The Otley Run is a
pub crawl in
Leeds
Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...
,
West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...
. The route shares much in common with the Headingley Mile (a similar crawl in
LS6) but usually incorporating more pubs on the
A660 road, typically those towards Leeds City Centre.
The Otley Run is seen as a rite of passage for students visiting or studying at Leeds and participants often wear fancy dress, coordinating their costumes to a particular theme. It is a popular social gathering for student clubs and societies from
The University of Leeds
, mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased
, established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds
, ...
,
Leeds College of Music
Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populatio ...
,
Leeds Arts University,
Leeds Trinity University,
Leeds Beckett University and
The University of Bradford
The University of Bradford is a public research university located in the city of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. A plate glass university, it received its royal charter in 1966, making it the 40th university to be created in Britain, but ...
Hockey Club. It also a common activity for birthdays and other celebrations among graduates and city residents.
Participants also include students of Leeds Grammar School, Lawnswood School, Roundhay School, Notre Dame Sixth Form College,
Guiseley School
Guiseley School is a mixed secondary school and sixth form located in Guiseley in the City of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England.
Guiseley became a foundation school in January 2014 and is administered by Leeds City Council and the Aireborough Le ...
, Horsforth School, St Mary's School and Abbey Grange Academy Sixth Form to do the Otley Run on their last day, as well as students from Otley's
Prince Henry's Grammar School Sixth Form, with their run usually including various pubs and bars around Otley as well as the Headingley Mile venues.
The enduring popularity of the Otley Run has inspired beer bottle designs, a verse novella, and artwork depicting the venues and scenery on the route.
History of the route
Early incarnations of the Otley Run route covered considerably more of the Otley Road and followed it closely. Influences on the choice of route over time include:
* The original "Otley run", in which out-of-town pubs were opened for farmers' business use under provisions of the Licensing Act 1964. This gave
Otley
Otley is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish at a bridging point on the River Wharfe, in the City of Leeds metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. Historic counties of England, Historically a part of the West Ridi ...
pubs favourable hours on market days, set out in relevant byelaws as on Monday and Friday
*
Tetley's incredible popularity and copious Yorkshire pubs, including The Oak Inn (Original Oak) and a brewhouse at The Woodman (Woodies)
* Students being able to include bars on
University of Leeds
, mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased
, established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds
, ...
and
LMU union premises (which for a time were members' clubs and required membership cards to enter), and on-site at residences such as
Bodington Hall
Bodington Hall was the largest hall of residence of the University of Leeds, in Leeds, England. It was opened in 1961 and closed in 2013. The site still contains the university's main playing fields. Known as ''Bod'' within the university, it wa ...
* Student sports societies and former Bodington residents including main road pubs around Adel/Weetwood/Far Headingley such as The Stables at
Weetwood Hall
Weetwood is an area between Headingley and Meanwood in north-west Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is bounded on the north by the A6120 (Outer Ring Road), on the west by the A660 (Otley Road), on the east by Meanwood Beck and to the south ...
(and similarly for venues near other popular residences over time)
* Changes in permissible afternoon and evening opening hours encouraging new bars to open in the "Headingley Mile" section and enhancing the appeal of bars and clubs at the city centre end of the main road
* Advice from hen/stag party planners and fancy dress shops advising customers on which pubs to visit, and from letting agents seeking to attract students with written articles about the local area.
* Commercial interest from discount card providers looking to get their associated venues "on the route" and viral marketing campaigns involving Twitter feeds and web sites publishing route maps claiming to be official
The tradition of starting an Otley Run early predates
The Licensing Act 1988's repeal of the law requiring pubs to close in the afternoon.
Prior to this, Otley's status as a thriving
market town
A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rural ...
having given it exemption from this law made it popular with drinkers.
For students, an Otley Road pub crawl might run to or from University Union premises and include residential cafeteria facilities and nearby Tetley pubs or the Bodington Hall on-site bar.
