Why the London Drupal Engineering Meetup on June 9 Is a Must-Attend for Web Developers in 2025

If you’ve been heads-down in Drupal work lately—juggling Drupal 10 support while trying to make sense of Drupal 11—you’re not alone. The tools moved fast. The docs didn’t always keep up. And while Slack threads and forum posts can be helpful, sometimes what you really need is one focused hour with people who get it.

That’s what the London Drupal Engineering Meetup is offering on June 9, 2025, at 5:30 PM, at the Hampton Inn by Hilton London (840 Exeter Road).

No frills. No vendor pitches. Just a group of web engineers and Drupal pros getting together to swap ideas, troubleshoot common issues, and walk out with something they can actually use tomorrow.

So why go? Because here’s the truth:

Drupal 11 isn’t just “out” — it’s here. It’s powering production sites. And it’s living alongside Drupal 10 in a weird dual-track reality where everyone’s upgrading something, maintaining something else, and rewriting code that worked just fine last year.

This meetup is timed perfectly for that moment. Ahmad Khalil, organiser of the event, explained the thinking behind relaunching the London Drupal Engineering Group:

“Two forces lined up perfectly. First, Drupal 11 has been out since August 2024 and is now the ‘every-day’ version in active projects, while Drupal 10 remains fully supported. That dual-track reality means developers are simultaneously shipping new builds and migrating older ones—a ripe moment for peer-to-peer knowledge-sharing.”

But it’s not just about version numbers and patch notes.

“Second, London-area makers told us they missed a friendly, in-person spot to swap war stories and celebrate wins. So we’re rebooting the group as a one-hour, come-as-you-are ‘third place’—not workplace, not home—where you can:

• trade upgrade tips over Tim Hortons coffee and Timbits,
• demo something half-finished without judgment, and
• leave with one idea you can apply the very next morning.”

Here’s what the evening looks like:

No stages, no spotlight. Just 25–30 people in a room designed to encourage conversation, not lectures. The setup is intentional: café tables instead of rows, so people talk with each other, not at each other.

• 5:30 PM – Coffee, name tags, and 60-second intros—everyone gets a voice
• 5:35 PM – Lightning talks like “Drupal 11 gotchas we learned the hard way”
• 5:45 PM – A real build story from a local freelancer or agency
• 6:05 PM – Open floor: demo your current project, ask for feedback, start a side convo
• 6:25 PM – Quick wrap-up, shoutouts, and planning the next meet
• 6:30 PM – Official close (but you’re welcome to stick around and keep chatting)

Who’s it for?

Anyone doing real work with Drupal, basically. Senior devs, solo freelancers, curious product folks, students trying to break in. You don’t need credentials to show up — just interest. That’s by design.

“Keeping it free and informal removes the ‘do I belong here?’ barrier,” Ahmad said. 

“There’s no ticket price to justify, no hard-sell vendor pitch, no dress code beyond ‘comfortable.’ Students can sit beside senior architects without worrying about budget. Product owners can sanity-check an upgrade plan even if they don’t speak PHP. Career-switchers can sample the community with zero risk.”

And the format respects people’s lives: it’s just one hour. You can squeeze it in between daycare pickup and a 7:00 PM deploy.

What you’ll actually learn

This isn’t “Drupal 101” or yet another explainer on features you already know. Expect sharp, honest discussion on things that are actually happening in current builds:

• CKEditor 5 migrations and Starterkit forks
• What’s already deprecated in D11 and how to prep for it
• Cache-tag strategies and BigPipe wins (and failures)
• Front-end experiments with React/Vue + JSON:API
• Freelance tricks for pricing incremental upgrades and pitching CDs to non-tech clients

“Because everyone in the room is actively shipping work,” Ahmad said, “expect the conversation to be candid, current, and immediately actionable.”

Why now, and why in person?

There’s real value in hearing how someone else solved a problem you haven’t even hit yet. There’s even more value in a hallway conversation that saves you four hours of forum-scrolling.

“Because the stack moved again and the best answers aren’t fully documented yet. Drupal 11’s release compressed the upgrade cycle, and Drupal 10’s long-term-support means you’re juggling two majors at once.

A five-minute hallway chat can shortcut hours of forum-scrolling, and meeting local peers opens doors to ad-hoc code reviews, shared maintenance contracts, or simply a morale boost.

Plus, nothing beats the real-life nod when your demo finally renders on someone else’s laptop.”

If you want in, all you have to do is RSVP. The event is 100% free, but seating and snacks are limited. No speeches, no pressure. Just a smart hour with people who work the same way you do — and a chance to leave a little better equipped than when you walked in.