Short answer: pick one group that meets every week at a time you can keep, go four weeks running, then decide. In London that can be as simple as Bushy parkrun at 9:00am every Saturday, a Tuesday evening morris practice in Hammersmith or a Thursday choir rehearsal on Gray's Inn Road.
This page is for someone who has just moved to London and wants to become a regular somewhere, not a guest at a different event every night. Our general guide for anyone new in town explains why repetition works; this one names real London groups. Every time and price below comes from the group's own website, read on 17 October 2026.
Seven London groups that publish when they meet
All seven are in the BelongHub catalog. A search for London on our groups page returned 75 matches on 17 October 2026, 67 of them filed under the city itself. We picked groups whose own site states a regular time.
| Group | What you do | When, as published | Cost and first step |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bushy parkrun | A free timed 5k you can walk, jog or run, in Bushy Park, Teddington | Every Saturday at 9:00am | Free. Register once before your first visit and bring your barcode |
| London Hash House Harriers | A trail run from a different start each time, all reachable by tube or train | Saturdays, meeting at noon | £2 a run or £30 for 12 months |
| Hammersmith Morris Men | Morris dancing | Tuesdays, 7:30 to 9:30pm | New members welcome at any time, no experience necessary; the side invites a message for more information |
| London Welsh Male Voice Choir | Singing in four-part harmony | Every Thursday at 7:15pm, London Welsh Centre, Gray's Inn Road | Rehearsals are open to the public and to potential new members |
| London Sacred Harp | Shape-note singing in a hollow square, with no audience | Weekly or monthly evening singings, with a short singing school about once a month | No admission charge; suggested donation £4 to £6. No need to read music |
| South London Warlords | Miniature wargames plus board, card and role-playing games | Every Monday, normally 7pm to 10pm, St Barnabas Parish Hall, Dulwich Village; a Big Game Saturday once a month | If you do not know anyone, ask a committee member to help you find a game |
| London Hackspace | A community-run workshop for sharing tools and skills | Open evenings most Wednesdays from 7pm, Park Royal | Check its Discord or mailing list first; membership is pay what you think is fair |
Your first four weeks
- Days 1 to 3: choose two. Pick two groups whose time you can keep every week, from the table or a London search of our catalog. Open each group's own page and confirm the next date; our entries point to sources but do not confirm that a group is active today.
- Days 4 to 7: send one message. If the page invites a message, as Hammersmith Morris Men's does, or asks you to check a channel first, as London Hackspace's does, send a short note: you have just moved to London, you are new to the activity and you would like to come to the next session.
- Week 2: go once. Arrive a few minutes early, tell the first person you meet that you are new, and ask what usually happens after the session.
- Weeks 3 and 4: go back twice more. The second and third visits are when faces start to repeat. Do not add a third group yet.
- End of week 4: decide. If you want to keep going, give it the full eight weeks our new-in-town guide suggests. If not, move the slot to your second choice.
Where BelongHub helps, and where it does not
We are useful for one job: finding long-running groups by type before you know what they are called. Our records filed under London include 14 steelpan and mas bands, five rowing and dragon boat clubs and two morris sides, and each group type page describes what a first visit is like.
We are not a calendar. We list no dates, take no sign-ups and hold 67 records filed under London, a small slice of a city of millions. Use national finders alongside us: parkrun's event pages, GoodGym's area pages such as GoodGym Camden for run-and-help sessions, or NCT's local pages if you are expecting a baby or have just had one. When we checked on 17 October 2026, three London entries in our catalog pointed to web addresses that did not load, which is why every time on this page comes from the group's own site. For one-off events, see our comparison of Meetup alternatives.
Common questions
parkrun asks the least of you. Bushy parkrun is free, starts at 9:00am every Saturday and welcomes walkers as well as runners; you register once before your first visit. If you prefer evenings, an open rehearsal such as the London Welsh Male Voice Choir on Thursdays at 7:15pm is a good next step.
Join one group that meets every week and go four times in a row before you judge it. Repeated contact with the same people is what turns a room of strangers into people who notice when you are missing. Check the group's own page for the next date and say you are new when you arrive.
Yes. Bushy parkrun is free once you register, GoodGym says you do not have to pay, and London Sacred Harp has no admission charge beyond a suggested £4 to £6 donation. Others charge small fees, such as £2 a run at the London Hash House Harriers. Prices were read on 17 October 2026 and can change.
No. A London search of our catalog returned 75 matches on 17 October 2026, a small share of the city's clubs. We focus on long-running groups with a tradition or a shared role. Use national club finders and each group's own website alongside us, and treat our entries as a starting point rather than proof a group is active.