Pubs tend to be taken for granted. Everyone can recognize one, and few types of building - and there are said to be 60,000 in England - are more easily accessible. The following tour covers an area of central London especially rich in them, showing many of the trends that have marked pub architecture since late GeorgianGlossary Term times. Changes in wider architectural taste have left their mark, as well as attempts by the trade to suggest wholesomeness, prosperity, or old-fashioned English virtues: let no-one believe that marketing or 'theming' pubs is anything new. Soho is also special in that relatively few pubs have succumbed to the more recent fashion for branded pub chains or bars.

The crawl can be completed in less than an hour, if you do not stopGlossary Term for a drink. Print out the map and take it with you and you should not get lost.