Tottenham Court Road Picture Hunt

Meet at Tottenham Court Rd tube outside the main exit.

"Tottenham Court Road, a market road, or street, leading from Oxford Street to the prebendal manor of Tothill, Totenhall, or Totenham Court, described in Domesday, and originally appertaining to the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's. In 1560 the manor was demised to Queen Elizabeth for ninety-nine years, in the name of Sir Robert Dudley."

In 1639, twenty years before the expiration of Queen Elizabeth's term, a lease was granted to Charles I., in the name of Sir Henry Vane. In 1649, being seized as Crown land, the manor was sold to Ralph Harrison, Esq., of London, for the sum of £3318 : 3: 11. At the Restoration it reverted to the Crown; and in 1661 was granted by Charles II., for the term of forty-one years, in payment of a debt, to Sir Henry Wood.

The lease was next possessed by Isabella, Countess of Arlington, in the reign of Charles II., from whom it descended to her daughter, the Duchess of Grafton; and in this way was inherited by the family of the Fitzroys, Dukes of Grafton, descended from Barbara Villiers, Duchess of Cleveland, the notorious mistress of Charles II."

Check out the Flying Horse pub (1793) opposite the tube exit. Previously " The Tottenham", this is the only surviving pub in Oxford St. See pics below.

This is another of our many outside Picture Hunts this year. If any issues with weather, we’ll switch to our 50-50 Trivia in the nearby Wetherspoon Magnus Pyle, so turn up as something will be on regardless.

If you’re new to Picture Hunts, check the previous weeks for winners and clue sheets.

This time, the event will be centred around different buildings, shops and features on one side of Tottenham Court Rd, so there’s no crossing of busy roads. This road is not touristy like Charing Cross Rd opposite.

Please aim to turn up for 1:00-1:30 when teams are being arranged. The Hunt starts at 1:30. You're losing search time if you're late! Bring a pen please.

As usual, portions of the road are split up into four areas where teams search for the locations of photographed items in the street, buildings or shop windows, and then record where they found them.

Picture Hunts are a great new way to get up to speed with slices of London history while sleuthing around the area.

Everyone is presented with twenty partial photos of objects around an area. Your team mission is to find them. Some well known, some well unknown!

This makes Picture Hunts more interesting and challenging, bringing out the best of your teams detecting skills.
You will also have a map of the area. It will be sub-divided into four sections, P, Q, R, S. Each photo will come from one of these.

Four players max per team, but the lower number teams get a point per player start from the biggest team.

For example, four teams of one, two, three and four. Four player team, no advantage, (the biggest and theoretically the more knowledge between them, except it doesn't always work like that). Three player team, one point start. Two player team, two point start. One player team, three point start.

Scores are always close and around the 15-20 points mark. How many players do you want in your team? There's a dilemma!
The clipboard holder enters one of the letters to note its area location. Dead simple, right? 90 minutes to do the hunt.

We have the usual prizes of chocolate, including some great new varieties.
There is also an equal prize for the funniest team name judged by Sue, my glamorous assistant. Names win prizes too! So there’s everything to play for.

We mark up at the quiz finish point. The Wetherspoon Magnus Pyke.

Hunts are good fun and the proven experience so far is that members get to know each other better after working in teams as you all have to communicate. Great icebreakers.

This is what Meetup is all about. Come and join us.

There is a £7 cash/card charge for this event. Pay on the day.

Contact number is 07422334411 if your transport is delayed.

If you can’t make it, please cancel using the “Edit RSVP Button”.
Your consideration is greatly appreciated.