- Women only
- Friendship, not dating
- Free to join
- Local guide
- October 17, 2026
Make Friends in Barking and Dagenham: Parks, Markets and Neighbours
Nearly a quarter of people in Barking and Dagenham are under 15, so many of the adults you pass in Barking or Dagenham are juggling school runs too, and are just as keen for some company of their own.
238,000+
people live in Barking and Dagenham, by the ONS mid-2025 estimate
19%
of households are lone-parent families, against 13% across London (Census 2021, ONS)
42%
of residents aged 16 and over have never married (Census 2021, ONS)
Barking and Dagenham friendships start on the doorstep
The surest way to make friends in Barking and Dagenham is to pick one local place and keep going back. Saturday parkrun in Barking Park, a walk at Eastbrookend Country Park in Dagenham or a show at the Broadway in Barking all bring the same people back week after week. Start with whatever is nearest to your front door. Gofrendly helps you find women nearby who are looking for the same thing.
Barking and Dagenham: common questions
Is it easy to make friends in Barking and Dagenham as a single parent?
It can be, because you are far from alone: nearly one in five households in Barking and Dagenham is a lone-parent family. School gates, playgroups and children’s activities put you next to other parents every week. The step that matters is suggesting a plan just for the adults.
Where can you meet people in Barking and Dagenham on a weekday evening?
Look for anything with a fixed weekly slot: a fitness class at a leisure centre, a choir, a course at the local library or a running group. In Barking and Dagenham, as everywhere, regular sessions beat one-off nights out, because the second visit is when people start to say hello.
How do you make friends in Barking and Dagenham if you don't drive?
Barking station has the District and Hammersmith & City lines, the Overground and c2c trains, and buses link it with Dagenham and Chadwell Heath. Pick activities on one line or bus route so getting there never becomes the excuse. Barking Park is an easy walk from the town centre.
How can you meet women in Barking and Dagenham who share your interests?
Start from the interest, not the friendship. A book group at the library, a fitness class or a gardening project in Barking and Dagenham gives you something to talk about straight away. Gofrendly, a women-only friendship app, also lets you see women nearby and suggest a plan.
How Barking and Dagenham gets together
This is a borough of families. Nearly one in five households is a lone parent with children, well above the London average, and almost a quarter of residents are under 15. That shapes social life: plenty of adult friendships here start at the school gate, the playground or a children’s class, and carry on once the kids are settled. If that is not your life right now, it still helps to know that weekday mornings and early evenings are when many locals have time for something regular.
Where you start depends on where you live. In Barking, the town centre, the market and Barking Park are within easy reach of each other. Around Dagenham, Becontree and Chadwell Heath, green space does more of the work, with country parks and long walking routes. Feeling a bit lonely between the school run and the weekend is common, and the fix is usually one regular plan rather than a big change. Good places to become a regular:
1
Barking Park, home of a Saturday-morning parkrun and a large boating lake.
2
Eastbrookend Country Park in Dagenham, with a fishing lake, wetland and meadows.
3
Valence House Museum, the borough’s local history museum, with gardens to wander.
4
Barking Market on East Street, for regular browsing and stall-side small talk.
5
The Broadway theatre in Barking, for shows, comedy and interval conversation.
LOCAL TIP
Choose the one nearest to you and go at the same time for a few weeks running.
How to
Four steps to a social life in Barking and Dagenham
1
Sign up for something weekly, such as parkrun in Barking Park or a class at your local leisure centre, so you see the same faces without having to plan.
2
Use Gofrendly to find women near you in Barking, Dagenham or Chadwell Heath, and suggest a short walk or a coffee rather than a whole evening.
3
If you have children, swap numbers with one parent you see regularly and suggest meeting without the kids for once.
4
Before you say goodbye, name the next time. ‘Same time next Saturday?’ is often all it takes.
Keep reading
Written by our editors
This page was written by the Gofrendly editorial team, led by founders Claudia Gård and Ulrika Lilja, for women in Barking and Dagenham who want a few dependable places to start, whether or not family life fills the diary.
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Friendship looks different at every stage
More guides for women in this area – each with its own local advice.
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