LONDON, UK – 14 August 2024 – Tinder, the dating app that revolutionised how people meet, reveals the nation’s most iconic romantic movie locations as voted for by young British singles1. 

Heathrow Arrivals (Love Actually), the bench alongside the Thames (Love Actually) and Pembroke Castle (Me Before You) take the top three spots. This comes as new research from Tinder finds that 47% of singles aged 18-35 admit to taking dating cues from Hollywood rom-coms, and 52% are hoping to find their very own 'movie-style' romance through dating apps. 

With 61% saying that watching a rom-com makes them optimistic about finding love, the top romantics in the UK can be found in Sheffield (71%), Nottingham (66%) and London (62%). A further 45% of daters also go as far as mimicking some of the romantic gestures pictured in movies in their love life, with nearly half of men likely to do so (49%). 

But unlike the romantic films the nation knows and loves, real meet cutes don’t need to replicate a movie scene to end like one. With a relationship starting every three seconds on Tinder2, 54% of young singles admitted they immediately get that ‘butterfly in the stomach’ feeling when getting a message from a person on a dating app. 

So to commemorate the UK's favourite romance movie location, Tinder has unveiled a plaque in the Terminal 3 Arrivals Hall of Heathrow, encouraging singles to experience the joy and endless possibilities of finding their very own ‘digital meet cute’ on Tinder. 

In fact, one of the many relationships that have started on Tinder includes the love story of Rob (28) and Meg (28) from Darlington, who met in 2020 - finding themselves back in the dating pool after long-term relationships. 

Rob and Meg turned to Tinder to connect with new people and ultimately see what exciting relationships could develop. Within weeks of joining, they both found themselves as a Tinder match to one another, with Rob recalling that he was completely enamoured with Meg’s smile on her profile pictures, and likewise Meg was drawn to Rob’s authentic and honest profile.

After the joy of messaging and seeing sparks fly, then meeting IRL, they both knew they’d found their forever person. After a few months, they moved into their very first home together, and fast forward to today, they’re eagerly anticipating their upcoming nuptials in November 2024. 

“Daters today are nostalgic for the meet-cutes they’ve seen in old rom-coms. But the reality is that the rom-com meet cute is the exception, not the rule. Tinder is where modern-day meet-cutes happen — just ask the millions of couples who have met on Tinder,” said Stephanie Danzi, SVP of Global Marketing at Tinder.

Despite taking inspiration from fictional stories, over two thirds of daters (67%) still prioritise finding authentic connections over casual dating, as 73% say that they value more meaningful relationships now than they used to. Most daters (71%) have also admitted that they ‘love it’ when a love interest puts thought into the first message, rather than just opening with ‘hi’. 

Tinder’s celebration of movie-inspired meet cutes  forms part of a new chapter of its award-winning global campaign, “It Starts With a Swipe,” featuring the cutest meet cutes of them all: the first messages of real couples who met on Tinder and who are currently in relationships.