These are the best UK cities to date if you're single
January is finally coming to an end, with February’s promise of springtime blooms just around the corner. But with those blooms comes the all-important day of love - Valentine’s Day.
Many people have mixed feelings about Valentine’s Day. On one hand, it’s important to celebrate our loved ones, but on the other, it can be a painful reminder if you haven’t got a special someone in your life.
The cold days of winter also exacerbates feelings of loneliness, as a survey by Lovehoney found that 76% of Britons prefer to be in a relationship during the winter months, including on Valentine’s Day; a phenomenon known as ‘cuffing season’.
But singles needn’t despair. A new study has revealed the best city in the UK to date, according to analysis of data from Tripadvisor, TikTok, Google Keywords and statistics from the Office for National Statistics.
Summer camp and travel experts Wild Pack have crunched the numbers and found that Liverpool is the best city for singletons to meet new people for romantic encounters.
Liverpool gained a “romance score” of 178, determined by the number of romantic venues rated four stars and more, the number of searches for #datenight per city in the uK, estimation of the single population in each city, and number of Google searches for ‘Tinder app’, ‘Hinge app’, and ‘Bumble app’.
Liverpool was followed closely by Manchester, which scored 169 points, and third was Birmingham, wth 143 points.
Surprisingly, the UK’s capital London did not make it in the top 13 best cities to date when you are single. Bristol, Newcastle, Brighton, Plymouth, Southampton and Swansea all scored higher romantic points than London.
Wild Packs also found that Norwich has the highest number of single people, with 2,620 singletons per capita. The data showed that Salford and Manchester have the highest number of romantic venues, such as restaurants and wine bars, that scored four stars or more.
Meanwhile, Cardiff ranked the highest for the number of #datenight searches on TikTok, hitting 4.4 million searches in the past year.
In terms of app searches, singles in Plymouth were in favour of using multiple apps, with Google searches for Tinder reaching 67 searches per capita and Bumble hitting 34 searches per capita. Hinge was most popular in Brighton.
But all singles could benefit from shedding certain bad dating habits that could be stopping them from having more successful, happy dates, according to Tinder’s global relationships insight expert Paul C Brunson.
Brunson previously told Yahoo UK that single people from all generations could learn from Gen Z, who he said are “driving better dating habits forward”.
He emphasised the importance of authenticity, which means putting your “most real” self forward. This is because singles are increasingly prioritising value-based qualities like loyalty, respect, and open-mindedness, giving single people the opportunity to let their “genuine self” shine.
His advice comes after a 2022 survey revealed what single adults are looking for in a romantic partner. The survey, commissioned by Seeking.com, revealed more than six in 10 adults want to aim higher with the next person they date, as 72% felt they had settled for second best in previous relationships.
The research also found that the most desirable traits that people are looking for in a potential partner are honesty, humour and kindness.
Watch: Couple's hilarious date as they take goats on a walk
Read more about sex and relationships:
The top five worst single dating habits and how to fix them (Yahoo Life UK, 6-min read)
This is why women experience nosedive in romantic love while men don't (Yahoo Life UK, 4-min read)
The most popular wedding dates for 2024, 2025 and 2026 (Yahoo Life UK, 4-min read)
