Love Is Out There For You!
There are opportunities to meet others in abundance in the UK and there's a variety of ways to it it too. Pubs, bars and nightclubs have declined over the last 2 decades or so and particularly since the smoking indoors regulations came into being in 2005, so that option has dramatically declined but dating sites, dating apps and personal matchmaking have come to the forefront to fill the gap.
Maybe that in itself is part of the problem at one time there were literally thousands of online dating sites and brands around the UK, but many of them are just marketing ploys supported by the same database of singles underneath or ‘white label’ dating sites, with different names around the country but with the same people as members. You may have had first hand experience and knowledge of that.
Many people have now got an understanding of this and know that sites for singles in the Northwest may well be the same as the sites for example in Greater London or the Midlands, but with a tweak to the search facility, so that more people local to your IP address / location appear first. Many people still fall for this scenario however, lured in by the promise of ‘singles in your own area’ and are often locked in to paying a subscription for a minimum period of typically 3 months to a year, which can be difficult to cancel and can on occasions keep on automatically renewing.
What Are The Best Over 50’s Dating Sites?
We were asked to research and rate the various sites that are available to people over 60 and to rank them according to their Google Ranking and the success levels they generate, here are our findings, which are correct and current at the time that the article was published 06/APR/2022, in alphabetical order:
Attractive Partners (Google Ranking 4.0)
Attractive Partners is a high-end personal matchmaking company that covers the whole of the UK. They are based in the UK in Alcester, Warwickshire. Attractive Partners was launched in 2003 by Liz Fogarty, who remained as part of the company until 2016 when she retired. They have a database of active members of over 10,000 and take people from 25 right up to and into retirement and their strength is the over 60s market. Every member is personally interviewed and carefully vetted by their personal matchmaker to ensure they are 100% who they say they are, totally genuine and have not been involved in crime or have solvency issues. Memberships are simply a one-off payment starting from £1,895 for their Debut option.
Avenues Dating (Google Ranking 4.9)
Avenues Dating was first incorporated as Avenues Introductions in the early 1990’s, way before the advent of online dating sites or dating apps. Avenues is the sister company of Attractive Partners and is also located in the pretty town of Alcester in Warwickshire. They specialise in older age groups and their strength is over 60’s dating, with memberships not offered at all to people under 50, so truly aimed at ‘empty nesters’ and ‘silver surfers’.
Avenues was the UK’s biggest dating company in the 1990’s with 22 offices nationwide and a turnover of £8 million. Once again, they specialise in high end personal matchmaking, where all members are interviewed and carefully vetted before being offered a membership. Memberships start from £2,095 as a one-off payment for 9 months.
Country Partners (Google Ranking 5.0)
First formed in Ludlow in Shropshire in 1983 by one of the UK’s best known names in personal matchmaking Heather Heber Percy, as a dating agency that was established for farmers and country dwellers. Now based in Wetherby, West Yorkshire, at the Wetherby Business Centre, on York Road, Wetherby, Country Partners has memberships for those aged 25 or older but again has great strength for those in their 60’s and upwards, particularly for those who live in country locations. Country Partners is another high end personal matchmaking company, who offer a high level of service via your own individual personal matchmaker. Memberships are again a one off payment beginning at £2,095 for a 9 month membership.
eHarmony (Trustpilot Ranking 1.4)
Looking at reviews on Trustpilot as there didn’t appear to be any on Google Maps, 19% of eHarmony Reviews ranked them as excellent, 5% as good, 2% as average, 3% poor and 71% as bad. This is a typical online site where you create your profile and choose and upload your photographs, you search for potential partners and approach them but there is some online help available via the company directly. There is free registration and limited interaction without paying, to join on their Premium Lite membership is £29.90 monthly but no up front cost. However there is no telephone advice or an office to visit where you can talk to a personal matchmaker or someone to ask questions on a face to face basis.
Elite Singles (Trustpilot Ranking 1.1)
Elite singles is again a fairly typical online site, who have their Head Office in Berlin, Germany. The joining cost is £89.95 if you join on a month by month basis, £44.95 per month for 3 months or £29.95 if you sign up for 12 months. We had to search for reviews on Trustpilot as there didn’t seem to be any on Google Maps possibly because they aren’t UK based. On Trustpilot 3% had rated Elite Singles as excellent, 2% had reviewed as great, 1% voted them as average, 3% voted them poor and 91% rated them as bad.
Elite again is very much ‘DIY Dating’ with no office to visit, membership adviser to chat to or personal matchmaker to seek advice from. But if you are comparing costs and judging them by that alone they offer good value for money.
Match.Com (Sitejabber Ranking 3.2 Trustpilot 3.9)
Formed in the USA in 1995 and launched in the UK in 1998, not the first online site but the biggest. Offers good value as its said to be £29.99 to join but this is more like DIY dating whereby you do all of the work. You begin your membership and pay, you create your own profile and choose and upload your photographs, you do your own searches and approach others, you do the rapport building, you ask for the date or hopefully get asked, you then feedback as to how you feel, as opposed to having your own personal matchmaker doing those tasks for you. So it’s dating with not that much help or support but with millions of profiles – a good choice for value but it is a remote service and there is nobody to turn to for help on the phone and no office to visit.
