How to make friends in Lincoln: independent venues where you turn up and meet people
The hard part of making friends somewhere new is not the people, it is the excuse to keep seeing the same ones. The easiest fix is a place with a format that does the introducing for you: a class you book onto week after week, a drop-in session, a wall you climb with strangers, a night that comes round every month.
These are independent Lincoln venues built around exactly that. It is a collection, not a ranking, and it is about the kind of night rather than a specific date, so nothing here goes stale, but do check each venue for current days, times and prices before you set out.
Book onto a shared activity
A class or session gives you the same faces on a repeat, which is how acquaintances turn into friends. You do not need to know anyone to start.
- The Little Pottery Studio, Pottery studioOn Crusader Road, running paint-your-own sessions, hand-building workshops and parties. You sit at a shared table and make something, which is a low-pressure way to fall into conversation. Book a session or a workshop on its own page.
- Inner Lifetime, Yoga studioA yoga and wellbeing studio on Newark Road with regular classes and workshops. A weekly class is the classic standing appointment where you get to know the regulars. Check the timetable on its page.
- Freeklime Lincoln, Climbing centreAn independent climbing and bouldering centre. Climbing is a naturally sociable sport, you spot and belay for each other and the same regulars turn up, so it is one of the easier rooms in the city to end up chatting to someone. For more active options, see our gyms, climbing and sports guide.
Become a regular
The other route is a small place with a regular night, where turning up often enough makes you a familiar face.
- Back To Mono, Record shopThe city-centre record shop on Guildhall Street. It has run a monthly 1960s club night and it sponsors the Lincoln Record Fair, both good places to meet people who like the same music. Our record shops guide has the fair dates.
- Red Five, BarA small independent cocktail bar on Guildhall Street with music and a busy evening crowd. The kind of place that rewards becoming a regular rather than one big night out.
Other ways to meet people in Lincoln
Plenty of the best options are free and not businesses at all: the weekly parkrun, University of Lincoln and Bishop Grosseteste student societies, library events, running and walking groups, and volunteering. Our free things to do guide has more of these. For nights out with other people already in the room, live music and events and student club nights list what is on around the city.
How this was checked
Highstreett has no database of what is on at each venue, so this is not a listings page. Each venue was chosen because its own listing shows a recurring, take-part format, a class, a session, a wall or a monthly night, rather than a one-off event, which is why there are no dates to go out of date. Every venue named has a page in our directory and is linked to it; four of the five carry the verified independent badge, and Freeklime is an independent climbing centre without a badge yet. Days, times and prices change, so check the venue before setting out.