Well, following this we had our first East London Wiki Meetup last Wednesday. We met in Waitrose which is very quiet on a Wednesday evening. It is also cheap if you have a Waitrose card, which means that you can get a free coffee paying the cost of a cake which can be less than the price of the coffee.

Five of us gathered and I feel that we all generally enjoyed the occasion. We are planning another in Stratford Westfield in July.

My feeling is that London is such a big city that it could support a number of new initiatives like this at different points of the compass, while keeping the regular meetup as a pub lunch in Pederel's Oak. I will keep my eyes open to see if anyone else steps forward on this.

Whilst I take Fae's point, I don't think we need to call closing time on meeting in pubs, but rather innovate other places to meet. And yes, this has been discussed for ages, but all it needs is for someone to find a venue and start organising a meet up, rather than talk about it.

Fabian (User:Leutha)

> On 15 May 2015 at 16:18 Fæ <faewik@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
> After having been discussed with many non-pub suggestions raised in
> the past few years, I'd really like to see this change. I hope the
> survey supports that viewpoint.
>
> People have many reasons for not wanting to meet in pubs, not just
> religious. I've been teetotal for the last 15 years, and after sadly
> supporting two relatives who eventually died from medical conditions
> made much worse by never giving up drinking alcohol, I really don't
> want to be part of encouraging others to have the same lifestyle. I
> have never liked being near people affected by booze, they spook me a
> little due to being unpredictable. I guess many who are not big butch
> men like me, find the environment intimidating even on a quiet day or
> in a quiet pub.
>
> Call closing time on this tradition, we know better.
>
> Fae
>
> On 15 May 2015 at 12:31, Gordon Joly <gordon.joly@pobox.com> wrote:
> >
> >> Of course, it’s not mandatory to drink while in a pub. ;)
> >>
> >> Joe
> >>
> >> --
> >> *Joe Sutherland*
> >> http://jossu.co.uk
> >
> > Yes, but I had a birthday party in a pub and a Muslim friend refused to
> > join us.
> >
> > Gordo
> --
> faewik@gmail.com https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Fae
>
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