Almost 20,000 women living in London have joined The London Lonely Girls Club since pandemic restrictions ended. Holly Cooke, 26, founded the club on Facebook in 2018 after moving to the city from Stoke-on-Trent and it has grown from 10,000 members at the start of 2022 to almost 31,000 people in the last year. She and two volunteers organize between four and six events each month, including picnics, brunches, board game and cocktail nights. “Meet-ups are getting booked up in five minutes,” she said. “Our first meet-up post Covid sold out in two minutes.” Research done in December on behalf of the Greater London Authority found that the pandemic was likely to have exacerbated loneliness further. Ms Cooke said her club provides a "safe environment" for people to meet face-to-face.

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