Farewell to romantic weekends

Last updated at 16:29 10 October 2005


The romantic weekend is becoming a thing of the past as the pressures of modern life take their toll, a survey revealed today.

Nearly two thirds of the 33 million Britons in relationships have not had a romantic weekend away in the past year.

And research shows that despite 79 per cent of couples believing their relationship would benefit from a romantic weekend away, 16 per cent have not had one for over five years.

Just over a quarter (26 per cent) of those surveyed said they have never indulged in a romantic weekend.

While the traditional romantic break may be suffering a decline, it is not down to a lack of interest.

Over half (52 per cent) of the 2,795 adults questioned by Teletext Holidays said they would love to get away for a weekend break if they had more time to spend together.

And if they did get the chance to spend a weekend together Britons know exactly what they would do with it.

Some 38 per cent admit that they would use a romantic weekend to be more sexually adventurous and a daring 16 per cent of men said they would don sexy underwear to spice up their weekend break.

The research found that the reason for the decline was the many pressures of modern life.

More than half of British couples (51 per cent) spend less than 24 hours with their partner each week and nearly a third (30 per cent) spend less than 10 hours a week together.

Londoners' love lives are worst hit with over half (55 per cent) of the capital's couples spending less than a day a week in each other's company.

However, traditional romance is not dead - 30 per cent of Brits would like to receive a love-letter while being serenaded appeals to 8 per cent, and 7 per cent dream of being read poetry.

The research showed that men are true romantics at heart with 17 per cent admitting they would love to receive flowers, 22 per cent would like to receive love-letters and 5 per cent would like to be serenaded.

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