To celebrate Bring Your Dog to Work Day (Friday 23rd June), Lilly’s Café in Covent Garden has partnered with Hug Pet Food to give four legged friends a FREE gourmet dinner alongside their pet parent’s meal to reward them for a hard day at work!
Continue reading “Get your Paws on a FREE Doggy Dining Experience this ‘Bring Your Dog to Work Day’ | My Soho Times”All-Female Collab: Burger & Lobster launch limited-edition Lobster Katsu Curry Roll | My Soho Times
International Women’s Day marks the launch of Burger & Lobster‘s Japanese-inspired take on their classic lobster roll, in collaboration with dynamic duo chef Sophie Wyburd and wine expert Hannah Crosbie, hosts of top-charting podcast I’ll Have What She’s Having.
Continue reading “All-Female Collab: Burger & Lobster launch limited-edition Lobster Katsu Curry Roll | My Soho Times”What’s On: Mr Fogg’s Pawnbrokers arrives in Soho | My Soho Times
Placing Soho firmly on the Around the World in 80 Days map, the brand new experiential bar, Mr Fogg’s Pawnbrokers officially opened its doors on London’s Dean Street (at the corner of Romilly Street) on 22nd February as the latest addition to the Mr Fogg’s family and the first in Soho, taking inspiration from Victoria pawnbrokers through themed interiors and drinks.
Continue reading “What’s On: Mr Fogg’s Pawnbrokers arrives in Soho | My Soho Times”LOVELESS IN THE CITY: Are Dating Apps our only Hope to Find Love in the Big Metropolis?
“I’ve been dating since I was fifteen, I am exhausted. Where is he?” says Charlotte York in Episode 1 of Season 3, ‘Where there is smoke’, of Sex and the City .That was in the year 2000 before dating apps existed and the only way of meeting ‘the one’ was IRL, through friends, at events, parties, at work or school.
Fast forward to present day. After living in a pandemic for two years, most of us have at some point found ourselves being a ‘Charlotte’ and said or thought to ourselves ‘One more swipe and I will go to bed,’ hoping that ‘the one’ will be somewhere lost in the intricate algorithm of modern match-making.
If you live in London and own a smartphone, finding someone available for a date is surprisingly easy. Dating apps have become incredibly popular – in the UK six million people will be using them this year – and every eligible Londoner will have at least three apps on their phone. Even though Hinge’s slogan is: ‘Designed to be deleted’ (it’s one of the most popular apps in the UK) dating app users tend to keep them for at least two years, even if they pause and then resume their profiles.
These Dating Apps are Getting the Swipe left with Tinder leading
A new study by dating app, Dua.com, a nationality-based and meaningful dating app, has revealed that Tinder is the dating app people want to delete the most. The study analysed numerous dating apps, measuring the global search volume for terms relating to deleting the app to arrive at the app most people want to delete ahead of Valentines.
- Tinder is the dating app users want to delete the most, with 45,000 global searches every month around how to delete the app.
- Badoo is the second least popular app for online daters, with 22,000 monthly searches to delete the app.
Tinder is the least popular dating app, with an average of 45,000 searches being made each month around the world for how to delete the app. When broken down, searches for “how to delete Tinder account” brought in the highest volume of 19,000 searches globally, and “delete Tinder account” saw 13,000 searches worldwide each month. The app has accumulated 80 million users – more than most apps, and therefore contributes to its high ranking in this study – over six years and 64,000 ratings on the Apple App Store. The app’s rating currently sits at 3.8 out of five.
In second place is Badoo, with 22,000 worldwide searches each month for how to delete the app. Set up in 2006; the UK-based but internationally operating app has gathered 60 million users between 2015 and 2021.
With 18,100 deletion related searches on Google each month, the dating site Plenty of Fish ranks third. When broken down, the term “how to delete Plenty of Fish account” is searched 6,900 times a month, and “delete Plenty of Fish account” has 5,400 average monthly searches.
Searches to delete Bumble’s average at 8,400 every month, making it the fourth app users want to get rid of the most. Users have searched for “how to delete Bumble account” 3,900 times on a global monthly average, followed by “delete Bumble account” being searched 2,400 times around the world.
Happn takes the fifth spot with a worldwide deletion related search volume of 6,700 per month. With 15 million downloads, the app has received searches for “delete happn account” 2,000 times per month on average and “how to delete happn account” 1,800 times per month.
Commenting on the study, Valon Asani from Dua.com said, “Daters are becoming more aware of what they want from not only relationships, but also the apps that enable said relationships. This study offers a fascinating insight into which apps are the least favourable among users and it will be interesting to see if this ranking changes as 2023 continues.”
With quick dates being easy to get, is long term love harder to find?
London daters tend to set up meetings like job interviews. That attitude towards dating overlooks how magical it can be to discover one another without preconceptions or expectations. When you see someone’s height, drinking preferences and job title, does that really give you the urge to learn to love them?