As city centre pubs began to adopt the new longer opening hours, the northern end point of the Otley Run route crept into Adel,
Lawnswood, and Weetwood in keeping with the proximity of
student residences such as Devonshire Hall, Bodington Hall, and Oxley. Starting around the
ring road
A ring road (also known as circular road, beltline, beltway, circumferential (high)way, loop, bypass or orbital) is a road or a series of connected roads encircling a town, city, or country. The most common purpose of a ring road is to assist i ...
junction was also popular with student sports societies thanks to Bodington's playing fields, Sports Park Weetwood, and location of The Stables (at University-owned Weetwood Hall). Woodhouse Lane/Albion Street bars and city centre clubs offered end points for south-bound runs should drinkers not qualify as members or guests as required for access to student union bars at the time. This journey would therefore pass or approach such sites as the University playing fields at Bodington Hall/Weetwood Pavilion, as well as
Carnegie stadium, Castle Grove Masonic Lodge, Associated Tower Cinemas' famous Lounge and
Cottage Road cinemas, the site of the
Skyrack
Skyrack was a wapentake of the West Riding of Yorkshire, England. It was split into upper and lower divisions and centred in Headingley, Leeds. The Lower Division included the parishes of Aberford, Bardsey, Barwick-in-Elmet, Kippax, Thorne ...
wapentake Shire Oak (now commemorated with a blue plaque at the Original Oak), Woodhouse Ridge, the site of
Leeds Girls' High School, and Woodhouse Moor/Hyde Park.
With Headingley's student population growing and the eventual
closure of the halls at Weetwood, Cavendish,
Tetley
Tetley is an English beverage manufacturer founded in 1837 in Yorkshire. It is the largest tea company in the United Kingdom and Canada, and the second largest in the United States by volume.
Since 2000, Tetley has been a wholly owned subsidiar ...
, and Bodington in favour of alternatives in and around city centre, the common route ceased inclusion of central Weetwood and beyond, taking inspiration from the crawl associated with the Headingley Mile (the section of the A660 from the Hyde Park Hotel to the New Inn) which usually headed south from Woodies' Ale House; Woodies' (originally The Woodman, and technically in
Far Headingley
Far Headingley is an area of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England approximately 3 miles (5 km) north of the city centre. The parish of Far Headingley was created in 1868.
The area is part of the Weetwood ward of Leeds City Council and Leeds ...
) was also conveniently close to the boundary served by cheap "Green Zone" bus tickets. Newly opened pubs such as the converted Lounge cinema (Headingley) and Dry Dock (Woodhouse) were adopted to fill the gaps on the list, and many city centre bars and club nights began to jostle for position as the official end point.
The idea that followers of the modern run should start early and visit as many venues as possible rather than cover a greater area has caused upset with locals and prompted some pubs to set up an informal warning network aimed at turning away visitors in fancy dress and in obvious large groups. Crackdowns on commercial interest in the Otley Run have been proposed and University accreditation schemes have also threatened to look unfavourably on heavily promoted pub crawl events in general. In 2014 the
Home Office proposed an Alcohol Impact Scheme aimed at student drinking with support from the
NUS NUS or Nus may refer to:
* National University of Singapore
* Nus, a town in the Aosta Valley of Italy
* Neglected and Underutilized Species, or Neglected and Underutilized Crops
* National Union of Students (Australia)
* National Union of Students ...
. By 2022, the central focus of complaints had shifted from student sports societies to former students and visiting stag parties.
Following an appeal to the original licensing rejection for conversion of the former
Elinor Lupton Centre
The Golden Beam is a pub and Grade II listed building located in the Headingley area of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was built in 1912 for the Church of Christ, Scientist, and was known as the Elinor Lupton Centre from 1986 to 2010 when ...
to The Golden Beam,
an updated application was accepted which stated that participants in the Otley Run would be refused entry.
Other university pub crawls
*
Subcrawl, Glasgow Subway
*
Smithdown Road, Liverpool, Liverpool
*
King Street Run, Cambridge
References
{{Coord, 53.8205, N, 1.577, W, display=title, region:GB_type:city_source:GNS-enwiki
Pub crawls
Headingley