About Us
“Why is it so hard to make friends as an adult?”
The rallying cry for all members of The Girls Club, and if you’re here, it’s probably because you’ve felt it too. Making friends as a grown-up is hard, especially if you’ve moved to a new city or town.
That’s where The Girls Club comes in.
What is The Girls Club?
The Girls Club is a new take on the private members club, instead of paying a fee to access our events, we ask all prospective members to fill out a questionnaire. This ensures all our members connect on a fundamental level. We started in Cardiff and have recently expanded to Exeter, and we’re hoping to grow even more as time goes on.
Our Founder's Story
Hi! I’m Alice-Rae and I founded The Girls Club as a space for women to connect more mindfully and over shared interests.
Have you ever felt like you're searching for your tribe but you just can't get the vibe right? That was me! At 19, I moved to London only to find that making friends as an adult was really hard. I tried countless meetups, from awkward book club mix-ups (that the time I joined a book club only to find upon arriving that it actually specialised in erotic fiction for older women) to finding myself the youngest by 20 years in a sea of strangers, nothing clicked.
Everything lacked that unspoken "vibe" I was after.
Then, the pandemic happened and I ended up moving to Cardiff! Learning from what I'd seen in London, I decided to create my own group after looking online and being unable to find what I was truly looking for. Our meetups became more than the book clubs they started out as, it became a way to find your tribe. Over the course of two years, we grew from a small book club, to a vibrant community of women meeting up at pottery painting events, street food markets, cinema trips and more.
Now, after putting down roots in Exeter, and a little rebranding magic, welcome to The Girls Club ✌️ It's more than just a club, it's the community you've been searching for.
Join us, and let's make connections that actually matter.
Frequently Asked Questions
✨ I requested to join yesterday and my membership still says pending?
Please give The Girls Club two weeks to respond to your application ✌️
✨ I have an event suggestion, where can I share it?
We love it when our members suggest events to us! If you have a suggestion, or you’d like to invite The Girls Club to something, please get in touch using our 'Contact Us' page.
✨ How does your book club work?
Our book club has been carefully crafted through two years of running it, and we think we’ve got a pretty good formula by now!
We usually meet at a restaurant and most members choose to also opt to have dinner whilst we’re there. We post the book club questions on our Meetup page the morning of the book club, giving you a few hours to think about your responses, go back and reference any pages if you wish, and most importantly, answer the one question we have at every book club… If you were going to cast this book as a film, what would your dream cast be?
Afterwards, we take three days to vote for next month’s read. This is always how we’ve done it, and will never change from that (unless exceptional circumstances arise). The books on the ballot are all suggestions from The Girls Club members, meaning we get a real range of books, authors and genres to choose from!
✨ "We want to invite you to…"
Whilst we appreciate all PR enquiries, The Girls Club believes in only accepting advertising campaigns or PR invites from places which can truly benefit our members. You won’t catch us trying to sell you a natural deodorant, or trying to encourage you to buy tickets to a show unless we’ve been gifted enough to run an event. If you’re a South West or Cardiff-based, independent, small business, we’d love to work with you, get in touch with us!
Whilst we understand this might be turning away potential profits for The Girls Club, our integrity as a brand is more important to us.
✨ Why do all your events cost a minimum of £5?
The Girls Club was founded with zero start-up money and have not been making a profit from our events until extremely recently. Our event prices increased in May 2023 from £3 to £5. This was not an easy decision, however it was made to increase the quality of our events.
If you’d like to make a donation to The Girls Club, we’d be incredibly grateful and will help us cover our costs
Here’s a breakdown of what your £5 goes towards:
✨Monthly Meetup Subscription (to run the group)
✨Ad campaigns (that’s how you found us!)
✨PayPal for Business (keeping your money safe!)
✨Wix Subscription (that’s our website!)