It is a typical scenario. A young professional has just moved to a new city. She is very active in her new job but wishes to meet people socially outside of work. How does she do this?

Signing up for a nightclass is always a good starting point. Not only is it an ideal way to meet like-minded people, it can also be a great new learning experience. Pubs and clubs can be a good meeting place but can be a bit hard if you are on your own.

Join a gym
GL-14 health club in Manchester city centre is a gym which also has lots of member activities outside the gym from charity fashion shows to dinner dances giving members a chance to socialise away from the treadmill. Or if you want a gym with a difference try a ‘Green Gym’ for people who want to exercise but wish to be outdoors and doing something that will benefit the environment at the same time. The ‘work out’ could involve such activities as restoration work to hedge pruning all agree that meeting other people and 'having a natter and a laugh' is a big attraction of the scheme.

Reading groups
In The Reading Groups Book Jenny Hartley suggested that there may be as many as 50,000 people in reading groups in the UK. They range from informal groups of friends or colleagues who meet in someone’s home or at the local pub, to discuss a book. Of you want something a bit more structured lots of libraries have reading groups and could have a broader group of members.

Statistics
The BBC recently conducted a survey called Going solo: single life in the 21st century. You can look at the overall results or search by area. It found that:

69% of people thought that the gym was a good place to meet new people,

Pubs or a club were considered to be as good meeting places by 58% of people in the UK,

68% thought that work was a good place to meet people,

57% thought that internet chat was not an ideal way to meet people.

Updated by Lucy
July 2007

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