Photography: Calum Morrison[Missing Credit]
The concept alone is enough to raise an eyebrow on anyone who has tried online dating. Ofcom data show that the number of people using these apps declined significantly between 2023 and 2024, with a drop of nearly 16 per cent in the top 10. Gen Z is eager to turn away from their screens and return to the good old days when – they can only imagine – strangers became lovers following a suggestive look across the bar.
Lox Club aims to pair that tradition with modern technology. Since launching in the US in 2020, it has sought to get its users off their phones and into cocktail soirées, cosy Shabbat dinner parties, and blind-date bops. With its focus on events and a small number of curated matches, it’s designed to feel like the sort of real-life communal space that has largely disappeared from our societies.
“I wanted it to feel like people were getting taken back in time to this old deli,” founder Austin Kevitch told the JC ahead of the event. He said he was “obsessed with immersive experiences”, like secret-entrance speakeasies, escape rooms and magic shows. The aim was to make the app akin to a spontaneous, whimsical journey into the unknown. “I hope it brings out people's inner child and makes them feel like they discovered this secret club.”
“I miss that magic of a ‘third space’ that our grandparents had,” said Kevitch, 33, “whether it’s a deli, a country club, a local pub or a bar; they had these places where they’d go out and hang out and socialise and meet people.” Lox Club is an attempt to reignite “that feeling of serendipity”.
Kevitch wants to provide experiences, not just put two people in touch with each other and leave them to arrange a date. Events on the horizon include pasta-making, going to the theatre or a magic show, or playing quizzes – with romance, hopefully, being an organic by-product of a great night out.
Lox Club founder, Austin Kevitch (Photography: Calum Morrison)[Missing Credit]
The curation comes at a cost: Memberships start at around £40 for three months, in addition to event fees that typically run to about £30, plus drinks. Aspiring members must be approved by a committee of eight – though Kevitch insists this is more to do with cultural fit than social status. “We're more curated than exclusive,” he said. “We don't care about status. We don't care about how many Instagram followers you have.”
The thought process, he said, was “more like, ‘Hey, this person would be interesting to talk to at a party for an hour’, or ‘I would like be happy if my cousin was dating this person.’ It’s more about values than any surface-level status to do with followers, money or a job.”
Two men at the launch party, a 30-year-old in AI and a 26-year-old accountant, say there’s a lack of places to meet Jewish women organically outside religious settings. The Lox Club, in that sense, is welcome. A 28-year-old man in film says it’s refreshing to be on a night out where people are there to date with “intention”.
A 36-year-old female lawyer says a lot of men have been intimidated by her independence, and was hoping to meet someone on her level at the event. But her first impressions weren’t great: “A lot of the guys here look like they’ve just celebrated their Bar Mitzvah,” she jokes.
Several other attendees seem disappointed by the gap between the romantic ideal of in-person encounters and the actual process of meeting real people. A 25-year-old lawyer and a 30-year-old teacher, both women, say they want to leave because the “standard is low”. A pair of 22-year-olds in the ladies’ room report that they got the “ick” imagining the men present tonight signing up to the app.
Photography: Calum Morrison[Missing Credit]
A 24-year-old guy in the smoking area, who looked too edgy to be in real estate finance, says the Jewish dating scene in London has nothing on New York and LA. The standard tonight is “quite high” for London, he says – but that’s only because the bar is “really low”. As for the girls out tonight, he says they seem “quite entitled”. He says the event feels contrived, even while trying hard not to be.
For another 24-year-old man at the launch party, training to be a lawyer, the theory behind Lox Club was an attractive one. “The principle of creating a space in which people can meet socially is a good one,” he said, “particularly given that there’s few other opportunities for people to do that in a setting which is organic and cool.”
But he stumbled on the sense of elitism inherent in the branding. “They’re only attracting a very small set of finance bros and Jewish princesses,” he said.
The JC verdict? As singles events go, the Lox Club did a masterful job at making you forget yourself, alongside any awkward, introverted tendencies, and feel right at home striking up conversation with a stranger in the dark. There’s a market in London to bring people together, spontaneously and in real life, but the real magic will only happen if it can attract an interesting mix of users from beyond the Square Mile.
