Sorry Brett, we’re hijacking the Cittie of Yorke!

2007 May 8
by Rob Kerry

To be fair, Pubcon hasn’t been held in the Cittie of Yorke pub for donkey’s years – so I think that we’re safe to hold a LondonSEO there (pretty please Mr Tabke?). Unfortunately the Princess Louise pub which was previously planned for the next event is currently under renovation, so it’s time for Plan B… well Plan C really.

For anyone who hasn’t been to one of the old London Pubcon’s™, the CofY is a fantastic tudor-looking building and is part of the mighty Sam Smith’s brewery. After explaining who we were and what SEO is, the landlady generously offered private use of the downstairs dungeon bar for our exclusive use because – “the last thing I want is a load of UNIX shirt wearing pony-tailed geeks scaring off all the regulars”. Ooops, I haven’t even said when it’s going to be yet – it’s now fixed at Tuesday 29th May, so that Dixon doesn’t get told off by his wife. It happens to also be the birthday of one of LondonSEO’s founding fathers, Tim Webb (second on the left), the Java programmer who pretends he’s not an SEO.

Although we usually ask for sponsors, we’re going to try something a little different this time. Below is a donations button, you can donate what ever amount you like and it all goes into the kitty. We then put the kitty behind the bar and if there’s any money left over we keep it for the next event. There’s now a Donations Page which gives thanks to people who contribute at each event. Please include your name and website when donating, or ask to be listed as Anonymous on the PayPal payment page.

Now, we don’t like to set an agenda for these meets as we end up talking about religion and politics after 4 pints anyway; but we would like to plant something into your head (next to your Google implant). If LondonSEO was to be expanded into a UK association for our industry – what would you like from it and how would you run it? We’re not planning on making a UK-SMA clone – more of an inclusive group for in-house, freelancers, affiliates and agencies alike. There will be no charters or boards; we may organise 1 day events though and make membership a sign of reputation and integrity (or just reputation for the Black Hats ;) ). I know this all sounds a bit generic, but we don’t want to form anything without putting everyone’s suggestions and ideas together. By the people, for the people, as someone I don’t know said. Have a think about it, make sure you attend this event and then shout abuse at us.

Anyways, here’s the science bit…

Date: Tuesday 29th May 2007 from 6pm onwards.
Venue: Cittie of Yorke, 22 High Holborn, London, WC1V 6BN [Google Maps] [Streetmap].
Nearest Station: Chancery Lane (Central Line).

Cittie of Yorke Location Cittie of Yorke Outside Cittie of Yorke Inside
(images courtesy of Streetmap and Beer In The Evening)

22 Responses
  1. 2007 May 8

    Ooohhhh… like the org idea – was just chattering about that with someone else.

    These 1 day events – I hope it’ll be beer, beer and more beer to hold us over through any talks ended with some beer.
    Mind, I do like to mix it up with mojitos, brambles, and other mixed fruity drinks but then again I am trying to get my 5 a day and what better way then fruity drinks?

    beer… part of my 5 a day?

    I’ll miss this one due to being with moose, maple syrop and doughnuts but look forward to future ones!

  2. 2007 May 8

    Good plan monkey boy =) And yes as I have said before, let’s get the UK SEO community under one roof without making a “suits of seo board”. Got loads of ideas, and as I said before I’m willing to help out as much as I can. Aiii. See you the 29th.

  3. 2007 May 8

    Lovely stuff – cheers for organising this. Donated some beer money. See you all at the end of the month!

  4. 2007 May 8
    Nishan permalink

    Sounds good, will be my first time coming to this (even though I have been meaning to come for ages)…Ummm I have a samurai looking pony tail but no Unix t-shirt. It is cool how she knew about Unix though :) .

  5. 2007 May 8

    I just want to make it clear that we had a good chat with Brett at PubCon last year and put an end to any differences that we had.

    Unfortunately, our silly little monkey boy doesn’t seem to have gotten the memo and decided to be a bit sarky.

    Anyway, I hope no offense was taken, as none was meant.

  6. 2007 May 8

    All I am saying is that I didn’t choose the venue and will deny all knowledge when asked.

  7. 2007 May 8

    I wasn’t allowed to go to Pubcon so I wouldn’t know :P
    PS. A separate donation page to send me to Pubcon so I can apologise to Brett will be published shortly. :D

  8. 2007 May 8

    Does this mean Dixon will be gracing us with his presence and that of his new toy?

  9. 2007 May 8

    I’m sure that he’ll be there and more than willing to show you his toy :D

  10. 2007 May 9

    Okay, you’re deffinitely bringing that baby along! Might be a little hard to park it outside the pub along High Holborn though :D I think JasonD is organising another Threadwatch meet-up, so can I take it for a spin in the safety of a country hotel car park?

  11. 2007 May 11
    Séan permalink

    If this is open to all SEOs, then I’ll see you there.

  12. 2007 May 11

    You’re more than welcome to come along Séan, all SEO’s and Search Marketers are welcome. Feel free to invite other SEOs along as well, the more the merrier. The majority of the crowd are freelancers or people who read a lot of the forums, so it would be nice to get the word out to SEOs in agencies and in-house SEMs if possible.

  13. 2007 May 15

    Is it also open for employees of huge search engine companies?? :)

    Can I bring a friend? I’ve not posted before (only just discovered this group) but am keen to get to know some SEOs around London to discuss search stuff and also get drunk :)

  14. 2007 May 15

    Employees of search engines are more than welcome to join our merry band, people from Google and Yahoo have already passed the initiation ceremony. :)

  15. 2007 May 17

    Well, Dixon, looks like you’ve already pulled Rob with your babe-magnet!

  16. 2007 May 17

    Just because you’re a published author now, doesn’t mean you can be cheeky! :P

  17. 2007 May 24

    Just a head-up…

    Mike Mindel (CTO, Director & co-founder of Wordtracker) will be in-da-house.

    Wordtracker are looking for marketing developer (I.E. someone who knows internet marketing but is also good at object oriented PHP and agile methodologies like test driven design)… and Mike asked me if I know of anyone with such super-human abilities.

    Sadly I have no friends and no one talks to me. I don’t care, I prefer it that way. *grin*

    However, if you’re interested… Mike should be at the meet – with beer in hand. Attract is attention with another beer offer, and go from there…

    Andre

  18. 2007 May 24

    Does that mean he has a corporate credit card to make a donation with? We ain’t no freebie recruitment fair matey ;)

  19. 2007 May 26
    mark permalink

    Hi – looks like a great event and venue. But, I am a bit new here – what does the group talk about (before the beers)? Is it all teccy stuff? If so, I’m out. If it is how to more successful online, sharing ideas and generally networking then I might be able to come (and vaguely understand some of the talk).

  20. 2007 May 26

    If you’re a suit, it’s probably not the best place for you. There is a high geek rating (mostly pushed up by my presence) although we don’t talk about coding much. It’s mainly aimed at SEOs, although PPC folks and affiliates tend to have similar mindsets and therefore fit right in. Most people who are there either read SearchEngineWatch, ThreadWatch, WebmasterWorld, Syndk8 or Affiliates4U if that gives you a better picture.

  21. 2007 May 29
    sem4u permalink

    I will be there. See you all later…well the ones that want to speak to me anyway ;) lol

Comments are closed.