Circle Line Pub Crawl

One of London’s hardest challenge, the Circle Line Pub Crawl, got even harder a few years ago when Transport for London reconfigured the line to have a “tail” extending down to Hammersmith. Now, there are 35 tube stations and corresponding pubs to have your half-pint at.

This map of the line and the nearest pubs to each station, was commissioned by Londonist for their “Londonist Drinks” book that was published late last year. It was drawn by illustrator Olivia Whitworth, who also created the Secret Rivers map we featured last month. Mapping London likes the little pub illustrations – a reminder of London’s diverse pub architecture.

The map is “underlined” by the River Thames which forms the southern limit of the tube line and so drinking experience. If you cross the Thames trying to get from pub to station, you’ve gone wrong. Some trees, park benches and statues are added for good measure – appropriately enough with nearby drinkers. The map is finished in a pleasing red, blue and yellow colour palette.

The whole piece is rather nice and makes your reviewer quite thirsty – might start with just a segment though. Do not underestimate the logistics of not only drinking at 35 different pubs in the approximately 12 hours of a single drinking day, but getting between them in an ever inebriated state – finding the way back to the station, moving one stop along, and then to the next pub… good luck!

See some further excerpts of the map on the illustrator’s portfolio, and if you like Olivia’s drawing style be sure to check out her personalised egg sketches.

Images © Olivia Whitworth.