Pubs are the worst location for a first date, says dating app

18-Jan-2019 - Last updated on 18-Jan-2019 at 16:09 GMT

Pubby love: according to dating app Plenty of Fish, pub dates have been surpassed by alfresco and rooftop venues

With research by dating app Plenty of Fish outing pubs as the worst location for a first date, and with almost one in three Millennials shunning alcohol altogether, has the ‘pub date’ had its day?

Despite research by Ei Publican Partnerships in 2018 finding that a quarter of Brits met their partner for the first time in a pub, and 8% revealing it was the place that they told someone they love them for the first time, research by dating app Plenty of Fish has found that heading elsewhere for a first date is the most likely way to someone’s heart.

The app’s survey revealed that a third of Brits think a pub or a bar is the worst place to be taken on a first date despite 89% of respondents having experienced a ‘pub date’ – making it the nation’s least popular romantic backdrop on a first date.

Venues offering outdoor dining apparently offer lovebirds the best chance of making a good first impression, with a third of respondents (33%) suggesting that an alfresco dinner date was their ideal opener and 30% opting for a rooftop setting.

Almost a third of those surveyed, however, would steer clear of food and drink altogether, with 30% of surveyed singletons preferring to go for a walk.

Deal breaker venues

The app’s research also found that more than a quarter (28%) of its 2,000 survey respondents would cancel a date if they didn’t like the venue chosen – with almost half (48%) of Millennials ‘washing their hair that night’ or succumbing to a sudden mystery illness if they didn't approve of a date's location.

With this in mind, almost half of respondents (44%) revealed that they had been invited to a first date at McDonald’s at some point in their lives while 42% shared that paintball had been suggested to them as an icebreaker by a potential shooter.

While, just shy of a quarter of respondents stated that a karaoke date failed to make their heart sing, shockingly, one in 10 (11%) singletons revealed that they decided a potential relationship wasn't going anywhere after being invited on a first date to a love interest’s car.

Whisky is risky

Getting too drunk on a first date was highlighted by more than half (54%) of respondents as being a date-ender, with whisky apparently the least attractive drink order according to women surveyed.

Plumping for pinot over a pint on a first date is more likely to lead to a second date according to findings, with almost two thirds (60%) of women revealing that they find a date more attractive if they opt for wine over beer.

However, the biggest relationship wrecker according to Plenty of Fish was a date using their phone excessively, with two thirds (65%) of respondents stating that a phone addict wouldn’t push their buttons on a first date.

Other mood killers included talking about an ex (47%), forgetting a date’s name (32%), going for a cigarette (31%) and talking selfies (27%) with one in five revealing that political chat would end in no deal.