Five Years of WCL London: How to Make Friends in London as an Adult

Five years ago it was one meet up in a cafe. Six women came who did not know each other, and every one of them privately believed she was the only person in London with nobody to see on a Saturday.

She was not. That is how WCL started: not from a business plan, but from a feeling almost everyone who moves here knows. Hundreds of women have come through the club since, and the schedule has grown from one evening to eight, sometimes ten, a month.

A club with a face

The club is run by Sasha. She chooses the venues herself, talks the restaurants into it, writes the schedule and meets you at the door. This is not a faceless platform with a sign up form: behind every evening there is a person who knows who is coming and who to introduce to whom.

What changed in five years

2021

The first evening

Six women in a cafe in central London. No website, no membership, no plan. Just somewhere to be at the weekend.

2022

A schedule appeared

Meet ups became regular, and it turned out the subject mattered far less than knowing you could arrive alone and be met at the door.

2023

The club outgrew the cafe

Brunches, country trips, beauty days, cocktail evenings. It became clear that a small table works better than a big room.

2024

Traditions of our own

The gala dinner, the club birthday, the Cotswolds trips. The things women come back for rather than try once.

2025

The community became a home

A chat where someone asks about a doctor, a school or a neighbourhood and has an answer in ten minutes. That turned out to matter as much as the evenings.

2026

Five years

More than four thousand people in the community, 8 to 10 events a month, and a membership for the women who come regularly.

What it looked like

The fifth birthday, August 2026. A white dress code, one long table, a cake, and the faces that five years ago did not know each other.

How women find their people here

We are often asked how to make friends in London in your thirties, when work takes the whole day and meeting people in a bar has stopped making sense. Five years taught us three things.

Friendship starts with repetition, not an introduction

One evening is an introduction. The third evening with the same faces is a circle. That is why we run a schedule rather than one off events.

A small table beats a big room

At a table of fifty you swap contacts. At a table of eight you say how things are actually going. A few times a year there is a big one, the gala dinner or the club birthday, but an ordinary Tuesday is a table where everyone can be heard.

Arriving alone has to feel normal

A hostess meets you at the door, knows your name and introduces you to the women at your table. Almost everyone comes alone. Here that is ordinary, not brave.

Common questions

How old is WCL London?

The club was founded in 2021. We celebrated our fifth birthday in August 2026.

What is WCL London?

A club for Russian speaking women in London: 8 to 10 events a month, from brunches and coworking to country trips and gala dinners, plus a private community chat.

Can I come without buying a membership?

Yes. Open events are sold as single tickets. They cost more than the member price, but no subscription is needed for a first visit.

How do you make friends in London when you know nobody?

By turning up regularly in the same place. That is what the schedule and the small tables are for: by the third evening the faces repeat, and an introduction turns into a friendship.

For companies

Five years, 4,000+ people in the community, and an audience advertising can barely reach: Russian speaking women in London who decide on schools, doctors, property and money. We take one company per category and introduce it ourselves.

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