Dating sites seem to come in three flavours - free, 'pretend free', and not-free-at-all.
Obviously there are plenty of UK dating sites out there which are only too delighted to help you find the love of your life, as long as you pay a significant upfront fee, or pay a monthly subscription. This can often add up, especially when some people end up paying for months, or even years.
There are also plenty of 'pretend free' dating sites too. These are the ones that hook you in with gloriously romantic promises of people desperate to meet someone as scintillating and magnificent as you! They claim it's free to sign up, free to browse matches, free to do all sorts of things, so come on in!
The only problem is that once you have found someone, you realise you can only wink at them. No conversations for you, no cute little messages or swapping numbers. Not unless you're willing to pay.
Imagine you were in a bar, and saw someone you really liked, and who seemed to be interested in you too. You smile, they smile. You wink, they wink. You take a step towards them to offer to buy them a drink, and some meaty great bouncer dives in between you and asks you for cash before you’re allowed to talk to them.
Then of course there are the totally free dating sites. Love is free, so they say, so why shouldn't a dating site be free?
All right, so the people running totally free UK dating sites aren't doing it for the love. Well, they are, but that's not going to pay the server bills. These free dating sites earn their revenue through third party advertising. Florists and gift companies for example may well pay to place an advert on a dating site, and this is how a free dating site can really be totally free.
But when it comes to your date, you'll still have to pay for the drinks. Sorry about that.