If you’re looking to meet other singles in London but are tired of Tinder, bored of blind dates and sick of singles’ dinner parties, fear not. We’ve sussed out the city’s most exciting and unusual speed dating events. Quit swiping and read on for where to meet your perfect match.
If the conversations you find yourself having on dating apps tend to feel a bit shallow and mundane, when what you're really looking for is a deep connection from the start, there’s a dating event that helps peel away those first few layers of surface chat. Called Deep Dating – Conscious Connections, the meet-ups take place once a month at The Skylight Centre. Events begin with warm-ups and icebreakers, before moving onto other exercises that invite a deeper connection. In doing away with banal conversation, you’ll be expected to look for several things in your potential partner, including whether they can listen, talk about their feelings and show a sensitivity to the things that matter to you most.
Click here to find out more about the next Deep Dating event
Unsurprisingly in 2019, vegan dating is a thing. Frankly, it’s understandable that many who live off a plant-based diet are hesitant about sharing a dinner table – or later a fridge – with an avid carnivore. The good news for single vegans is that you can nip those concerns in the bud by finding someone who shares your food preferences on a speed dating night at The Frog Hoxton, hosted by Original Dating. Here, you’ll meet around 15 vegans of the opposite sex on quick dates lasting four minutes each. Between sessions, there’s plenty of time to grab a drink from the bar, which boasts a range of vegan cocktails, beers and wines. Those who want to can continue socialising at the venue until 11pm – so you’ll have time to decide whether anyone is worth a second date.
Click here to find out more about the next vegan dating event
If you find your inner nerd at odds with your (usually subdued) wild side, taking part in one of Smudged Lipstick’s dating events could put the two in balance. From Scrabble speed dating (where you work your way around the room, playing quick-fire rounds of the classic game using only rude words), to singles salsa (you’ve guessed it, a salsa lesson for singles), Smudged Lipstick events revolve around a specific activity, always with the option to order drinks to take the edge off.
Other Smudged Lipstick nights include Jenga dating, Connect Four dating and even vintage video game dating – where singles are invited to let their competitive side take charge while racing round a Mario Kart track, or let out their frustrations with London’s dating scene in a game of Street Fighter 2. The events are usually held in quirky, multi-purpose venues like The Book Shop in Shoreditch or Drink, Shop & Do in King’s Cross, while the logic here is: you might not meet ‘The One’, but you’ll have a fun evening anyway.
Click here to find out about the next Smudged Lipstick event
If you find yourself lost for words on a first date, an evening of Shhh Dating could dissolve that particular strain. Aimed primarily at shy creative professionals in their 20s and 30s, the idea with Shhh Dating is that you find a connection – through flirting games and eye contact – before you open your mouth. Only later, and hopefully once you’ve established a bit of a connection with someone in the room, do you begin to talk.
Click here to find out about the next Shhh dating event
This London speed dating company likes to have a bit of fun with the events it puts on – of which there’s an impressive 250 or so a year. Themed nights include a Dating Against Humanity event, in which a group of 30-40 people (with a 50/50 male to female ratio) play a round of Cards Against Humanity, while using the bawdy game and playful setting as a chance to slowly suss out their feelings for other players in the room.
If you’re a whizz at a pub quiz, meanwhile, Original Dating’s ‘quiz dating’ nights – which merge speed dating with pub quiz rounds – might be more to your liking. Less pressure than one-to-one speed dating, groups are split into guys and girls, with the female teams competing in the quiz and the males rotating around the room, chipping in to help each team as they go.
Original Dating also runs chocolate-orientated speed dating events at Hotel Chocolat for those with a sweet tooth, and singles parties aimed at professionals, for those who prefer themeless nights where they can strike up conversation at their leisure.
Everyone will meet each other at some point over the course of an Original Dating event,
and attendees are given access to an online matching and messaging
system after the event to message people they matched with on the night.
Click here to find out about the next Original Dating event
Speed Dater’s wine tasting evenings do away with formal, one-to-one speed dating. Instead, they offer a chance to join up to 30 wine lovers (in a group with an equal male and female split) for a night of mingling, meeting new people and learning about wines in a relaxed-but-flirtatious environment.
The events held at Vivat Bacchus in Farringdon and hosted for two different age groups: 30 – 40-year-olds and 41 – 55-year-olds. Over the course of the evening, you’ll sample six different bottles, tasting Chardonnay, Sauvignon blanc, Reisling, Pinot Grigio and more, all while getting to know your fellow guests. If you meet someone you have a connection with, but don’t get round to swapping details on the night, you can keep in touch with them via the Speed Dater website (providing the feelings are mutual, of course).
Click here to find out more about Speed Dater’s next wine tasting event
There are still far fewer LGBTQ dating events in London than events for straight singles, but one of the best-loved out there is ‘Fancy a Femme’ by Pink Lobster Dating. These speed dating events are a chance for like-minded lesbian and bisexual women to meet and enjoy an evening of activities and fun lobster twists.
Click here to find out more about the next Fancy a Femme event
Every few weeks, Speed Dater hosts men-only gay speed dating nights at Village, Soho. These casual events are a chance for single gay men to meet others in the community over some drinks in a fun, buzzy environment.
Click here to find out about the next Gay Speed Dating event
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