I have searched the forum and can't find anything on this that explains it well (unless im blind).

I was supposed to plant the ring in someones pocket or something (cant recall details was a while ago) however i had another quest activated and followed the wrong icon out of the city and failed the quest. I then approached brynjolf who expressed his disappointment in me and the suggests we meet and talk in the ragged flagon. So i go to the ragged flagon and brynjolf isnt there anywhere. He is standing in this stall with an audience of 6 or so people doing and saying nothing. When i talk to him he says we cant talk here and tells me where the ragged flagon is but just stays there. Im pretty sure this is a bug but is there anyway to bug my way to the next part and the thieves guild is a pretty big quest to miss! Im on ps3. Any help appreciated!

Try leaving the cell/zone and reentering? Or you may have to wait unitl nighttime.

Tried those both mate. Ive waited for about 7 days straight but everyone just stands there. Once he appeared in the nearby pub but when i approached him he walked back to the stall again. Ive tried sprint pushing him to the door to the ratway but i cant get him to get through.

I just read on Wikia that there are several bugs related to this quest. Surely someone who knows about this will be along - I don't want to just cut-n-paste every bug and possibly spoil too much.

Can't help with getting him to the Flagon -- unless there's a console command to teleport people, as there has been in earlier games. And if you're on PC. I couldn't find one with a quick glance http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Console.

I had fun the last time I did that quest. It happened to be night. Brynjolf must've yelled his "People, gather here, I have to tell you something!" things about ten times before anyone came. Just imagine people waking up from their own beds in the dead of night and head outside just to listen to Brynjolf's rambles.

Found it. If you play on PC, go to The Ragged Flagon, open the console (the button under Esc) and write:

prid 00020545

and press enter. The text should turn grey and a bigger white text " (00020545) should appear, meaning that the command has worked and that Brynjolf has been selected. Then write

moveto player

and again press enter. Brynjolf should instantly be teleported from the streets to you in the Flagon. This is not to say Brynjolf works properly once he is in there; he might still just stand there.

Lol!

I play on ps3. Thanks for the help though!

Did this happen (from Wikia)?:

• If you stop the conversation at the end off the quest it wil be impossible to join the thieves guild,because Brynjolf only answers "Hmm?".(PS3)

No that didnt happen. My two dialogue options are (something like)
What to do now? He responds we will talk in the ragged flagon
Wheres the ragged flagon? He responds with (roughly) Do i have to tell you everything, its under your feet follow the smell.

He doesnt mention 'Hmmm'

I ran into this bug last night on one of my characters; here's what ended up working for me...

• Enter a location in Riften (Bee and Barb, Honeyside, Ratway, etc.)
  
• Wait 24 hours.
  
• Fast-travel away from Riften.
  
• Wait 24 hours.
  
• Return to Riften and wait for Brynjolf to move.

Another option is to load an earlier save.