October's first Science Fiction meetup

The London Sci-Fi/Fantasy Meetup Group are back at The Mad Hatter on Saturday 17 October, with their first gathering of the month kicking off at 18:00. It's a pub meetup for science fiction and fantasy fans, and the whole thing is run by a community that goes by another name too: The League Of The Non-Aligned, or LOTNA.

If you haven't come across them before, LOTNA is a friendly, inclusive group that's been around since 1998 — long before meetup sites were a thing. They're built on a shared interest in sci-fi and fantasy across film, television, books, comics and games, and they meet twice a month. Between those pub nights, they do extra outings like cinema trips and special guest evenings. Over the years they've hosted celebrity meet-and-greets, attended conventions as a group, and run role-playing games and LARPs, though these pub gatherings settle on socialising as their main aim, with real-world politics left at the door.

The evening starts with plenty of room to just chat and meet people, and at 20:30 a team quiz runs to break the ice. It's a good way to get talking if you're turning up on your own.

The Mad Hatter is at 3-7 Stamford Street, SE1 9NY, just by Blackfriars Bridge. Entry is free, and you just pay for whatever food or drink you order at the venue. The meetup starts at 18:00, and the quiz kicks in at 20:30.