Here you'll find the answers to our most frequently asked questions. If your question is not covered please feel free to contact us.
A speed dating event gives you the chance to meet around 15-20 people in one night for mini dates, each lasting four minutes. These short dates are designed to give you enough time to decide if you would like to see each person again. Afterwards everyone selects the people they want to see again on our website and we calculate the mutual matches and allow people to get in touch again with everyone they got on with.
Original Dating events are professionally hosted and are regarded as the best in the business.
Speed dating events take place in privately hired areas within great venues across the country.
Click here for a detailed explanation of how our speed dating events work and the exact format.
Our events are exciting, fun and a very sociable way to spend an evening. You won't want to date everyone you meet but because you'll meet several people, there's a good chance that you'll meet someone you'll want to see again. We're confident you'll enjoy the experience.
With us, it's guaranteed that you'll meet someone you want to see again or your next event is free.
Provided you give us at least 4 days notice your booking can be changed. You can do this by logging in to your account. Go to My Events > Cancel Attendance. You will be issued with a credit which can be used to purchase a future event.
All tickets purchased and credits are non-refundable.
If you can't or cancel attend please let us know by email. It's kinder to those that can still make it and we can prepare accordingly. See our terms and conditions of booking here.
Yes. Provided your friend is the same gender we can change a name until 5 pm on the day of the event. We'll need you to contact us in order to do this.
Provided you give us at least 4 days notice we can make changes to your booking. You can do this by logging in to account. Going to My Events > Cancel Attendance. You will be issued with a credit which can be used to purchase a future event.
All tickets purchased and credits are non-refundable.
If you can't or cancel attend please let us know by email. It's kinder to those that can still make it and we can prepare accordingly. See our terms and conditions of booking here.
Lock and Key parties are our biggest events and they are all about meeting loads of people in one very sociable night. Anything from 100-300 people attend.
On arrival girls get small padlocks and guys get keys. The simple goal is to find the person that has the key that matches your lock, or vice-versa. Along the way you get to meet loads of people. We often incorporate speed dating into these events and they take place at great venues. Check out our listings for the next one or click here for more detailed information.
Our events attract a broad range of people. Like our population, we see a cultural mix of people working in a diverse range of sectors and there really is no set type.
Because our events attract a lot of people we're confident you'll meet at least one person you click with. More
This depends on the type of event, the day of the week and location but broadly speaking at our speed dating events you'll meet 12-25 people. Our socials and parties are designed for larger groups up to 300, but each of our detailed event listings will give you an idea about how many people you can expect to meet.
Our events are popular so on most occasions we're able to get an equal or almost equal male/female ratio. It's not a problem if we don't get an exact ratio, there's always plenty of people to meet and most events sell out.
If you have credits to spend this will be shown when you log in to your account.
To spend credits, simply log into your account, find an event and click Book Now. Our system will know you have a credit and will not charge you for your place.
Please note credit vouchers are only valid on our standard speed dating events both virtual and in person. Credits must be used at least 4 days prior to the event you wish to book for. Credits have a six month validity.
No. We need to know who's attending our events in advance so we can balance the male/female ratio. Booking online is easy, fast and very secure. You can book online on our website in a few easy steps.
Within reason. Most people that attend are within the age range specified but If you're just outside, it's not a problem. We've found that people generally want to meet others of a similar age. Booking an event that designed for a much younger age range than your own isn't cool and it's unlikely to result in matches.
We guarantee that you will meet at least one person you would like to see again at our full price* standard speed dating events. Therefore, we guarantee you will wish to select at least one person as a 'yes' or 'friend' on our matching system.
If you do not meet anyone you wish to see again and wish to claim under our guarantee simply select 'no' to everyone (and press save) via our online matching system. This must be done before 5pm on the day following the event. At 5pm you will automatically receive a credit that can be spent on another standard speed dating event. Guarantee credits are valid for six months from issue. The guarantee can be claimed once per full price ticket purchased.
*Tickets purchased at a discounted credit are not eligible for our guarantee.
Click here for more info about our guarantee.
A match occurs when people at our events both express a mutual interest in each other via our online matching system.
When both people select 'Yes' for each other this is a yes match as both parties would be interested in going on a date. You can get in touch with people you matched with as a 'Yes' via our site.
A 'Friend' match occurs when both parties select 'Friend' indicating they like the person but not in a romantic way. You can get in touch with people you matched with as a 'Friend' via our website.
If either person clicks 'no' this is not a match and we do not allow contact. More about matching
After you have attended an event (normally the following morning) you'll need to log in to our website to enter your preferences.
You'll see a list of the people you met along with their picture and an option to select them all as either a 'Yes' a 'No' or as a 'Friend'.
Select 'Yes' if you want to see them again for a proper date or as a 'Friend' if you'd like to see them again in a non-romantic way. Mark them 'No' if they are not for you.
At 5 pm on the day following the event, the matching system will reveal who you matched with from your event. It will display a list of people you received a yes match with and a list of people you received a friend match with. You will then be able to message your matches via the system.
For your security we've done away with usernames and passwords. Instead, we now use secure login links which we send to your email address every time you login to original dating. Simply enter your email address when prompted and a login email will be sent to you.
If you've purchased a ticket you will have received a confirmation email.
