Matchmaker spurns web for real dates

A HEADHUNTER has given up her day job to become a recruiter for love.

Linda Allan has launched Indigo Intro to tap into the market for professionals who want to meet a prospective partner face to face rather than risk internet dating.

Aimed at bringing together singles between the ages of 30 and 55, Allan also has ambitions to target over-55s and launch gay introductions.

Allan launched her business last week with events in ­Glasgow and Edinburgh. The idea came to her as a result of a “moment of madness” when she applied to become a contestant on the BBC TV show The Apprentice. She came up with the dating venture on the train journey to Birmingham where auditions for the show were being held. And while she wasn’t successful in her bid to be on the programme, she decided to quit her job at a recruitment agency and press ahead with Indigo ­Intro.

Although the market is dominated by online dating sites such as Match.com and fast-growing Scottish network Cupid, Allan believes a niche one-to-one service is preferable for people who find online dating unappealing, or worse.

Allan said: “Everyone I’ve spoken to thinks it is great that it’s different from online dating, which some people have found too duplicitous. They are terrified that the person on the other end of the email is not going to look like their photograph, or they are married.”

Allan is now building up the group’s paid membership and organising further events, and hopes to expand into the “pink” market, offering introductions for gay people.