Scottish man starts ‘booze-free’ event in Edinburgh to help meet new friends

A Scottish graduate has set up an event in Edinburgh to help locals make new friends.

Jared Keir, 25, has been organising booze-free meetups for people who want to make new friends. After 20-sell out events in Glasgow, his first Fellow Humans Edinburgh meet-up will take place on July 5. Within just a couple of days, it too sold out. As an exclusive, Jared revealed a second date in the coming weeks for those looking to make new friends.

Speaking to Edinburgh Live, he explained how he felt there was a need for events like this after his own friends moved away.

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Jared said: “Back in December I realised that all of my friends had moved away or were getting married. I thought to myself, ‘How do people meet now? How do you make friends at this age’? I don’t drink alcohol either, I never have done and I feel like a lot of social activities are revolved around it.

“I wouldn’t say I was lonely, but I was missing having good social interaction with good people. The relationships I had spent years building were going away and I didn’t have people around me to do things with. I was craving good people to hang out with.”

With this, Jared started creating meet-ups for 20 people to attend. He said they revolve around a ‘wholesome activity’ where people can feel fulfilled and make connections with each other.

“I started creating events that had a wholesome activity, like painting, and people can come along and meet and make connections”, Jared said. “It has been crazy! I have done 20 in Glasgow and they have all sold out. The Edinburgh one has sold out and I’ve got one in London in two weeks.

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“There is such a high demand for this, especially with people in their 20s and 30s. I’ve also noticed that more people aren’t drinking or drinking as much. A lot of people who come to the events tell me that they are either cutting down or cutting it out completely.

“It’s all about having a good time and making new friends.”

In an exclusive update, Jared shared that the second meet-up in Edinburgh will be on July 18 with more details to follow.

He added: “It has been chaotic, I’m just a one-man-band but it’s exciting.”

You can see more details here.