A man who struggled to find like-minded friends after moving to Lancashire has gone viral on TikTok by creating Pals Up North – a new kind of social group for men.
Kyle Newman, 27, moved from Yorkshire to Chorley in January 2023, leaving behind an established group of friends. Despite joining a local sports club, he struggled to integrate into a new community and meet people who had similar interests.
He said: “My girlfriend found plenty of groups on social media for women to meet up locally but we noticed there weren’t as many for men.
“There are some really worthy organisations around but they tend to have a heavy focus on mental health, a niche topic or be for much older audiences.
“It became obvious that there was a gap there so I thought ‘why not give it a go?’. In January, I set up Pals Up North and published my first Tik Tok which got almost 100,000 views.”
Kyle hosted his first event on 10 February and guests immediately asked when the next one would be.
“There’s always that worry that people won’t turn up. We had 17 people on Facebook who were marked as ‘going’ and in the end, 11 turned up which I think is a good ratio,” he said.
“We went to White Edge in the Peak District and it felt like everyone got on straight away.
“I was a bit nervous in case anyone felt isolated or alone but that simply wasn’t the case. We went for a pint and a chat afterwards and I’m hoping people formed budding friendships.”
Member Mark Phillippi added: “It was great to get out, meet some new people and take in some fresh air. Everyone was welcoming and hopefully more events will be occurring.”
The Pals Up North TikTok videos have reached almost 145k views since launching six weeks ago and the Facebook group currently has more than 250 members.
Kyle said: “I want to create a hub for all people from all kinds of backgrounds. I don’t want it to be just for people who like hiking but to cater for everyone.
“I want it to be that we can go to museums or for food and have a catch up. I’d love it to grow and be a place where blokes who are struggling to make friends can just casually join in and turn up to see friendly faces.”
He is planning on arranging more group activities such as camping and city trips across the North in the near future.
Pals Up North is free to join, is aimed at men aged 20 – 40 and currently has members from all over the North of England, including Hull, Manchester and Carlisle.
You can find Pals Up North on TikTok, Facebook and Instagram.
Header image: Kyle Newman
