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Draft:Lonely Girls Club

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The Lonely Girls Club
NicknameLGC
FormationNovember 2018
FounderHolly Cooke
HeadquartersLondon, United Kingdom
Location
  • London
  • Manchester, Nottingham, Birmingham, Brighton, Edinburgh
CEO
Holly Cooke
Websitehttps://www.llgc.co.uk/

The Lonely Girls Club (LGC) is an organisation based in the United Kingdom that aims to promote friendship, and reduce loneliness and social isolation amongst adult women.[1] The organisation claims to have a membership of over 145,000 members.[2] According to The Washington Post, "Members range from age 18 to 70, and the average age is around 28."[3]

The club was founded by Holly Cooke (aged 22 at the time)[4] in November 2018, with the launch of the organisation's first branch, The London Lonely Girls Club. As the organisation expanded to other United Kingdom locations, Cooke rebranded to The Lonely Girls Club.[5] Cooke is the CEO and director of The Lonely Girls Club Ltd, incorporated in March 2024.[6] Cooke enlists volunteers to support running events.[7][8]

History

[edit]

Cooke moved to London from Stoke-on-Trent in 2018 after graduating with a degree in Fashion Communication from Nottingham Trent University.[9] She says she found her new city lonely and isolating,[3][10] to the point that she described the feeling of loneliness as "crippling".[11] After attempting to make new friends via BumbleBFF, Cooke decided to host her own events. Cooke initially invited women she had met via the BumbleBFF platform,[5] and one of Cooke's friends from outside London.[3] Cooke now says that most of her friendships initially stemmed from her work at LGC.[12]

Cooke at London Lonely Girls Club Fifth Birthday, November 2023

Growth

[edit]

When establishing LGC, Cooke pledged that she would host a minimum of one event per month.[5] Following the organisation's expansion, Cooke and LGC now facilitate weekly social events across all branches.[13] Previous events have included co-working days, brunches, friendship speed-dating, book clubs, walks, exercise classes, paint and sip classes, and theatre outings.[14][15][16] Lowest cost events involve a ticket price of £1-£5.[9] Event tickets sell out in minutes, according to Cooke.[7]

The London Lonely Girls Facebook group had 10,000 members at the beginning of 2022, and grew to over 30,000 in the space of 12 months.[7] In July 2025, it had reached a membership of over 93,000.[17] Cooke encourages members to use the Facebook groups to "chat and plan their own meetups based on shared interests".[18]

Branches

[edit]

As of July 2025, the organisation has six operational branches:

  • The London Lonely Girls Club (established 2018)[9]
  • The Manchester Lonely Girls Club (established 2023)[5]
  • The Nottingham Lonely Girls Club (established 2023)[9]
  • The Birmingham Lonely Girls Club (established 2024)[17]
  • The Brighton Lonely Girls Club (established 2025)[19]
  • The Edinburgh Lonely Girls Club (established 2025)[20]

Partnerships, recognition, and media coverage

[edit]
Cooke greets attendees at London Lonely Girls Club walk event in Clapham, London, 17 February 2024

The Lonely Girls Club has promoted partnerships with brands including Kate Spade,[21][22] Chelsea F.C.,[23][24] TodayTix,[25] and Battersea Dogs and Cats Home.[26]

In June 2023, Cooke and The Lonely Girls Club were recognised by 10 Downing Street with the Points of Light Award.[27] The description reads, "The award for Holly comes during Loneliness Awareness Week, which aims to address the issues around loneliness and highlight how it can affect mental health."[28]

In January 2024, Cooke was interviewed by Gaby Roslin for BBC's Morning Live.[29] The interview garnered media attention as it took place inside the IFS Cloud Cable Car, promoting Transport for London's Chatty Cabins initiative.[30]

In March 2024, Cooke was invited to attend a roundtable discussion with then-U.S. Surgeon General, Dr Vivek Murthy, to discuss loneliness, community, and mental health.[31]

In 2025, Cooke and The Lonely Girls Club were the subject of a short documentary by Washington D.C.-born film-maker Katie Blake entitled, "The Lonely Girls Club".[32] In the documentary, Cooke spoke about her personal experiences of childhood bullying, and described her new understanding of adult female friendship as being, "lifegiving, supportive, caring, fun... rather than something where you are beaten down, hurt, viewed as less than".[33]

Facebook outage

[edit]

The organisation primarily uses social media to communicate with members, with accounts across Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and LinkedIn. Membership of the London branch's Facebook[34] group exceeds 90,000 users.

