A mum, fed up with dating apps and determined to meet someone the "old fashioned way", has launched her own business helping people to find love.
After finding herself single on Valentine's Day eight and a half years ago, Vicky Evans, 42, was baffled by the rise in dating apps. The "cynical singleton" took matters into her own hands after a "string of unmitigated disasters" in the dating world.
The mum-of-three, from Chester, went on to found her own business, Secret Singles, which puts on events designed to allow singletons to meet in person. After experiencing phenomenal success in Chester, the brand is coming to Liverpool with a huge launch party kicking things off on August 18 in the city centre.
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Liverpool fan Vicky told the Echo the business's creation was a "bit of an accident", after she joined a Facebook group aimed at outdoorsy people meeting up. She explained: "It was a bit of an accident. I work for myself anyway, I have a consultancy business in hospitality and I've always worked in hospitality.
"I joined a group on Facebook that was specifically aimed at single people and my friend had met his partner through that. It was quite an outdoorsy group, for people who liked hiking and I'm not a walker or a hiker - I'm in stilettos all the time - but I joined for the social aspect and I kind of started organising evenings out and weekends away for people in the group and it kind of took over my life.
"I was organising these events and it was taking time away from my actual job, but I was doing it for free so I had to either give it up or turn it into a business. There was no way I was going to stop doing it, I loved it, so it spiralled from there.
"I just think it's so much better than being on an app. You can hide behind an app, you can have fake profiles or exaggerate or lie but when you can see the whites of someone's eyes, see their mannerisms in the flesh, hear their voice and how passionate they are about something, it's different."
When Vicky became single, she found herself longing for the dating experiences of years gone by. She continued: "I've said for years I've wanted to go back to the old days, where someone would make eyes at you at the bar and if you made eyes back, they'd appear next to you and buy you a Smirnoff Ice. Then you'd have a snog to 'Pretty Green Eyes' - that's how it was before I got married.
"When I became single again in 2014, these dating apps were all new to me and it didn't sit right with me. I'd met my ex in a bar watching the Champions League Final in 2005, dating apps weren't really a thing. When I became single again, the apps were everywhere and it was horrible. Everything has gone online, people have lost that social skill of how to talk to people on a night out.
"It's people my age, or 35 and plus, that are really struggling with dating. It just seems people my age and older liked it so much more meeting people in a social setting, it just doesn't happen on a night out - especially after covid, where we've got even less used to interacting with people in person."
Vicky is determined to help people meet their special someone, while making friends with likeminded people, too. The mum-of-three confessed she's particularly "picky" over who she'll entertain a relationship with.
She said: "It's a minefield. That first date is where you're interacting with someone for the first time, so you don't know what you think about them until that first meeting.
"My best male friend, I actually met on Plenty of Fish. To look at, really handsome fella; he's a lovely, lovely guy but in person, it just didn't work. I loved him as a person but we both knew there was no spark. The next person he went on a date with, he's now married to - I was the 'best woman' at their wedding.
"We have an amazing friendship but there was no romance there. I always laugh and say I'm the 'boyfriend fosterer' - whoever I go on a date with, the next person after me is the one they end up with. I feel like I get them ready for their forever home.
"I'm a lot more picky now, I don't know if it's my age, but the things I'm picky over you just can't detect on a dating app. It's so vain the way we swipe through apps, it's so fast too and we don't really read through a profile or look through all their photos, it's just that first photo."
The Secret Singles events have proved successful in Chester. The brand's last two meet-ups saw 12 couples form. Vicky said: "They all said they're nothing like they'd normally go for, but they just clicked on that night out. It's really lovely to hear that it's working and people are clicking."
Now, Vicky - whose family hail from Anfield - is bringing the business to Liverpool. She continued: "We're established in Chester and now we want to spread things a bit further afield.
"We're launching in Liverpool, it's at Jenny's Bar on August 18. We've got two local musicians performing acoustic sets - just get your ticket, bring your single friends and come and meet people.
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"Don't just come in and think you're looking for romance, you'll find single friends too. When you get to our age, your single friends are few and far between. It's nice to find kindred spirits you can go out with and socialise with. You can have a laugh together, or sit and whinge about being single.
"We want people to come and make new friends and meet new people and who knows where it'll end up. It's lovely knowing every single person in that room is in the exact same position as you and if you find someone attractive, you can go and talk to them. It's really lovely."
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