5 things driven Londoners want from a date

It seems there are a lot of non-negotiables for professional Londoners, says dating expert Nana Wereko-Brobby
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Nana Wereko-Brobby18 April 2016

“Height and shoes”, said a female lawyer when I asked her what she was looking for in a man. This was the fourth time I’d heard this in a week.

Before chemistry even comes into the equation, it seems that Londoners have some pretty specific non-negotiables about who they date.

And after four years of setting up successful twentysomething Londoners, I’ve started to notice patterns in how the capital’s elite look for love.

Here are five of the most common requirements:

1 Drive and/or passion

Most people are looking for someone as career-driven as they are. They don' require specific professions, they just care that their date is passionate bout something - anything - whether financial technology, start-ups or fashion. Attraction is about someone who has a fire in them when it ocmes to a greater purpose outside of the relationship, so that once the flirting lighthearted flirting has passed, there are meatier conversations to be had around interests and core driving principles.

The best apps for Londoners

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2 Sport

An interest in sport or keeping fit.. This is not necessarily a superficial focus – but a drive and willingness to be pro-active about life. They like to know dates could extend to exercising together, biking weekends or romantic hikes.

3 Not taking yourself too seriously

Anyone who manages to survive and thrive in London is doing an exceptional job. But achievements mean nothing in the dating market if you can’t be humble about them. They want someone who takes their job seriously, but they also demand a pinch of humour from their over-achieving date. One female lawyer pointed out: “I like a man who knows his wine, but if we go somewhere chilled and he starts demanding a sommelier talk us through things, I glaze over”. There’s a time and a place for formality and on dates it’s about tearing down these barriers so we can just see the person behind it all.

4 Punctuality

Why so pedantic? Well it’s less about the time keeping itself and more about what being incapable of keeping time says about the person. A punctual person understands how busy they are and shows up when they say they will - it shows you can rely on someone.

5 Dressing Up/Dressing Down

They want someone who is as comfortable in a high end restaurant as they are in a dingy pub. This need for attracting a chameleon-like partner is a big deal for Londoners. If variety is what helps us avoid getting bored, we want to know that a partner can relax as much as they can brush up. It also speaks to singles who have collected an eclectic London mix of friends over the course of their lives and want their partner to be able to adapt to different levels of affluence, taste and locales. Londoners want to date people who, like the City, are dynamic, multifaceted and, vitally, welcoming to all.

Nana Wereko-Brobby is the director of private dating events club, socialconcierge.co.uk

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