- Women only
- Friendship, not dating
- Free to join
- Local guide
- October 21, 2026
Make Friends After 40 in South Gloucestershire
South Gloucestershire’s forties population has grown about 9% since 2021, so a woman rebuilding life on her own here has plenty of peers nearby.
308,000+
residents counted in South Gloucestershire, mid-2025 (ONS)
9%
more South Gloucestershire people aged 40–49 in mid-2025 than in mid-2021; the South West figure is 3% (ONS)
16%
South Gloucestershire homes with just one occupant, compared with 30.3% across the South West (2021 Census)
South Gloucestershire suits a second chapter
Newly single after a separation, and in your 40s? In South Gloucestershire, regular library groups offer a gentle way to rebuild a social life on your own terms. Hanham Library has a reading group from 6pm on the second Thursday, Emersons Green Library holds a crime reading group on first Tuesdays at 6.30pm, and Kingswood Library has a craft group every Saturday from 11am. Gofrendly can point you to other women close by on a fresh start of their own.
South Gloucestershire after a separation: common questions
Do any South Gloucestershire libraries run book groups after work?
Two do. Emersons Green Library holds its crime reading group at 6.30pm on first Tuesdays, while Hanham Library’s group runs from 6pm to 7pm on second Thursdays. South Gloucestershire libraries also host daytime reading groups at Thornbury and Emersons Green for anyone free in the day.
Where are the Saturday parkruns in South Gloucestershire?
South Gloucestershire has three adult parkruns on Saturday mornings: Chipping Sodbury on The Ridings, Thornbury at the Mundy Playing Fields and Pomphrey Hill. All three are free, timed 5k courses once you have registered, and you are as welcome to walk or volunteer as to run, so fitness is no barrier in South Gloucestershire.
Separated in your 40s: is it hard to make friends in South Gloucestershire?
Not once there is a routine. Pair a weeknight group with a Saturday habit, so familiar faces turn up twice a week. Gofrendly, a women-only friendship app, lists South Gloucestershire women looking for company as well, and an easy opener is a coffee before the crime reading group at Emersons Green.
Which South Gloucestershire libraries run craft groups on Saturdays?
Kingswood Library has a craft group every Saturday from 11am to 12.30pm, Winterbourne Library runs one every four weeks on a Saturday from 10am to midday, and Cadbury Heath Library holds a monthly Saturday session from 10.30am. In South Gloucestershire, bringing a project gives you an instant conversation starter.
Starting over and finding friendship in South Gloucestershire
Once a relationship ends, shared friends may quietly drift to one side, and Saturdays once organised around two people stand empty. What rebuilds things is seldom a single big evening. It is several small, regular commitments where people learn your name rather than as somebody’s former other half. Reading groups, craft sessions and a Saturday run all offer that, and none of them ask about your history or expect you to explain why you came alone.
South Gloucestershire has a smaller share of people living alone than the wider region, so being newly solo here can feel conspicuous at first, and Sunday afternoons may turn lonely. That passes faster once the week has fixed points. To make friends after 40 after a break-up, choose two groups that meet on different days and go to both for a whole season, through the dark months as well as the light ones. Good places to try:
1
The evening reading group at Hanham Library, meeting second Thursdays from 6pm.
2
The crime reading group at Emersons Green Library, first Tuesdays at 6.30pm.
3
The Saturday craft group at Kingswood Library, every week from 11am to 12.30pm.
4
Chipping Sodbury parkrun on The Ridings, every Saturday morning.
5
Knit and Knatter at Patchway Library, one Saturday morning a month.
LOCAL TIP
Accept the post-session coffee invitation, even on nights you would rather go straight home.
How to
How to meet new friends in South Gloucestershire on your own
1
Pick the library reading group that matches your free evening, Hanham on Thursdays or Emersons Green on Tuesdays.
2
Take something to finish to the weekly Thursday craft group at Hanham Library.
3
Message a newly single South Gloucestershire woman through Gofrendly and suggest Chipping Sodbury parkrun on a Saturday.
4
Take a craft project to Knit and Knatter at Patchway Library on a Saturday morning.
Friendships that take their time
Behind South Gloucestershire's fresh-start page
Our founders Claudia Gård and Ulrika Lilja wrote the South Gloucestershire page together with Gofrendly’s editors, aiming it at newly single women in their forties rebuilding weekends and evenings.
Friendship looks different at every stage
More guides for women in this area – each with its own local advice.
Friendship looks different at every stage
More guides for women in this area – each with its own local advice.
Find women near you
See who’s nearby and say hi — it’s free to start.