Peared Up: St Andrews’ Dating Culture Cured

When Gemma Collins said, "It’s hell in there. It’s horror. You have to be a certain type of person to survive," you’d think she was talking about the dating scene in St Andrews. Hell, horror, and a pained existence encapsulate what many singletons experience here – a trilogy of suffering born not just from abstinence, but from actually going on dates. 

The issues are obvious. Sixty percent of students are female, so there are simply more women than men. As one student noted, “there are five men and they’re all hideous, and there are twelve hundred beautiful women.” Another admitted, “guys have much hotter girlfriends in this town than they should.” 

Then there’s the nonexistence of anonymity. ‘‘Nothing is ever a secret,” wrote another student. “As soon as you go on a date with someone the whole town knows. Everyone starts viewing you as a couple.” Dating here feels like promenading in the 19th century: it’s a public spectacle.

The global issue is that dating doesn’t feel human anymore, but St Andrews’ insularity and gender imbalance make it a particularly fascinating case study. Too many women, too few men. Too much ego and far too many witnesses. Dating here is abysmal, and every day feels like Halloween.

Fortunately, a small group of students are actively crafting a solution with Peared – a student-run matchmaking service bringing blind dates, speed dating, and a much-needed revival of romance to St Andrews. 

The project began as a university assignment. During an enterprise module, students were asked to design a hypothetical business plan as part of a charity-focused brief. “Our goal was to pass the class, not to start anything long-term,” one of the students involved laughed. But the gap in the St Andrews dating scene was too obvious to ignore, leading the group to launch their first blind-date event in November 2023, which attracted 32 participants.

The tipping point came when one of the students attended a dinner at Hatch and met Julie Dalton, director of the Adamson Group. After Dalton spoke about wanting to collaborate more closely with students, the idea of hosting Peared events at their venues emerged. “She gave me her business card, and that night we set up an email account”. What followed was a series of student-led events which have been running successfully ever since.

Credit: Peared Team

The students behind Peared understand the psychology of dating in St Andrews perfectly: students want to date, but often need an excuse to do so. “People aren’t scared of hookup culture, but they’re scared of asking someone on a date,” one organiser explained. “We wanted to create something where everyone’s in the same boat – a night out where you’re dressed up, drinking, but also meeting people who are there for the same reason. It’s less intimidating.”

That insight is matched by a strong sense of initiative. When advertising to men, the organisers joke it’s “the cheapest date you’ll ever go on.” To women, the pitch is more cinematic: “Do it for the plot.” Peared is run in an authentic yet self-aware way, completely attuned to the culture it’s trying to fix. The team don’t rely on algorithms or AI and instead prioritise making Peared “a very human experience”. Each event involves a compatibility form including name, age, course, and niche details like type, dealbreakers, and dating goals. Through this authentic approach, they’re fostering a small but growing community. “Now that we’ve been running it for a while, we’ve noticed repeat attendees,” explained a Peared organiser. One couple who met at their Valentine’s Day event is still together – a glowing success story. 

Credit: Peared Team

Peared offers something refreshingly sincere. It allows students to admit they actually want to date, without the stigma or the swiping, instead offering a casual environment with conversation, cocktails, and knowing where everyone stands. St Andrews doesn’t need fewer hopeless romantics, just better infrastructure for them, and Peared just might combat the hell and horror.