Love on the lines

The London Tube traveller rarely chats to strangers, so what chance of finding a perfect partner when you go underground? There are more potential soulmates down there than you think, says Rosamund Urwin
p38 Credit: Paul Dallimore
9 January 2013

It's the sigh of the Underground: the sound that leaves your lips when you look up from this newspaper and catch the eye of a genetically blessed vision whom you dream of taking out for a Snog (the frozen yoghurt, that is).

Yes, we Londoners may moan about the Tube. The delays. The cramped trains. The way the Circle line’s countdown boards never work so that you only know a train is coming when the mice start scampering out of the tunnel. But London is a city of singletons, a marriage (or civil partnership) market, and — while everyone may be going online now — since we spend so much of our life stuck with a bunch of strangers 30 metres below street level, a few matches are inevitably made underground.

In a poll of commuters by mxData, the company behind the Tube Map app, almost half said they see someone who takes their fancy on the Tube at least once a week. A tenth — perhaps the less picky sort — spot a dashing stranger every day. And, in a set of statistics that I would suggest were made up were they not so useful for the purposes of this article, a previous study had found that half of Tube-users had swapped numbers with a fellow passenger, while one in 100 married someone they met on the London Underground.

One such couple is tax inspector Will Gull and teacher Katie Crammer. Gull spotted Crammer across a Central line carriage six years ago and slipped her a note saying she was beautiful. He later proposed at South Woodford station and the couple returned there in their wedding garb last year to thank Tube staff for (accidentally) playing Eros.

Since most of us lack Gull’s bravery to make the first move, websites such as love-underground.co.uk allow lost lusts to reconnect. Over in New York, meanwhile, a woman who calls herself the “love conductor” has started a dating service for singletons she finds on the subway. Erika Christensen launched Train Spottings in October, using the city’s rail network to find matches for her clients.

Now a similar approach is being taken by a TV team in London who are bidding for a commission. Presenter and comedy writer Fletcher Cowan stands outside a Tube station, looking for a singleton.

“I go on a journey with them, and have only that journey to find someone they think is attractive,” he explains. “The idea came from the fact that you so often go on the Tube and you see people you fancy but because you are on the Tube and because we are English, you don’t really act on those instincts. The idea is to give people confidence.”

Cowan makes the point that different spots attract different types of singletons. So which line in London is most likely to be carrying your soulmate?

While this is decidedly not a stalkers’ mandate — even stricter rules of engagement should apply than usual since most of us don’t like to chat on the Tube — your Oyster Card might just turn out to be your aphrodisiac.

Bakerloo: Apparently, this is the Condé Nast Express, taking the (wealthier) fashionable folk who work at Vogue House from Queen’s Park and Kensal Green to Oxford Circus. Also popular with the capital’s PR men and women.

Central: There’s a totty tussle between the Central and Northern lines over which has the most attractive passengers, with both previously topping polls (yes, this research really has been done — twice). The (red hot?) Central line offers two extremes: the sharp-suited financiers heading to the City and the Guardian-reading, tea-drinking types who work for the BBC, as the Central line connects the White City TV centre with Broadcasting House (Oxford Circus).

Circle (and Hammersmith & City): There are a lot of label-lovers in the stretch from St James’s Park to Edgware Road, the Mulberry handbags and Savile Row suits suggesting passengers more accustomed to taking taxis. Oh, and there are a lot of confused and lost people too — they need to be helped, not hit on.

District: The line that most closely follows the river reflects a division between east and west London. Passengers become older, deeper-pocketed and more Barbour-jacketed as you get closer to South Kensington. Also often seems to be full of students on a night out (the LSE is at Temple, Imperial at South Ken).

DLR: As well as carrying bankers to Canary Wharf and jet-setters to City airport, the Docklands Light Railway is a magnet for the muscly, with rowers and sailors both boarding to play around on boats. Riding the DLR also justifies the use of the line: “Baby you can drive my train”.

Jubilee: A triple proposition: strong on J-Dates in the west (especially for the over-40s), Whitehall mandarins in the middle and investment bankers in the east.

Overground: The part that used to be the East London line is populated by the kind of people who get snapped for street style blogs. Passing through Hackney and Dalston, it is inevitably a stamping ground for young creatives, particularly those who work in fashion and music. A style spy reports bowler hats for the girls, and boys clad in turned-up trousers, brogues and beanie hats, carrying battered briefcases.

Metropolitan: A good hunting-ground for commitment-phobes: your crush may live so far away (Amersham is in zone nine), that you hardly need to see them.

Northern: Unfairly dubbed “the misery line”, the Northern is really an eclectic mix. The two branches at the top are a good spot for those of Jewish descent who prefer to date within their faith. Below Kennington, it’s young professional territory — although it is also more packed in the mornings than Infernos is on a Saturday night.

Piccadilly: This is the tourist line — just look at all those suitcases either heading to or from Heathrow. Oh, and the backpackers who’ve turned up in shorts and flip-flops, disregarding everything they’ve heard about London weather. Unless a fling is your thing, it’s probably not worth it, although you could try the insanely cheesy chat-up line: “Are we heading to the airport or is that just my heart taking off?” — after all, that can only work on someone who doesn’t speak much English. The Piccadilly is also thesp-heavy as it runs through the West End.

Victoria: Your best hope is probably the stretch south of Victoria, with the gig-goers heading to Brixton Academy especially open to chatting. A lot of those boarding at Victoria in the morning are married suburbanites who have moved to south London or Kent for cheaper properties and better schools — so you’ve probably already missed your chance there.

Waterloo & City: City types (often coming on the train from the Home Counties) with a need for speed. Like the Victoria line, they’re often spoken for, unfortunately.

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