In a statement posted across the organisation's social media accounts on 26 June 2025, Cooke implored members to subscribe to branch-specific email updates in addition to relying on social media communications. This came after a Meta error briefly removed the London Lonely Girls Club group from Facebook's platform.[35]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Lonely Girls Club". Lonely Girls Club. Retrieved 2025-07-02.
  2. ^ "Instagram". www.instagram.com. Retrieved 2025-07-02.
  3. ^ a b c Page, Sydney; Free, Cathy; Bogage, Jacob; Meyer, Theodoric; Goodwin, Liz; Sotomayor, Marianna; Haspel, Tamar; Sonnenfeld, Jeffrey; Henriques, Stephen (2023-04-12). "She was lonely. So she started a club to make friends, and 35,000 people joined". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2025-07-02.
  4. ^ Fierros, Cristabell (2024-07-05). "Meet the UK's largest sisterhood pact: The Lonely Girls Club". Medium. Retrieved 2025-07-02.
  5. ^ a b c d Thompson, Ben (2024-07-03). "The Mancunian Matters Podcast: The Lonely Girls Club". Mancunian Matters. Retrieved 2025-07-02.
  6. ^ "LONELY GIRLS CLUB LTD overview - Find and update company information - GOV.UK". find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk. Retrieved 2025-07-02.
  7. ^ a b c "London Lonely Girls Club gains thousands of new members". 2023-03-24. Retrieved 2025-07-02.
  8. ^ "She was lonely. So she started a club to make friends, and 35,000 people joined". Anchorage Daily News. Retrieved 2025-07-02.
  9. ^ a b c d Dimmer, Sam (2024-02-04). "The social club set up for lonely women that's got thousands of members". Nottinghamshire Live. Retrieved 2025-07-02.
  10. ^ "The Lonely Girls Club: 'I only saw people on a screen'". 2024-02-07. Retrieved 2025-07-02.
  11. ^ Robinson, Lucy (2023-01-08). "'My loneliness was crippling, so I started a club for women to come together'". OK! Magazine. Retrieved 2025-07-02.
  12. ^ Osbaldstone, Claudia Rowan | Graphics by Julian (2023-12-17). "Inside the group tackling the UK's 'friendship recession'". www.thetimes.com. Retrieved 2025-07-02.
  13. ^ "FAQs". Lonely Girls Club. Retrieved 2025-07-02.
  14. ^ Hendy, Eloise (2024-02-05). "Do Friend-Finding Platforms Actually Work?". VICE. Retrieved 2025-07-02.
  15. ^ "The NTU alum with an inspiring remedy for loneliness". www.ntu.ac.uk. Retrieved 2025-07-02.
  16. ^ Newsdesk (2024-12-14). "The London-based women's social club making life less lonely". South West Londoner. Retrieved 2025-07-02.
  17. ^ a b https://www.facebook.com/groups/978147550780355/
  18. ^ "London Lonely Girls Club Provides Safe Environment, Gains 1000s Of Members - Goalcast". www.goalcast.com. Retrieved 2025-07-02.
  19. ^ "Instagram". www.instagram.com. Retrieved 2025-07-02.
  20. ^ "Instagram". www.instagram.com. Retrieved 2025-07-02.
  21. ^ "Instagram". www.instagram.com. Retrieved 2025-07-02.
  22. ^ "Kate Spade's Pub Takeover". stylus.com. Retrieved 2025-07-02.
  23. ^ "Lonely Girls Club community event returns for Chelsea vs Arsenal derby". www.chelseafc.com. Retrieved 2025-07-02.
  24. ^ "Coming to Chelsea Women vs Man City Women? There's Rainbow Laces, giveaways and more!". www.chelseafc.com. Retrieved 2025-07-02.
  25. ^ "TodayTix : Theatre Discount". Lonely Girls Club. 2025-04-10. Retrieved 2025-07-02.
  26. ^ "Ready, Set, Walk! Battersea Dogs Walk Alongside Lonely Girls Club to Help Combat Loneliness | Battersea Dogs & Cats Home". www.battersea.org.uk. Retrieved 2025-07-02.
  27. ^ "Winner Search Results". Points of Light. Retrieved 2025-07-02.
  28. ^ Smart, Zara (2023-06-12). "The London Lonely Girls Club". Points of Light. Retrieved 2025-07-02.
  29. ^ "WE WERE ON TV!!! | Holly Cooke". www.linkedin.com. Retrieved 2025-07-02.
  30. ^ "Chatty Cabins at IFS Cloud Cable Car - 24th & 26th January". Eventbrite. Retrieved 2025-07-02.
  31. ^ "Instagram". www.instagram.com. Retrieved 2025-07-02.
  32. ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHQFtKzd79c
  33. ^ Katie Blake (2025-03-08). The Lonely Girls Club: Short Doc. Retrieved 2025-07-02 – via YouTube.
  34. ^ https://www.facebook.com/groups/336035886945349/
  35. ^ "Instagram". www.instagram.com. Retrieved 2025-07-02.

Category:London Category:Feminism Category:Women's groups

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