Butler streets ahead in the dating game (From This Is Local London)

Butler streets ahead in the dating game

8:01am Monday 4th July 2005 in

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Getting 93 women to give you their phone number in two days is not bad going by anyone's standards.

So it seems lovelorn singleton Jeremy Butler's novel approach to meeting women seriously paid off in Crouch End Broadway last weekend.

Disillusioned with speed-dating and ten years of singledom, the 32-year-old account manager, of Aubrey Road, Crouch End, decided to seek dates by setting up a Girlfriend Wanted' stall near Hornsey Town Hall. He promised to call each and every one of the 93 women who gave him their numbers but has finally whittled down the hordes of adoring females to a shortlist.

"In 18 hours, I barely got one negative comment; it was phenomenal," he said. "I've narrowed it down to six or seven people I would like to meet up with and get to know better."

Included on the shortlist is a woman so enamoured after hearing him being interviewed on the radio that she drove from Dartford to Crouch End to meet him.

Curious passers-by stopped to speak to him over the two days. Men shook his hand and said, "Why didn't I think of that?" But he says his biggest challenge was convincing people he was geniune.

"Everybody immediately thought I was doing it to get my face in the paper but I did it for geniune reasons and, judging by the response, I supppose that came through in the end," he said.

Jeremy, who likes quirkiness in a lady and says Bjork would be his dream date, rates Crouch End as a particularly difficult place to find love.

"Crouch End is a lovely place but it's one of the worst in London to be single because it's so coupled-up," he said.

Since the weekend, he has clocked up 25 radio interviews, featured on TV news bulletins and has been approached by a TV company interested in recording a programme about his experience.

Patricia Graham, 31, was one who didn't surrender her number, despite Jeremy's best efforts. "This will definitely appeal to women because it shows he's brave and has a sense of humour," she said. "It comes across as geniune and makes you think, 'How sweet'," she said.

Having already been on two dates, Jeremy admits to finally feeling the strain.

"It was an awesome weekend," he said. "But I'm absolutely done-in physically. Applications have now closed. "

mkent@london.newsquest.co.uk