Meeting irish/gay people in London :)

LukeM87

Hey guys

Just wondering if anyone has any advice for someone in my situation or preferably has been through the same experience themselves! I recently moved to London pretty much on my own and also came out fairly recently too! Although it is a great city that should have both plenty of gay guys and plenty of irish it still can feel a little lonely for someone fairly new to the scene. Meeting Irish people abroad is always a comfort as there is a special bond and humour that we just have. I am still a little reluctant to try Tinder/Grinder and do realise I should probably find a sports club of some sort I guess (*shudders*) Im going to be realistic and assume there doesn't happen to be a regular monthly boards gay irish in London meetup but god loves a trier :P

Any advice anyway would be appreciated!

Cheers

howisshecuttin

There are a few Irish LGBT groups/networks, mainly on Twitter . Try @LILGBT but think there are others too. Also an Irish charity called Mind Yourself used to have an LGBT group. They have an LGBT page on their website so it might be worth checking it out or dropping them a line.
Ku bars in Soho are owned by an Irish guy though don't think they are specifically Irish.

Welcome to London BTW! Hope you enjoy your time here, its a great city.

NewsMeQuick

Would OP mind if I ask about gay life/culture in London? I don't mind if you'd like to keep it strictly to your question, I can make a new thread! (P.s. I've always used apps like Plenty of Fish and OK Cupid, they're more relationship orientated but you can certainly make friends. I'm still very skeptical of Tinder, and yet I do make friends that way too. Just make that clear from the start).

Essentially, in my opinion, life is much easier and nicer when you live in a genuinely 'gay friendly city'. Not all cities are created equally. I've lived in Vancouver for the past nearly 2 years and it's magnifcent for gay people. I mean:

- truly, truly accepting culture (the roughest people are gay-friendly)
- couples hold hands, have a peck on the cheek, go shopping, no one cares!
- easy to meet people anywhere downtown, people flirt left, right and centre (in Dublin, some guys look so offended by a glance they look like they'd like to stab you)
- full rights on everything

I know it's hard to get it all but I have to say having seen standards that high, I doubt I'll accept a lot less.

What's London like?

p.s. just found this BBC article:

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-33608000

LukeM87

Hey guys! Thanks for the replies howisshecuttin and Newsmequick! Ill look into yer suggestions thanks!!!

@howisshecuttin (corkonian? :P ) Did you try any of the meetup groups for lgbt? Or any boards meetup. I had a glance at meetup.com, there are a few groups witha few hundred members on each but on each event then there is only like 2 or 3 people signed up so its a bit daunting to know where to start or which is good? Have you been here a long time yourself and met people this way or are you lucky enough to have a good gang in work etc of sociable people?

@newsmequick No i dont mind at all any gay london queries can go here! Vancouver sounds cool. Ive never been but id imagine its just like London it is a magnificent city for gay people aswell. Ive only been living here just over a year and to be honest i only came out in the summer so i cant say i have experienced too much of the fun gay scene yet but its a great city for anyone! I just started on the scene and i love it! I feel very comfortable living here as a gay guy its the kind of place you can dress how you like and kiss another guy in public and no one bats an eyelid. Granted maybe there are dodgy areas like any other city but ive honestly not encountered homophobia or any name calling on the streets or anything towards anyone. People are very tolerant for the most part and London has been a big gay friendly city for a long time. Ive been told by many people back home that most of the gays they know of went to London, not that we had to escape its just a wonderful place to live.

Like you said couples hold hands, peck on the cheek and go shopping or in the parks or on the tube. You encounter it anywhere and people dont tend to seem as if they notice its very normal. I noticed because until very very recently i had locked myself in a closet and seeing gay couples around me being so free made me more comfortable in liberating myself if i hadnt moved id say id still be in the closet a while longer.

Are you contemplating a move here or have just done? Id definitely recommend it id say ill be here for life. It is expensive but that is the only moan i have. Most big cities are anyway. Its a fantastic place and theres always something quirky going on. You could always head over on a long weekend and check out the scene (Soho is a big gay quarter and has gay bars and clubs for every type of gay scene) and the shopping is great and the men are hot, so many guys in suits! :P