London Lonely Girls Club gains thousands of new members

Almost 20,000 women living in London have joined a club tackling loneliness since pandemic restrictions ended.

Holly Cooke founded The London Lonely Girls Club on Facebook in 2018 after moving to the city from Stoke-on-Trent.

She said the club had 10,000 members at the start of 2022, and had "grown spectacularly" in the last year to almost 31,000 people.

"More people have come back to London and are wanting that connection," she said.

"London is so big, it leaves a lot of space for loneliness."

The 26-year-old from north-east London moved in with family friends when she first arrived in the capital, and struggled to meet people her own age.

"I Googled how to make friends in London," she said.

Ms Cooke said that meeting people one-on-one via apps such as Bumble BFF felt "intense and scary".

"I thought 'What if you could get two, three or four of you together?'," she said.

In response, Ms Cook launched her Facebook group.

"Loneliness is a difficult one," she said. "It doesn't matter where you live.

"People feel it in so many different ways. London is so transient. Some just moved here; others have been here their whole life."

She and two volunteers organise between four and six events each month, which have previously included picnics, brunches, board game and cocktail nights.

Events are open to members of all ages, but are popular among young women.

One in 12 Londoners are affected by severe loneliness, according to a report published in December.

The research was carried out by the Campaign to End Loneliness with What Works Centre for Wellbeing and the Neighbourly Lab on behalf of the Greater London Authority.

It found that the pandemic was likely to have exacerbated loneliness further, with 700,000 people surveyed feeling lonely "most"' or "all of the time".

Among young people, 12% of those surveyed said that they experienced severe loneliness, with people going through life changes or new to London more likely to be impacted.

It also found that poverty, prejudice and disability could increase the risk of social isolation.

Ms Cooke said that her club provided a "safe environment" for people to meet face-to-face.

"Meet-ups are getting booked up in five minutes," she said. "Our first meet-up post Covid sold out in two minutes.

"It's been a crazy journey. I started it because I just wanted to make some friends."