I am an anthropologist and filmmaker with a YouTube channel LibidoTube that offers a conversation about how to have healthier sexual practices and how to communicate with your partner, or your sexual partner and, ironically, I don’t have one.
Prior to the pandemic, I would trust that life would put someone in my way, but socialising became difficult and I still wanted to put myself out there and test my dating abilities.So I gave in to the dating apps, and I kept swiping right for the wrong guy!
During my first dating experience, a prospective partner I met on Hinge sent a digital rose (bigger deal than giving a like) to one of my friends. It felt disrespectful, since he had seen my friend’s picture and he knew her name. This helped me understand that this was a trend, a plan of action for online daters to keep their options open.
I decided to open up the discussion by interviewing three online-dating-users within my network. They agreed that this was a strategy, a way not to keep all their eggs in one basket in order to avoid disappointment. But if we keep our options so open, aren’t we going to run out of options altogether?
All my interviewees seemed to have issues settling into one person or at least dating one person at a time. Commitment does not happen straight away with love, but it is a path you follow when you are discovering someone new, and that is hard to achieve when you have multiple options.
Mark, 29, an engineer and bachata dance fanatic from London, downloaded Tinder in 2017 after a long term relationship ended and his first date became a one year monogamous relationship. Ironically, the app that is most known for finding casual sex led him to a stable relationship.
When that ended, he downloaded OkCupid in hopes to find a more serious option. But he found more hookups through this app, even though he liked the highly detailed questions and the fact that you could know so much about someone’s preferences and taste before even meeting up, ‘You are asked whether you like to sleep in a cold bedroom or in a warm bedroom’.
I also interviewed Jackie, 27, a Marketing Executive from Barcelona, who told me that she had recently broken up with a boyfriend, and she went on Hinge straight away seeking validation, swiping through the catalogue of handsome men just for fun. Most people on dating apps use it as a rite of passage, as a way of testing their self-esteem.
This perpetuates the idea of objectifying people, since there is a thrill of discovering the ‘new person’ fresh out of your screen. Hence, this person after browsing for a bit, decided to go off the app and trust her social connections and rely on real-life events to meet people.
But for others, like Martin 31, a busy government funding officer from London, using apps means they are in control of managing their time when meeting someone. As it is predictable and practical, you can organise yourself and be efficient with what you want to get out of your date, which in real life, would be completely unpredictable.
Nevertheless, this is an issue that most interviewees have highlighted, which is the performativity of dating as oftentimes people ‘project who they want to be’ and they are mostly peacocking, at least for the first few dates until you can start to discover them at a deeper level.
To Swipe or Not To Swipe?…
In a city like London, people seem to be busy chasing a career, yet still need side hustles, hobbies, artistic aspirations and volunteer gigs. A divinely orchestrated and insular life path does no longer seem to be an appealing option, and that reflects in relationships.
Ironically, these dynamics of control and endless offers has found us lost, because we will never know if we are making the right decisions and even if we do, there will be a thought at the back of our heads that there are still options out there.
Sometimes we must let little miracles happen, even if that means getting off a dating app only to realise that your other half was there all along.
Written by Lucía López | @lucia.lobaz
Lucía López is a filmmaker and Visual Anthropology MA student with extensive research on sexuality, cultural sex practices and women studies. She has recently started a YouTube channel LibidoTube in which she opens up a space for talking about how to have healthier sexual relationships and be more intimate, as well as offering tips and tricks for how to have more enjoyable experiences.
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How it Went: Destinations – The Holiday & Travel Show February 2023 | My Soho Times
When we shared an exciting announcement that My Soho Times magazine will include a permanent travel segment in all print editions from Spring 2023, it made perfect sense to seek inspiration from the UK’s longest running travel show. Travel blogger Jessica Viana shares her highlights.
Continue reading “How it Went: Destinations – The Holiday & Travel Show February 2023 | My Soho Times”What’s On: Dirty Dancing – The Classic Story On Stage shakes its way back to the Dominion Theatre until 29th April
Following its record-breaking run in 2022, Dirty Dancing – The Classic Story on Stage shimmies and shakes its way back to the Dominion Theatre in 2023 for a limited time only. Reprising their roles from the 2022 West End cast, Michael O’Reilly (West Side Story) and Kira Malou (Fame) step once again into the dancing shoes of Johnny and Baby.
Exploding with heart-pounding music, breathtaking emotion and sensationally sexy dancing, this triumphant stage production, inspired by the hit film, follows the iconic story of Baby and Johnny. Featuring the hit songs ‘Hungry Eyes’, ‘Hey! Baby’, ‘Do You Love Me?’ and the heart-stopping ‘(I’ve Had) The Time Of My Life’, Dirty Dancing – The Classic Story On Stage is once again directed by Federico Bellone (West Side Story) and choreographed by Austin Wilks.
“Dirty Dancing – The Classic Story On Stage is a must-see!”
