Romantic males hold on to love keepsakes

By EMMA COWING
Published on 03/02/2013 00:00

OH, THE romance! Men are more likely to hoard love letters, mementoes and photographs from previous relationships than women, according to a new survey.

More than one third (36 per cent) of British adults confessed to secretly squirrelling away keepsakes from past relationships.

And men are more likely to do so – a third admit stashing photos of old flames compared to just a fifth of women, while a quarter of men admit hanging on to love letters and mementoes compared to a fifth of females, the Wilkinson survey found.

Younger people were more likely to keep a secret stash, with 53 per cent of under-35s hoarding items from old relationships.

A third of people said they kept mementoes from old relationships to remind them of happy times, and the majority (70 per cent) said their partner or spouse would be angry or upset if they found out. But more than half (52 per cent) said the items were part of their history and they could not bear to part with them.

People were more likely to tell their friends than families about their secret hoards – six out of ten said they would be embarrassed to tell their friends while three-quarters said the same of their parents.

Out of the 2,000 people surv­eyed, almost two-thirds (63 per cent) of men described themselves as sentimental, rising to four-fifths of females.

Graham McLaughlin, of Wilkinson, said: “These are very interesting figures that may surprise people as they 
reveal a more sentimental side to men than many previously believed.

“Both sexes are guilty of sec­ret hoarding, but the fact is men are actually more secr­etly sentimental than women, and a greater number keep hold of items of emotional significance.”