Last week we marked 100 days to go until the Olympics. Now, research shows that the historic event is helping to change the dynamics of dating within London. We're becoming much more interested in sport and fitness, and find these qualities more attractive in the opposite sex. London-based singles and dating membership club, Dinner Dates, interviewed a cross-section of its members, and discovered that men in Greater London find the following interests attractive in a woman:
- Sport
- Yoga/Keep Fit
- Dance
- Home Décor/Design
- Cookery
On the other hand, London-based women find the following qualities attractive in a man:
- Sport
- Cookery
- DIY
- Foreign languages
- Music
Dinner Dates owner and director, Cynthia Spillman, puts the new ranking of these factors down to two main influences on London life – the Olympics, and the recession. She says: "All of the talk is about sport this year, participation in sport, which Olympic events to go and see and how to get fitter and allow the Olympics to have positive health benefits. This is rubbing off on us and we are going sport crazy, as well as discovering that sport is one interest that can bring the sexes together and spark off really interesting dinner conversations".
Cynthia says the other influence is the recession. "We are increasingly finding ourselves staying in with partners, rather than going out, so we want to make sure that the people we spend time with have interesting hobbies to talk about, rather than just boring us with accounts of what happened in the Boardroom”. Women find 'executive power' less attractive than before, which ranked behind creative arts participation (6th), community work (7th) and photography (8th). More information: www.dinnerdates.com