Who started it? Who knows. Some people say it was a passing reference in a 'Red Dwarf' novel that did it, but it's entirely possible that the Monopoly Pub Crawl dates back much further. A quick search in Yahoo! or its rivals indicates a growing phenomenon - it's doubtful you could sit in a pub on Old Kent Road at 11am on a Saturday without encountering at least one band of intrepid pub crawlers - yet the same web search shows that despite the number of cities the Game has been translated for, London is the only place it has become a drinker's marathon.

The Challenge
To drink in a pub on, or as close to, all 22 streets (or area, in the case of Mayfair) represented by a sqaure on the Monopoly board, and in all four railway stations. Optionally, to this challenge can be added imaginative locations for Jail, Water Works, Electric Company, Free Parking, etc.

Can it be done?
Oh yes. Read the reports of our successive crawls:

1998. Our first attempt. I didn't write much about it at the time, and have recently tried to remember as much as possible, but there are still some big holes.
1999. Full report. By this point, I was working for in London, and knew the area a bit better. Personally, my most successful crawl.
2000. Full report. Unfortunately lack of sense on my part (note for future: eat food as well as drink beer!) resulted in me failing miserably. But not everyone did...
2001 - Newcastle & Gateshead. In the late 90s, Hasbro released some provincial versions of the Game. We traced one down and had a go!
2001. Report coming soon.

How to do it
The best thing to do is to read what we've done, and follow a similar strategy (except actually try to complete it). Starting at 11am is a very good idea, although in 1998 we got very close even when we started over an hour later. Don't worry about the order on the board, try completing it in any order before you try that!

Starting at Old Kent Road, as well as being symbolic, is a good idea, as out of all the places you'll visit, it also takes the longest travelling time. Therefore, being there by 11 when the pubs open means you only have to travel back in 'live' time.

The basic route that most people - including us - use is Old Kent Road, Whitechapel, Fenchurch Street, Fleet Street (basically the awkward ones due to distance and pub opening hours), then follow the route of the inner ring road through Liverpool Street, Angel, King's Cross as far as Marylebone, then down to Park Lane, along Piccadilly into the West End, popping up to Oxford Street and along the Strand; a kind-of anti-clockwise spiral from the outside to the centre, if you looked on an A-Z (which is an essential on a crawl!).