Remember a few years ago, when speed dating was all the rage? Is it still popular since the huge rise of mobile dating apps like Tinder?

Speed Dating was an invention round about the beginning of the century, which makes it seem such a long time ago now, but at the time it was like a breath of fresh air. It gave singletons a fantastic new way of meeting a large number of single people they had not met before in a short space of time in just one evening.

However, with the development of online dating sites and more recently those smartphone swipe right dating apps, do we still have time in our busy lives for actual face to face meetings with strangers?

Jenny Brooks is an Events Manager for leading speed dating company Slow Dating and she says that there are just many different ways to meet new people and each has their positives and negatives. She states that when the company first started some 14 years ago, dating apps didn't exist and if you wanted to try online dating, there were really just two companies to sign up to Match.com and eHarmony, and their offerings were pretty primitive at the time, with a regular ongoing monthly subscription. Speed dating was a great option because it was fresh, exciting and without any monthly subscriptions. Additionally when you attended a speed dating evening you knew that everyone you were going to meet was single, lived near you, was in your age range; and was keen and brave enough to attend.

It would be fair to say the market has changed a little. Jenny tells us that Slow Dating used to have around 20 couples at every event, but now have between 13-15 couples, and that it remains an extremely successful way for meeting new people, and starting relationships. Jenny says, "For a while everything was about dating apps, but people soon grow tired of all the fruitless swiping left and right, and they would rather meet people face to face. We still hold many events even with all the online competition. It is aimed at people who prefer to meet someone face to face; and don't want to waste all that time to-ing and fro-ing on online dating sites or apps.”

  

The reasons why speed dating became popular in the first place still exist. It is an opportunity for people to meet other singles who live nearby in a fun evening, and the statistics state you stand a good chance of being successful with over 75% of attendees getting at least one match from an evening they attend. If you attend one of Slow Dating’s events and don’t find anyone suitable for you, as part of their guarantee you will be offered another event for FREE.

If you prefer to meet people face to face and haven’t got the time to converse back and forth over email or messaging systems, then give speed dating a try and enjoy the good old fashion way of face to face human interaction. Slow Dating list a wide range of events with a variety of dates and age groups. Head over to www.slowdating.com and take the plunge!