Where to meet people in the Inner West

Trivia nights and pub quizzes in the Inner West

Pub trivia is the Inner West's great social leveller. You need a team name, a pen and one person who knows their 90s pop. The popular nights fill fast, so book a table or get there early.

Flying solo? Tell the host when you arrive. Plenty of teams are a player short and happy to take one more, so you could walk out with a team of your own.

First-timer tip: Go back the next week. The same teams come back every week, and the second visit is when people start saying hello.

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Bouldering, run clubs and social sport in the Inner West

If small talk isn't your thing, do something with your hands and feet instead. Bouldering is surprisingly social: you spend as much time sitting on the mats talking about a climb as you do climbing it, and the Inner West has plenty of regular social climbing nights.

Run clubs are the other easy way in, and the Saturday morning runs are free. If you miss team sport, there's casual pickleball, social table tennis, futsal and mixed volleyball, no try-outs required. Or round up a few people for barefoot bowls: the bowling clubs will show you how.

First-timer tip: Look for community or beginners' nights. That's when the regulars expect new faces.

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Board games and tabletop nights in the Inner West

Board game nights are made for meeting people, because the game does the talking. You sit down with strangers, someone explains the rules, and an hour later you're plotting against each other like old friends.

The Inner West is spoilt for them: free weekly nights at Fortress in Chippendale, board games in a bar in Surry Hills, and libraries running Scrabble, chess, mahjong and canasta, most of it free.

First-timer tip: Never played? Say so. People who run games nights love teaching a new player.

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Choirs, dance classes and open mics in the Inner West

Nothing bonds a room of strangers like singing together, badly or otherwise. Community choirs meet every week in Camperdown, Alexandria and Leichhardt, and several don't audition at all: Sounds Good Choir welcomes singers of all abilities, and the Leichhardt Espresso Chorus says to just come along.

Prefer to move? The Wiggle Room in Marrickville teaches swing dances like Lindy Hop, Balboa and Collegiate Shag, and partner dance classes usually rotate partners, so you meet most of the room in a night. There are ukulele groups, open mics and an alcohol-free ecstatic dance floor in Newtown too.

First-timer tip: If a class runs in terms, sign up for the whole term. Same people, every week, is how classmates become friends.

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Craft circles, sketch clubs and book clubs in the Inner West

If you'd rather chat while your hands are busy, there are knitting, crochet and social art groups at libraries and community centres across the area, most of them free. Sketch clubs meet in pubs and libraries, and nobody minds if you can't draw.

Book clubs are the quiet person's favourite. The Rose Read bookshop in Summer Hill runs several, and there are writers' groups at Marrickville Library if you'd rather share your own pages.

First-timer tip: Bring a project, even a half-finished one. It gives people something to ask you about.

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Volunteering and working bees in the Inner West

Volunteering is a way to meet new people with a purpose built in. You turn up, someone hands you gloves or a screwdriver, and you're working side by side with a bunch of locals from the get go.

Sydney City Farm in St Peters runs volunteer working bees, and Inner West Council's Bushcare groups look after bushland from Birchgrove to the Cooks River. No experience needed: training and tools are provided.

First-timer tip: Many groups ask new volunteers to come to an induction first. Book one: it's where the regulars meet the new people.

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Language exchanges in the Inner West

Learning a language is a great excuse to talk to strangers, since that's the whole point. Language exchanges pair people who want to practise each other's languages, usually over a drink.

The Inner West doesn't have a regular language exchange of its own right now. Aloha Mondays in Redfern is the closest, and two long-running ones meet a short train ride away in the city. Running one locally? Tell us about it.

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Singles nights in the Inner West

If part of the plan is meeting someone special, there are speed dating nights in Newtown, Surry Hills and Glebe, most of them split by age group, plus slower-paced singles mornings and sapphic slow dating.

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Neighbourhood centres and social clubs in the Inner West

Neighbourhood centres are the Inner West's most underrated social clubs. They run morning teas, men's groups and social catch-ups, many of them free and open to anyone who walks in.

There are clubs that exist for exactly this, too: Ripple Social Club in Surry Hills is a regular meetup for making new friends over games and drinks.

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Keep turning up

Pick one thing from this page and go at least three weeks in a row. The first week you're the new person, the second week someone remembers your name, and by the third you're the one saying hello to the new person.

Run a club, a class or a regular night that belongs here? Submit it to the calendar. Listing is free, and regular events are exactly what this guide is for.

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