Thanks for this TadDude. Interesting that you are the person who responded and yet you are from Canada! I thought there would be a lot of people posting about all the imba places in the UK, but it seems like an area which could do with some development! My OTB skill is very low and I don't have a lot of time to commit (hence I haven't joined a club), but I think I'd take a lot of pleasure from a few casual games with fellow chess enthusiasts...
You can just take out your own board and clock to a bench/table combination in your neighbourhood, invite some friends along on a sunny day [trick them into this, i.e. luring them with a football] and soon you'll find yourself playing outdoor chess and dozens of friendly homeless people joining in
P.S. be sure to bring a few crates of booze too, the winner stays and receives a free bottle for each win
That sounds awesome, and you're right, a do it yourself situation could function fine - as long as other people did actually come and sit and play!
Maybe I'll start a chess area in a London park somewhere then :) Anybody gonna back me?
fickle weather= lack of chess culture
p.s. yes, I'll back you;
http://www.chess.com/forum/view/general/chess-in-public-spaces--londoners-and-brits-needed
aha! someone else thinking the same thing! and roughly the same age too, which is interesting, given that usually outdoor chess spaces are dominated by an older age group (which is fine by the way)...
I was thinking less formal and drastic though ie. no government grants, just finding a nice, relatively secluded spot and setting up a chess board, then just promoting it online and hoping other people come and bring their boards too...
If the weather's an issue, then you could try casually placing your board on a table in a cafe. I think fellow chess enthusiasts might get the message and pluck up the courage to ask for a game!
Oh riiight! The Tao meister thought he'd rear his ugly head :P The problem is that we're in the UK, and interaction with strangers isn't a very British thing to do! Nobody has courage to pluck up!
Then let's create one!
Hi Tommy and Tao 
I just found this post recently...excellent ideas guys!
I too have been keen to play chess outside of clubs. I have played chess in Ravenscraig Park in Kirkcaldy, Fife once...but it was too windy, lol. Me and a few folks met a few times in Kirkcaldy Central Library Cafe for chess which was cool. I am trying to promote chess in a library with local kids at present. But I still think playing chess in a park is a great idea!
Tommy and Tao. You may want to see my response to Endeavour Morse in this thread:
https://www.chess.com/forum/view/general/chess-in-the-parkcafe-in-the-uk?lc=1#last_comment
As the picture of our group indicates the MAP Cafe has a couple of outdoor tables.
I set up London's first outdoor chess club! FourCorner :
https://www.instagram.com/fourcornerclub/
I played a chess hustler in the French Quarter in New Orleans once. For five bucks. I just wanted to see how good he was. And maybe how good I was. And I was starting to win in the middle game, not in material but in spacial terms. And he recognized that and was getting more and more concerned. And I realized that while $5 was fairly trivial to me, it might mean that he wouldn't eat dinner with the hour getting late. I relived his mind by telling him that I didn't want his money. We shook hands after some more moves and that was that.
There are now (June 2023) quite a few street places to play and pub/cafe meetups in London. Google or try this summary page? https://colchesster.org.uk/2023/05/04/london-social-chess/
: 
Hey guys,
I often see in American movies and tv shows guys sat out in the park playing chess (eg. as in the movie Searching For Bobby Fischer) I believe it's pretty popular in other countries as well.
Anyone know of anywhere like this in the UK? Somewhere pretty cool where a lot of people just hangout outdoors and play whoever wants a game. I'm not looking for a cliquey chess club environment, more just a fun social gathering over a game of chess in the park or whatever.
Any ideas? I'm based in London at the minute, but I'd be interested to know of such places in other UK cities too...