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Still, there’s nothing worse than a woman who doesn’t say anything at all.”I am momentarily lost for words.Despite Barry’s fear of being found out, Janetta assures me that there is no stigma attached to using an agency nowadays and that it is not full of “sad, lonely people who haven’t got a personality”. The next date was an actress who was very beautiful but talked about herself non-stop for the whole lunch – dreadful. It was very stressful.”Now he is a veteran Only Luncher, having been on six dates since he joined six months ago. “My first three dates were a naval officer and two policewomen I went back and asked to have my criteria reassessed. It sounds awful, but I asked if they could give me some better-looking women.”It served me right. I was so worried that she’d trip up, I didn’t dare leave her alone all evening. They had agreed a story beforehand but “there was one guy that wanted all the details, wouldn’t let it drop.

Those he did know were always setting him up on unsuitable dates “Someone mentioned it at work and I followed it up. I didn’t tell anyone, though.”That brought problems when he introduced an Only Lunch date to his friends. We offer what most men want: we’ll do everything for them – choose the woman, book the restaurant, arrange the time.”Barry (“please don’t use my real name, no one knows I use a dating agency”) joined when he came to work for a software company in London, because he knew few people in the capital. Most dating agencies have a real problem attracting men in general. (If they don’t get on, they just wish each other “good luck” – a coded goodbye.) As for the bill, it is always split 50/50 “I think that’s what really attracts men. Only first names are exchanged, leaving the couple to decide later whether to swap phone numbers or fix another date. You haven’t got all that ‘how am I going to get out of this politely?’”For pounds 560 a year you get to go on at least eight dates, where Only Lunch matches the couple, makes the date and books the restaurant.

“Every newspaper, every magazine I pick up is talking about the problem of being a singleton.”There are now 500 people on the books of Only Lunch, set up in September 1996. It offers two main selling-points: it handmatches clients rather than relying on computers or questionnaires, and it sends people out to lunch, rather than into the social minefield of evening meetings.”We aimed to create an environment which was safe and pressure-free, and we thought going for lunch provided that,” says Janetta “If you don’t like them you can go back to the office. “The phone hasn’t stopped ringing since the day we launched,” says Janetta Hamilton-Brown, one of the founders of the agency. It’s all very well being mature when it comes to dating agencies, but I think both of us are secretly terrified the other will think “Urggh, forget personality. I don’t fancy you.” It’s like being 15 all over again.More and more people, however, are willing to put themselves through this. He could have been a member of the Swedish royal family or a complete loon.

(As it turns out, neither.) We had been brought together by an agency called Only Lunch, which specialises in playing Cupid for careerists, catching a generation of Nineties men and women who are too busy to organise a love life for themselves.
Barry is a few minutes late We both look absolutely petrified. I knew nothing more about Barry than that he came from the US. Noted down in the Psion is the project to find Mr Right, but where to look when you’re working all hours, you can’t complicate your job by going out with a colleague, and your married friends set you up with a succession of dire people? This is why one Tuesday lunchtime I found myself seated opposite a man called Barry in a crowded restaurant. You’re too busy to have a love life let alone buy a Valentine’s card? Join the club. The lunch club, that is, where your date is found for you, the restaurant booked All you have to do is turn up and turn on the charm Glenda Cooper gives it a whirl. The course of true love never did run smooth – but try being a busy London professional pursuing a career. After all, where do you go from this?Interview by Katie Sampson.