London Skeptics in the Pub is an award winning lecture series discussing; science, history, philosophy and current news and ideas in society which meets (usually) once every month.
It's always been open to people from every background and has never been aimed specifically at self-labelled "skeptics" - even though they are a majority of the audience - we also get a large proportion of interested individuals, including open-minded alternative medicine practitioners, conspiracy theorists and other people who just like to debate facts and the nature of evidence.
See a nice video taken by the loveley people from the Guardian here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/video/2011/jan/21/comedians-skeptics-pub
"It’s loud, messy and disorganised—and very democratic." - The Economist
"Skeptics in the Pub is one of the great London institutions, where you can see really great people give funny and interesting talks to a room full of drunk nerds." - Ben Goldacre: Bad Science
"The crowd of 200 are not here for the football or a party. They are... a growing movement of rational thinkers who assemble each month to debate everything from conspiracy theories to homeopathy." - Time Out, London
"The basement resembles a drop-in centre for the ideologically disenfranchised and I fall in with a crowd of rowdy professors..." - The Metro
"Skeptics in the Pub in London, which recently met to discuss: "God: The Failed Hypothesis," ... need bigger rooms to accommodate those who find them." - The Washington Post
"Argumentative types – scientists, academics, IT consultants, librarians and a light seasoning of lawyers – crammed into a room above a pub, on a sticky summer evening, wouldn’t do it for most people’s blood pressure. On the other hand, if Big Brother is ruining your summer, you might prefer this." - LabLit
"Unfortunately, I was too far back to see most of the show... but I’d highly recommend getting along to one of these events." - Nature Networks
"[It] does not immediately sound like an enticing group of people. I immediately thought of drunken cantankerous middle-aged men arguing about religion over a warm pint of bitter. But how wrong was I? What a great bunch of friendly people!" - Prof Bruce Hood: SuperSense
The event was founded by Dr Scott Campbell in 1999, for all those interested in the bizarre and the rational approach to extraordinary claims. A speaker is invited each month to present a topic of interest, which is followed by a discussion in a relaxed and friendly pub atmosphere.
Scott Campbell founded and ran the event until 2002, Nick Pullar was the convener of Skeptics in the Pub for five years, until April 2007. It is now organised by Sid Rodrigues and hosted by Tessa Kendall and Carmen D'Cruz, many thanks to everyone who has helped us out in the past, including Matt Parker, Rebecca Watson, Norman Hansen, Mark Duwe, Tracy King and Tessa Kendall (and a few selfless others).
Meetings are held in a pub called The Monarch in Camden.