I have done more than a dozen London Walks pub walks over the past ten years. They were all recommendable, so I don't see why the Hampstead one would be any different. I have been to Hampstead; it is a nice and interesting neighbourhood.

You use the term "pub crawl", while London Walks call them "pub walks". If you are expecting a crawl, you will be disappointed. They are about guided informative walks through neighbourhoods, with short stops at two pubs along the way, ending at a third. Nothing like a crawl, which means to me finding the most direct route between a large number of pubs, with the emphasis on drinking, not learning about the area.

Yeah, chicgirl, some women sucking back too many pints of Strongbow have provided some of the scarier moments on these walks. The unpredictable part of these walks is the good company. Sometimes the group gels, and bunch of the walkers will stay at the last pub eating and drinking til closing. Other times, the group just disperses at the last pub, which makes it somewhat disappointing.

Have a great time.

Have done some organised London walks and they were good. Did my own Highgate & Hampstead walk (from Archway underground station to Hampstead underground station) stopping at a couple of pubs along the way, finishing up at "The Flask". A fascinating walk, especially if you read up on the area first, and also very pleasant as it can include Highgate Cemetary, Hampstead Heath and some very leafy residential streets.

Any of the pub walks would be fine - but I'm confused by your "Some are in London but one is in Hampstead". I assume you know Hampstead is in London.

(If I may over-simplify, some pub walks are about people and some about buildings. Those about people include Legal London, Bloomsbury and Hampstead: the Hampstead walk centres upon poets, essayists, and other writers of the last two centuries. Those about buildings include City Churches. This thought may help you in choosing your walk.

Janis is confused by your "Some are in London but one is in Hampstead". Yes, to mapmakers and governments Hampstead is in London. But to me, and I think some other Londoners, Hampstead is in north London, or (more simply) in Hampstead. To us, there is an area that is London roughly that within the Circle underground Line, and the rest is north London, South London, and so on. In the days of Eliza Doolittle and Bertie Wooster, and later, cockneys spoke of going up west, and suburban office workers and housewives of going up to town.

I may be wrong or in a minority on this, but when I saw the words Some are in London but one is in Hampstead I did not pause: your formulation looked fine to me.

There are hidden motives here: I support difference, and like the fact that one can think of Hampstead as different from London, and to that extent separate. I only wish the place had as many intellectual coffee houses as it did in the forties, thanks to Hitler. Welcome to London.

Janis: thank you for stirring thought.

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London isn't just the postcodes ending in the number 1. Hampstead is only a few miles from the centre, do some research dear.

I'd have thought most people in Hampstead be rather pleased visitors thought they weren't in London. They look down on the rest of us both literally and metaphorically.

And the real experts think Hampstead's not in London. Black cab drivers will remind you Hampstead tube's over 6 miles from Charing Cross, so they don't have to take you you there if they don't want to. This is not an issue it's wise to argue with a cabbie about.

Chicgal's phrasing was perfectly understandable and couldn't possibly offend anyone: Hampstead residents are above taking offence.

Though, for what it's worth, chicgal, I find the Village's pubs pretty bland these days (though it's reasonably pretty), and its Heath - which is great by day - really is not wise to visit at night.

In a three-rounder between MK2 and a cabbie, my money'd be on the cabbie.

regarding a self-directed pub crawl, see my answer in this thread

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34498480

Mr dears, ask any estate agent, Hampstead is as much a part of London as Mayfair is.

London isn't a little place anymore, get with the times.

Chicgal, we are heading to London in a couple of weeks and the Hampstead pub walk was one of the ones I was thinking of as well as the Thames pub walk so I'll mark this thread and report back to you in June when we return.

instead of directing you to the search, here is the thread on Ben Haines's pub list

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34452782

Hi, Chicgal. We did the Hampstead pub walk last year and had a great time. The area was fascinating with lots of lots of gossip from the theatrical leader. We ended up having dinner with some others from the group. A great night in all. We also did the Thames Pub walk which was very good with quaint pubs and wonderful English characters drinking there.

chicgal, we are back from London and did do the Hampstead pub walk and it was great! The guide was very funny and informative and it's a part of London you wouldn't probably otherwise visit.

I misunderstood flanneruk's comment about it not being safe at night and thought they were referring to the entire area which is actually very nice with restaurants, shops and very big houses but as I reread it, it sounds like they are just referring to the heath itself. I would have felt perfectly safe there traveling by myself.

I wish I had planned to spend more time up there, we got sidetracked in Camden and missed Kenwood House (featured in Notting Hill, where Julia Roberts is filming the movie) and Highgate cemetery.

There was a great place down the street from the tube, La Creperie, a little stand selling crepes. We snacked on a ham, mushroom, garlic, cheese one before the walk and it was delicious! It's just down the street if you turn left and go towards McDonald's, on the other side of the street in front of a pub.

Cafe Rouge, also on the street, was a bit of a disappointment.

For the avoidance of doubt

My remarks on safety referred only to the Heath, and only at night.

Day or night, the biggest threats in the Village are the prices charged by legitimate, though sadly these days often mediocre, businesses.

flanneruk, can you tell me if the Cafe Rouge is normally bad (I think it's a chain)or did we just hit an off night? I saw them several times in London, just curious. I read your comments too quick the first time so I'm walking around looking at the mansions, wondering why anyone would think the neighborhood was dangerous!

Chicgal, we've traveled and walked so much in the last 10 days that I'm almost glad to be home. In addition to London we visited Riga and Vilnius and I'm beat! But I'm trying for a return trip sometime in July/Aug to London, I'm always stopping on the way from somewhere else and I'd like to take a whole week just for London. Beware the sticker shock though, I had to turn off my mental calculator at some point or I would have gone mad! I've got some cheap eat suggestions should you be looking for them.

Do you have your hotel already? We got a great deal through Priceline on the Waldorf Hilton, third time using them and have been satisfied each time.

LOL, I remember the first time I visited Hampstead and the Heath. We were going to see friends who lived there, and I HAD to see the view of London from the Heath.
I saw magpies for the first time..and was quite curious why men kept driving up to the park then getting out and running into the bushes.
Our friends explained everything to me ~

We visited Camden Market, it's a huge place, see if you can find Kavey's posting on Camden out here, it was very detailed on what was where.

We took a canal boat ride from Camden to Little Venice, if you are doing a canal trip do it from Little Venice to Camden so you can get the commentary.

If you don't want to do a canal trip you can walk from Little Venice to Camden along the canal(not if it's dark though), it's 2 1/4 miles if the signs posted were correct.

Cheap eats are everywhere in London-take away fish and chips, doner kebabs (my husband's favorites), Camden is full of stalls selling crepes, oriental food, kebabs, etc. All of it looked quite tasty.

Lunch deals abound-Belgo, a Belgian place, which is listed in all the guidebooks has a L5.95 lunch special until 5:30 and Beat the Clock specials for a couple more hours (pay what time is on the clock). Two locations, one in Covent Garden and one near Camden, website www.belgo-restaurants.com. I had a delicious meal of moules frites there. Also lots of places had pre/post theatre specials.

La Creperie in Hampstead appears to have a couple other locations, one is 2 Exhibition Rd. in South Kensington.

A friend of mine recommended the sandwich stores called Benjy's and I've seen lots of recs on Wagamama, the noodle place.

My final suggestion are grocery stores, I think it was either Sainsbury or Safeway that had pizzas that they cooked up for you that you could take out, plus other precooked things similar to what you'd find in Chicago at Jewel or Dominick's.

I have not been to the restaurant at the British Museum, in fact I haven't been to the British Museum since my first visit in 1988.