local Network is a matter of character as much as compliance. A pub should be welcoming, accessible, and somewhere a traveller would happily spend time with friends. The map may follow lines and stations, but the Network itself runs on hospitality.