Otley Run

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The Otley Run is a pub crawl in Leeds, West Yorkshire. It takes place along the A660, which is known as Otley Road at the point the pub crawl begins, hence the name. It has a large student following, with many from Leeds Uni, Leeds Met and a few of the colleges in the city attempting it on most nights, apart from university or college holidays when the number is much lower. It is a popular form of 'social' for sports clubs and other societies, and a common birthday/end of exams celebration activity. Groups of participants often have fancy dress themes, and can be easily spotted by their costumes.

1 Rules and variations
2 The route
3 Trivia
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Rules and variations

Groups attempting the Otley Run often follow a set of rules. Some common examples include:

A pint in each pub (usually lager or Snakebite, sometimes with 2 double spirit breaks)
Minimum 2 units of alcohol of anything
Females can have half pints or a single unit

A variation on the Otley Run in which participants are expected to drink nothing but shots in each pub along the route is referred to by some as a "shotley run". The true shotley run must actually be ran, no walking between pubs! (see Lupton runners 2007)

Another variation, in the late 70's, worked in reverse running, from the Uni to Otley itself and took in the Lawnswood Arms and following a tricky bus trip - the Junction in Otley itself where a pint of Theakston's Old Peculier was required to finish the exercise.

[edit] The route

Depending on the route taken the Run can be up to 21 premises, starting at Woodies in Far Headingley and finishing in the city centre. Most people start the Otley Run in the afternoon between 2pm and 5pm, as this is the easiest way to fit all the pubs in before closing time (even with 24 hour drinking).

Woodies Ale House, Far Headingley
The Three Horseshoes, Far Headingley
The New Inn, Far Headingley
Arcadia Wine & Ale Bar, Headingley *
Headingley Taps, Headingley *
Trio, Headlingley *
The Arc, Headingley *
The Box, Headingley *
The Skyrack, Headingley
The Original Oak, Headingley
The Hyde Park, Hyde Park Corner
The Library, Woodhouse Lane *
The Packhorse, Woodhouse Lane
The Eldon, Woodhouse Lane
The Old Bar, Leeds University Union *
The Terrace, Leeds University Union *
The Fenton, Woodhouse Lane
Strawberry Fields( strawbs ), Woodhouse Lane
The Dry Dock, Woodhouse Lane *
Met Bar, Leeds Metropolitan University Students Union *
A City Centre Club

(* - These newer bars and pubs are often omitted by the more traditionalist Otley Runners. The student union bars are open only to those with NUS cards.)

[edit] Trivia

'Woodies Ale House' was regularly featured on the 2000-2005 ITV1 / Yorkshire Television drama Fat Friends. However the external scenes were all shot outside the Three Horseshoes pub just down the road with the sign doctored to make it appear that it was in fact Woodies.

For a period in the 1990s The New Inn was known as O' Hagans New Inn and had an Irish theme when there was a fad for Irish theme pubs in the mid 1990s in England.

The Arcadia Ale & Wine Bar became the first solely non smoking pub in the Leeds area when it opened in April 2004. BBC Article

The distinctive architecture and the name of "The Headingley Taps" comes from the fact that it was formerly the local water pumping station for the area.

The Original Oak once had a field for playing Bowls on. However in recent years this has been converted into a beer garden.

The Original Oak and The Fenton are the only pubs along the Otley Run route that continues to have the typical Tetleys pub sign writing that was commonplace across Leeds until the 1990s.

The Library on Woodhouse Lane was formerly the Woodhouse library, fire station and police station. More recently it was known as the Feast and Firkin which was part of the Firkin Brewery chain. It is now part of the Scream chain alongside Dry Dock that is owned by Mitchells and Butlers.