Quiz dating is a pub quiz and speed dating combined. Sounds good eh? It is, click here for much more about quiz dating.
Our main event format is speed dating. The simple face to face dating format where you get to meet between 15-20 people over the course of an evening for mini dates lasting just four minutes. We're also well known for our lock & key parties where groups of up to 300 people attend. Click here for descriptions of all of our event formats or view our forthcoming events.
At 5 pm on the day following your event our matching system will display who you matched with. Login to our website to view your matches. You can message the people you matched with the instant messaging system. It works just like WhatsApp or SMS.
Yes you can. Our site works perfectly on any internet connected device.
We use a wide range of venues for our events, all of them chosen for their suitability for dating events plus their ability to offer great drinks, service and ambience. We choose the kind of places we like to go to and we hope you'll like them too. Click here for more information about the venues we use. You can also see our current event venues at our event listings pages.
If you have a venue that you'd like to suggest for our events, please get in touch via our contact page.
We're always being told by our customers that our dating events leave the others standing. We often see a match rate of in excess of 80% at our events. Check out some of our recent feedback on Google Reviews. Also, we've been operating a long time. We're a proper registered Limited Company with offices and staff unlike a some if our more dubious competitors. We're a trusted company and we care about our clients.
Check out some of the reasons why we believe we lead the market in speed dating and dating events.
If you've found an issue with either our website please let us know and we'll get it sorted right away.
If you have more questions about your booking please click here for more information that should be helpful.
We welcome all feedback about our service, especially if it's not all positive - we're the UK's fastest growing dating events company and we want our clients to love what we do. Click here to find out more about how we deal with feedback and complaints.
We use Stripe and PayPal to handle our payments. Both are leaders in the payments industry in and use the strongest security measures.
When you make a purchase your card details are transmitted directly to either Stripe or PayPal for processing and are not stored by us.
Please email a request to us at info@originaldating.com. We aim to handle requests within 2 business days. Closing your account will result in the total deletion of all data we hold about you. We retain only basic data such as your name and email address.
If you book a ticket for our event this is a one-off purchase and you will not be billed again.
If you choose to join our online dating service, Mixeo and then go on to to subscribe and become a full member your membership will renew at the end of the billing period and you will be charged. It's possible to cancel at any time.
Mixeo is the online dating service by Original Dating.
Join Mixeo by completing your profile and choosing the attributes, interests, and personality traits of the kind of people you’d like to meet.
Mixeo will crunch the results and provide you with a list of potential matches to review. View pictures and profiles and decide who you like the look of and we will let you know when you get a mutual match. We’ll aim to get you more potential matches to review every day.
Access to Mixeo is free but communicating with your mutual matches requires a membership. We want Mixeo to be a high quality, worthwhile dating platform and we believe you can only achieve this when users pay to be there. Don't worry, the membership won't break the bank!
You only need to join when you want to send (or read) messages with someone you mutually match with. No payment is needed until you match with someone and want to contact them.
Mixeo is not designed to compete with dating apps or the big dating brands. We’re a niche service that’s all about using tech to facilitate quality connections for people serious about meeting people.
As always, we’re big believers in getting people together, face to face as quickly as possible. Using the web to connect with someone is great but in person dates is what we’re passionate about.
Complete your profile to join now and we will send your first potential matches within 24 hours.
Read more about Mixeo here
Virtual speed dating events are live hosted in exactly the same way as our in-person speed dating events, the key difference is that you take part via your phone or laptop from the comfort of your own home. The same amazing hosts and the same one-on-one speed dates that we are famous for. Events take place via a custom video platform and Original Dating partners with Fanciful to provide this service.
Upon your (virtual) arrival you'll be greeted by your host. After a short introduction to the event you'll be placed on your first virtual table where you will meet for your first three-minute date video date. At the end of each date you will be automatically moved to your next table and the next date will begin. The event continues until you have met everyone else attending.
After the event, simply login to the matching system and choose who you'd like to see again. The system will crunch the results and you'll be able to get in touch with anyone you match with using our unique messenger system.
The beauty of Speed Dating London lies in its no-nonsense approach. You take an equal number of single girls and guys, put them in a room and give them a few minutes to chat with every other member of the opposite sex.
Original speed dating events in London normally begin at 7.30pm. You will need to register with our hosts and to begin with they will issue you with a score sheet. This will help you to keep track of the singles that you would like to meet again and perhaps go on a date with. After a short period of mingling, your host for the evening who will run through detailed instructions and give you your starting position if you are a guy or table for the event if you are a girl.
A London speed dating event is split into two halves, each lasting around an hour, there will be an interval at half time of about 15 minutes for speed dating London. You will have between 4 and 5 minutes with each person, after which you need to tick a box on your score sheet - "yes, I would like to meet this person again" or "no. Thanks but no thanks". Or "friend" if you'd like to get to know them platonically. Make sure that you do this after each date to keep track. Afterwards there is an opportunity for everyone to meet and mingle informally - this is often where the real action begins, so make sure you don't disappear too quickly!
After the event you simply tick who you liked on the Original Dating website and the site works about your matches automatically. If the dates you have ticked as a "yes" have reciprocated you have a match. You will be able to view the first names and message them via our site online without revealing your email address until you are ready to. You'll be having proper first dates in no time.