First Dates next series will be filmed at a Manchester restaurant

Popular Channel 4 show First Dates has revealed it will be filming its next series up here at a restaurant in Manchester.

The dating show is usually shot at the Paternoster Chop House in London, but will be moving Up North for its next outing.

That means maître d’ Fred Sirieix and his much-loved team will be in our city for series 16 – it’s not the first time Fred has filmed in Manchester, as he shot the last two series of BBC Two show My Million Pound Menu up here.

Channel 4

The Paternoster Chop House is owned by restaurant group D&D, and while they also own 20 Stories in Spinningfields and considered it as a location for the series, apparently there’s not enough room in the back for the show’s production team.

According to the MEN, producers are thought to have checked out potential sites in St Peter’s Square and the Corn Exchange too.

Leanne Klein, managing director of the production company Twenty Twenty, said: “We are very excited to be taking our flagship dating series to the regions. With the move of the First Dates restaurant we will have the chance to expose our daters to a brand new experience with a few exciting new tweaks to the much loved format.”

Channel 4

While First Dates is returning to our screens in the next few months with some episodes filmed in London, filming will soon begin on the new Mancunian series.

There will be thirty of the newly-commissioned episodes, and they’ll all be filmed at the new Manchester location.

Know anyone looking for love who’d want to get involved in this, then?