How to run a pub crawl in your city: sign-ups, stops, a good crowd and a headcount the bars can trust

1. Find out who’s in before you commit to the bars

You don’t need to sell anything to start. Put the crawl up as a free sign-up and you get a real list with names and numbers instead of a pile of “interested” replies — and free sign-ups cost nothing on Yano.

If you charge a fee for the crawl (the welcome drink, the deals you negotiated, your time), turn on “Only go ahead if enough people join” and set the number that makes the night work. People reserve their spot for ₹0. When the number is reached, everyone gets a link to pay you. If it isn’t, nobody has paid and you simply move the date. The page shows how many have joined so far, which is the most honest nudge there is.

2. Choose the crowd

A crawl is only as good as the people on it. Turn on approval and ask a couple of questions — an Instagram handle and “Which bar do you love in the city?” is enough. People send a request; you approve the ones who fit; only approved people pay and get a pass. Anyone you don’t approve never pays, so there is nothing to refund.

• Want a mixed group? Make “Women” and “Men” pass types and turn on the balance limit; when one side gets too far ahead, it pauses until the other catches up.
• Friends coming together? A “Group of 4” pass type with its own price, and each person still gets their own pass to forward on WhatsApp.
• Early birds by number, not by a fake deadline: the first 15 passes at a lower price. When they’re gone, they’re gone.

3. Let people join at any stop

Not everyone can make the first bar at 8. Add each stop with its time — “Bar 1, Indiranagar — 8:00 pm”, “Bar 2, 100 Feet Road — 9:30 pm”. Yano calls these pickup points: each guest picks where they’ll join while booking, and it is printed on their pass. At each bar, your scanner shows who is still to arrive there, with their phone number, so you know whether to wait five minutes or move on.

4. Get paid without screenshots

• Your UPI ID: guests pay you directly and tap “I have paid”; you check your UPI app and approve. Free, no gateway fees — fine for a crawl of 20–40.
• Your own Razorpay or Cashfree account: guests pay by UPI, card or netbanking and get the pass immediately. Better when you run several crawls a week.
• Yano never touches the money. It goes straight from the guest to you.

5. A number the bars can trust

Bars give better deals when you bring a reliable crowd. A day before, download your list and send each bar the confirmed headcount for its stop. Give a promo code to anyone who helps fill the night — a partner bar, a creator, a friend with a big group — and you’ll see how many bookings each code brought.

6. On the night

• Check people in at the first bar with the scanner link on your phone or a co-host’s — no app, no login. Each pass works once, so a forwarded screenshot shows as already used.
• Someone turns up without booking and you have room? Sell a walk-in pass for cash or UPI right there; they’re counted like everyone else.
• Your number is on every pass, so a guest who can’t find the second bar messages you, not the group chat.
• Drinking ages differ by state, so check the rule where you run the crawl, ask for age in a booking question and check ID at the first bar. Yano does not verify ages.
• End well: tell people the last stop in advance and remind them to plan a ride home.

7. Turn one crawl into a weekly thing

Pub crawls live on regulars. Your organiser page (yano.club/o/yourname) lists every upcoming crawl, so the link in your Instagram bio is always current. “Repeat this event” copies last week’s crawl — stops, pass types, questions — and you change only the date. Guests who enjoyed it can follow you in the Yano Android app and get one quiet notification when you add the next one.

Not just pub crawls

Café crawls, food walks, heritage walks, night cycling, street-photography walks, a Sunday brunch club: anything where a group of people moves through a city works the same way. Yano is for bringing people together and knowing who’s coming — whether you charge or not.