Tickets from £22.50
Location: Dominion Theatre, 268-269 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 7AQ
Box Office: http://www.dirtydancingonstage.co.uk
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OSCAR nominated short film Stranger at the Gate | My Soho Times
With this year’s Academy Awards coming up fast on our heels, the hotels of Soho big or boutique boasting a cinema space are doing brisk business at the moment. Turn up at 6.30pm or so in the evening and you will find the lobbies and foyers awash with curious cinephiles catching the latest previews.
Continue reading “OSCAR nominated short film Stranger at the Gate | My Soho Times”Crosstown launch Valentine’s Day sweet treats & gift boxes 10 – 14 February | My Soho Times
Say the magic 3-word phrase ‘I Love You‘ with a box of sweet treats from Crosstown this Valentine’s Day, available 10 – 14 February!
Continue reading “Crosstown launch Valentine’s Day sweet treats & gift boxes 10 – 14 February | My Soho Times”Breathless – the Misunderstood Obsession with Hoarding, and the Stories Attached to our Clothes | My Soho Times
Breathless, by Laura Horton, is a play about hoarding, the way this addiction creeps into people’s lives without them even noticing it and dealing with the sense of loss. Based on Laura’s real-life experiences, the work is a dark, magical story about trying to escape a world you’ve spent a lifetime carefully building. Laura tells My Soho Times about this commonly known yet often misunderstood obsession.
Continue reading “Breathless – the Misunderstood Obsession with Hoarding, and the Stories Attached to our Clothes | My Soho Times”An Irish Goodbye Review – A heart-warming film about loss | My Soho Times
Shortlisted for this year’s Oscars in the Live Action Short Film category, is the heart-warming An Irish Goodbye. Set on a farm within the rural landscape of Northern Ireland, two estranged brothers Lorcan and Turlough find themselves reunited after the untimely death of their mother. What at first seems to be a simple farewell becomes complicated when the two find their mother’s 100-item bucket list… all unfulfilled .
An Irish Goodbye explores themes of tradition, loss and family, whilst also addressing the issue of caring for someone with special needs. Turlough now has to decide who will care for Lorcan, who has Down’s Syndrome, which adds to the stress of their loss. Lorcan’s desire of continuing to work on the farm where he grew up is dashed when Turlough decides to send him to live with their Aunt on the other side of Ireland.
With Lorcan refusing to leave the farm until they have completed every single wish on the bucket list, starting with learning ‘How to do Tai Chi’, the brothers soon find themselves on a journey neither had envisioned.
The black comedy stars Seamus O’Hara (Universal’s The Northman, HBO’s Game of Thrones), James Martin (BBC’s Ups and Downs, ITV’s Marcella), Emmy and Olivier Award nominee Michelle Fairley (HBO’s Game of Thrones, Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows) and Paddy Jenkins (Film 4’s Steve McQueen’s Hunger), AMC’s Into The Badlands) making this an enjoyable watch.
Commenting on the film’s themes and nomination success at a Q&A screening, Ross White and Tom Berkeley, the film’s writers and directors shared how it was their own encounters with grief and “returning to the family organism” that inspired the story. This shines through not only aesthetically (many nods to a red, gloomy dining room) but also in the script’s gentle, easy intimacy. There’s a lightness to the processing of grief that is resonant with self-deprecating Northern Irish gallows humour. The quips and verbal jabs between the two brothers are an example of this.
Its usage of a lead with Down’s Syndrome was a source of celebration for me. When I asked the directors how the film would have been different if Lorcan had been the older brother, they touched on Turlough’s prejudice and belief that his brother needed a caretaker, as well as how this played on screen as a point of contention between the two brothers. Turlough makes no secret of his desire to sell the farm and rush back to London, avoiding all carer responsibilities and his anger at the prospect is not lost on Lorcan’s character, as we soon see.
This is truly where James Martin’s character shines for me: we get both sides of how each brother deals with their grief, but it is Martin’s humility, honesty and boldness that shines through, at the same time as still hitting the mark in terms of its comedic edge.
An Irish Goodbye is an ambitious picture that, in a satisfying and heart-warming sense, almost feels as if it could be outside of the short film genre. Making it to the Oscar shortlist is no small achievement given the level of competition inherent in the selection process. But this is an excellent movie that I’ve recommended to everyone I’ve crossed paths with since the screening.
How will it do on the night? An Irish Goodbye delivers tears, but is it enough to bag the trophy? Who knows, we can only wish them all the (Northern) Irish luck in the world!
Share your thoughts in the comment box below!
Written by Rukayat Moibi. Edited by Gillian Smith
Rukayat Moibi is a lover of all things space, otherworldly and wonderful, after Logan’s Run stole her pre-teen heart. Since then, her love for film and media has expanded to include joys like Black stories and cinema, world films and immersive theatre. If she’s not nestled into her favourite seat at The Ritzy, you’re sure to find Rukayat building her eczema-focused brand, Rukai Skincare, a range for eczema and challenged skins alike.
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