Ask most any single person in Toronto about their love life and they’re likely to tell you the same thing: they’re tired of using dating apps.
Toronto is a bustling urban hub but dating in the city can be a tricky and often uncomfortable experience. However, it’s not without hope.
Among the most hopeful are the co-hosts of a dating service that has been gaining steam in the city, called Thursday.
For nearly a year, locals Felisha Liu and Ben Davies have been trying to shift Torontonians’ dating perceptions as they oversee the local Thursday Dating chapter. The company is an internationally recognized organization that hosts in-person events and socials for singles.
Launched in London, England, in 2021, the company’s goal has been to create a more relaxed and communicative alternative to online dating. Branded as “the biggest IRL dating app in the world,” it has since expanded to more than 75 cities globally and, as the name suggests, operates events exclusively on Thursdays.
Liu introduced the brand to Toronto in February 2024 when a friend from the U.K. made her aware of the service. She immediately sensed it was desperately needed in the city.
“We needed something new,” Liu told TorontoToday. “The dating apps have always been horrible and there’s a huge demand for making connections in Toronto.”
Spreading the love
Growing the service through social media, advertising and word of mouth, Liu and Davies have been hosting the events at different bars and venues across the city every week.
Users, who are over the age of 19, must download the Thursday Events app and select their city before booking a ticket to a social of their choosing. Tickets typically cost between $15 and $25.
Each Thursday event is designed to offer singles a casual space to socialize. Only unlike a traditional bar, every patron is single and has the same goal in mind: to meet a romantic fling.
Though Thursday events initially catered to a younger crowd in Toronto, the local chapter has since expanded to suit a variety of demographics through several tailored offshoots including dinner experiences, fitness events and socials for locals over the age of 35.
Because of this expansion, the co-hosts have seen a dramatic uptick in participation.
“We first started in small bars — 80 people was the max,” Liu said. “Now we’re at a max of 300. Over the summer, we even had a yacht party that had 500 people on a boat which was crazy. People are getting the hang of it. It’s like a standard event now.”
Liu and Davies said that success has already carried into the new year. They sold out their first two gatherings in 2025, totalling a combined 460 attendees.
Bar owners have even begun approaching the organizers to ask about hosting the Thursday events at their venues.
“It’s a win-win situation,” Davies said. “We have a place to host, and [the bars] get a lot more profit on a Thursday night. It’s a very collaborative process. We’re really seeing a huge boom.”
Swiping left on dating apps
Thursday organizers said their success can be attributed to the fact that many Torontonians are moving away from the online dating scene.
They argued in-person opportunities like the Thursday events boast far more benefits than apps like Tinder, Bumble or Hinge.
“People are tired of the apps. They hate swiping,” Liu said. “At an event like Thursday, you can meet 250 singles in one night, compared to doom scrolling for weeks and weeks to get one date with one person. It’s more face to face, and you can figure out instantly if you like someone.”
Davies agreed and added, “A lot of people come looking for romance, but they leave with platonic connections as well.”
“Everyone’s looking for a connection in the city, and this is a great place to make it happen,” he boasted.
Shannon Tebb, a Toronto matchmaker who has been running her own dating consulting business since 2010, said online dating can impact a users’ self-confidence and can even lead to “dating burnout.”
“Sometimes, people don’t know how to write the correct bio, or their pictures aren’t as good — so people get cancelled out too early,” she said of dating apps. “But if you meet somebody in real life, you get a sense of their energy, mannerisms and expressions.”
For Tebb, part of the reason why dating apps aren’t working for some people is because of the uninspiring, and sometimes awkward, messages that singles send and receive online.
“Messaging someone, ‘Hey how’s your day?’ — you’re not getting anything from that. People just aren’t as creative with the messaging, so people don’t know how to get to the date,” Tebb said.
As part of her dating consultancy, Tebb assists singles with online messaging and communicating to boost their chances of making a strong connection, and ultimately, prompting that first in-person meet.
But at events like Thursday, Tebb said some of the pressure is taken off of exclusively physical judgments because you can get to know someone “on an emotional level.”
“People sometimes look for those certain must-haves, like you have to be six feet tall,” she said. “But they can go to Thursday and meet someone who’s five-foot-nine and fall in love. You can trust your gut better in person.”
Chasing intimate connections
Attending this week’s Thursday event at Isabelle’s Nightclub on King Street West was Alyanna, a 26-year-old who has lived in the city for two years.
She saw an advertisement for the dating organization online and decided she’d give it a shot.
“I want to meet people as much as I can,” she said. “You get sick of the apps. Dating apps are attraction-first. But here, you can vibe with people and see them in-person. It can be overwhelming at first, but you gotta do what you gotta do.”
All too familiar with the apps is Alex Lach, a 38-year-old from Mississauga who also made it out to his first Thursday event this week.
Whether it’s Tinder, Hinge, Bumble or even Facebook dating, Lach said he has tried them all. While he’s met most of his previous partners online and experienced some success with the apps, Lach told TorontoToday he’s been eager for a new outlet.
“We live in a very digital age, so if you want to meet people outside of work and outside your circle of friends, online dating is good for that,” he said. “But it can come with a lot of judgment and can sometimes be superficial.”
“At Thursday, you get to try something different rather than messaging someone and trying to use a clever pick-up line,” he added.
While the events are open to everyone, Thursday organizers are aiming to expand the network by hosting other tailored meetings, like exclusive gatherings for the 2SLGBTQIA+ community as well as additional age-specific socials.
“Every person you talk to at Thursday is someone new, so it can be daunting,” Davies said. “But everyone here is in the same boat and for the same reason.”
“Even if you come away and didn’t make the connection you wanted to, you still put yourself out there — and that’s what this is all about.”
