Dating agencies and matchmakers in Nottingham and the East Midlands

We found one matchmaker actually based in Nottinghamshire. The others that will take Nottingham clients are regional or national firms with an East Midlands page. If you live in Leicester or Derby, this page is for you too: two of the three services name Leicestershire and Derbyshire among the areas they cover.

Below are three services that say on their own websites that they serve Nottingham, what each publishes, and where each stays silent. Everything comes from each firm's own website as it read on 20 October 2026, and its own documents take precedence over our summary. No listing is paid for and none carries an affiliate link.

Who's working in Nottingham right now

Place Matchmaking (local)

The only one of the three based in the county. Its founder runs it personally and says she lives in Nottinghamshire and can meet you face to face in Nottingham, Derby or Mansfield, or by video call. It lists Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Leicestershire as its main areas, naming Nottingham, West Bridgford, Mansfield, Ravenshead, Derby, Chesterfield and the Peak District, and also takes enquiries from Birmingham and Manchester. There are no public profiles: your details are shared with a potential match only with your consent, and introductions are made one at a time.

It is a small, personal service, which cuts both ways. You deal with the same person throughout, but ask how many current members fit what you're looking for before you pay.

Ignite Dating (national, registered in Rutland)

Ignite Dating Group Ltd gives its registered office as Oakham, Rutland, and says it works with clients throughout the UK and abroad. Its Nottinghamshire page names Nottingham, West Bridgford, Beeston, Mansfield, Newark and Worksop, and says it can search further afield if you're open to it. Clients get a dedicated matchmaker, personality profiling using the MBTI and FIRO frameworks, professional dating photography and headhunting beyond its own database.

Matchmakers Dating and its sister brands (national, based in Warwickshire)

Matchmakers Dating's East Midlands page says the company was formed in Nottingham in 2005 before expanding across the region and then nationally, and lists Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Leicestershire. It says it focuses on professionals aged 30 to 49. Its terms give its address as 8 Arrow Court, Alcester, Warwickshire, and its membership page says it is part of the Dating Options group.

You may come across the same business under other names. On 20 October 2026, Attractive Partners (with a Nottingham page), Searchmate (with an East Midlands page) and The Professional Matchmaker (with a Nottinghamshire page that calls it "based in Nottingham and across the UK") all gave the same Alcester address on their websites. Attractive Partners' terms are almost word for word the same as Matchmakers Dating's. Treat them as one choice, not four, and don't pay for more than one.

The trade body, the Association of British Introduction Agencies (ABIA), keeps a list of members covering the Midlands. On 20 October 2026 it showed 11, mostly national, London-based or faith and community services; none of the three above was on it. ABIA membership means an agency has agreed to follow its code of practice. It isn't a licence.

Prices side by side, with the date we checked

Place Matchmaking's two tiers differ in length; both promise "an agreed number of profiles", so ask how many before choosing.

Matchmakers Dating doesn't publish its fee, but its terms list what it would keep if you cancelled in the 14-day cooling-off period after asking it to start, which tells you something about the scale of the fee: £500 for a home or office profiling consultation (or £250 by video or phone), £500 for registration including background checks and initial searches, £250 for drafting your profile, £250 if headhunting has started, and from £75 for coaching or other services.

How each one vets the people you'll meet

• Place Matchmaking. The founder meets every member, in person or by video, and says potential matches are "personally vetted". The pages we read don't say what vetting involves or whether ID is checked.
• Ignite Dating. Lists "ID-checked introductions" among what every client receives, and says each match is personally vetted and approved by both people before contact is made.
• Matchmakers Dating. Its terms say everyone it recommends, from whatever source, is ID verified and interviewed. They then add: "we accept the particulars given to us in good faith", and advise you to verify others' details yourself. They also say it may recommend people found outside its paying membership who may not have paid a fee.

An interview confirms someone exists and is willing to meet. An ID check confirms they are who they say they are. Neither confirms that everything else they told the agency is true. Our guide to how agencies vet members explains what to ask.

What the fee actually buys you

• Place Matchmaking sells a fixed period, six or twelve months. It doesn't publish terms on its website, so ask for the contract, the cancellation terms and what happens if it runs out of suitable people before your time is up.
• Ignite Dating tailors each membership and doesn't publish terms on the pages we read. Ask the same questions.
• Matchmakers Dating says your contract starts on the date of your first payment. After the 14-day cancellation period, it gives no refund unless it has breached its terms or your consumer rights, and says "the service and the fee paid are not divisible pro rata". Where your agreement promises a number of introductions, its terms say that promise is met either when you reach that number or when it has sent you at least twice as many profiles, whether or not they led to a meeting. A freeze is available only if your agreement includes one.

Your consumer rights sit underneath all of this. If you sign a contract online, by phone or away from the firm's office, you have 14 days after the day you sign to cancel. If you asked the firm to start work in those 14 days, it can charge for what it has done. Sign at the firm's own premises and that cancellation right generally doesn't apply. Our guide to dating agency contracts and refunds sets out the rest.

What to ask at your first consultation

Take these to any Nottingham service, and ask for the answers in writing:

1. What is the full fee, including VAT, and when is each part due?
2. How many introductions will I get, and does a profile I decline count as one?
3. How many current members fit what I'm looking for, by age and area?
4. Do you check ID? Anything else, such as relationship status?
5. Do you trade under any other names?
6. If I cancel within 14 days, what exactly would you deduct?
7. What happens if you run out of suitable people before my membership ends?

Question 3 matters in the East Midlands. A firm drawing on members from across the region, or the whole country, may suggest someone an hour or more away, so say how far you're happy to travel. Our full list of questions, and what happens at the first interview, will help you prepare.

When an agency isn't the answer

An agency makes most sense if you're short of time, want people screened before you meet them, and can afford to lose the fee if it doesn't work out. It makes less sense on a tight budget, or if you'd rather see who's out there yourself.

Be cautious with anyone who presses you to sign at the first meeting or won't let you take the contract home. The warning signs guide lists the others, and is a matchmaker worth it? walks through the decision.

If something goes wrong

Start with the firm, in writing, then escalate.

Our own online service, listed separately

DatingAgency.com is not one of the services above. We run an online dating service where you do the searching yourself: nobody interviews members or picks matches. Joining, making a profile and browsing are free; reading and replying to messages needs a paid membership that renews until you cancel. Profiles are shared with partner sites in the same network, and what members write about themselves isn't checked. How our service works and our prices give the details, and the same safety advice applies.