How did people meet before dating apps?

[Aliciaukuk]

Ok finally deleted Tinder and Bumble.. they are full of ugly, broken men..

the lowest of the low.

How can i meet a partner instead?

Work, hobbies, uni and pubs. My parents met at a youth club many years ago.

Met my partner through mutual friends. Met my ex-husband at a night club - back in the day when I went to those things, lol

Though friends (DH) or in a bar or club on a night out or at work

He walked up to me on the street ( ex of 13 years so before online dating ect)

current partner I met through a friend and we reconnected via instagram

Clubs & uni.
After end of long marriage a few years ago I've met new guys at work and in the pub.
I love talking to new people, so always end up with a phone number after a few drinks in the pub.

Pubs, school, university work, through friends, walking group, I met one long term boyfriend on holiday and I met my now husband whilst travelling.

I have a friend who met her husband pre apps because she answered an advertisement he placed in a newspaper.

Pubs & clubs
Parties
Wedding receptions
Friends of friends
Work
Known one another since childhood

What about proper dating apps that you pay for ? Surely you will have more luck that way .
I met dh in the pub 26 years ago !

I would say friends of friends, but I always hated that when it didn't work out. Benefits of OLD is that it's more likely that you'll never have to see them again.

I had plenty of kisses and flirting in nightclubs in the 2010s but I don't recall it ever leading to exhanging numbers, and i'm not into one night stands so.

OLD suits me much better!

I actually don't think dating apps are that bad, I met my husband on one.

You just need to know how to use them, be very careful and be willing to go on lots of dates.

Sports club
Sports club @university - different sport
University canteen
Friend of friend
Work
Conference - been married for 22 years

We may not have had had dating apps 22 years ago, but we were not also permanently distracted by mobile phones.

I met my dh at a pub lock in.

For me, pubs, through friends , or work ( working behind a bar!) A couple of times I threw a party and invited guys I didn't know so well but liked the look of, and would get friends to bring along their brothers/cousins as well.
It worked well in that I met plenty of guys that way, but even though you'd think they'd be filtered for dodgy- ness, in fact some of them turned out not be so great! My current DH was a friend of a friend.
I notice that most of my sons' friends who do have long -term serious partners met them at school or university. My younger female relatives go on dating apps, and some of them have met boyfriends that way, but mostly short-term ones. maybe that's like pulling in the pub?

Either pubs and clubs or through classes (college/university etc).

I met my EXH at work, he was attractive and seemed ok at first. But he turned out to be a right twat, so I don't think that it was any better than if we'd met on a dating site.

Through work, hobbies and on nights out.

Hobbies and work. People met someone and liked them and stuck with them because you didn’t have hundreds of strangers you could swipe on the second you got our your phone.

Saying that, people also put up with shitty relationships a lot more.

Find out what you enjoy doing and get stuck into that. At the least you might make some new friends.

We went out a lot to pubs and clubs, got pissed and ‘got off’ with someone.

You had to go out places and hope you crossed paths with someone decent! No chance of matching on shared interests, all you had to go on was looks and banter. Often you’d date someone a few times before you realised you had nothing in common, or found out they had kids, or were just looking for a fling, etc.

I probably met about half of my boyfriends in a pub, a quarter were studying the same course as me, and a quarter of them I met at shared hobbies. I look at how easy it is to find partners with shared interests nowadays via online dating, and I wish it had been around when I was younger!

Oh god I bloody LOVED dating in the 80s!

Here's how it went down:

Came home from work/college/wherever!
Got showered and changed.
Met your mates at the local pub (this never changed in all my years of doing this...Friday/Saturday night, 7.00 everyone was in the pub!)
Had a drink whilst eyeing up the local talent...decided whether it was worth staying local or moving on to 'bigger and better' things 🤣
If moving on, this meant choosing between Club A or Club B (we didn't travel far 🤣)

Wherever we ended up, the 'mating ritual' was the same...buy a drink, do a slow (but meticulous!) sweep of the joint to spot your target.
Take up residence close to target.
Flirt shamelessly until target noticed and then avoid all eye contact!
Rinse and repeat until 1am, when The Slow Dance was played, at which point the target usually came over and asked for a dance.

1.15 (after slow dance) lights come up and everyone was herded outside...at this point you were either horrified that your conquest was hideous when the lights went up, or quietly smug and got a snog in the car park.

Numbers would be swapped (parents house phone, obviously 🤣) and you then played the 'will he/won't he' waiting game.

Such fun 🤩

My exs (and DH) have been

• school friends
• work
• night out

Fairly similar to a few of my friends who are settled down. There are a few dating app couples. We're all late 20s/early 30s

I left my phone number on my DH's windscreen.

At someone else's birthday party.

Met DH in a bar. Been married 21 years