How to meet your new flatmate in one night...

...or, in other words, your definitive guide to the art of SpeedFlatmating.

Confused? Let's go back to basics.

Um, what even is SpeedFlatmating?

Glad you asked. We’ve been running SpeedFlatmating events for almost a DECADE, so you may well have come across them before and possibly not realised they were run by SpareRoom.

The aim of SpeedFlatmating is to give you the chance to meet lots of potential flatmates in one easy evening. Forget endless viewings, and using basically ALL your spare time to traipse around the city (potentially to no avail). This is all about coming to a relaxed bar for a couple of hours, mingling (with drink in hand), and getting to meet lots of potential flatmates in one go.

Sounds good. How do I know I'll meet the right people?

Everyone at SpeedFlatmating has to wear a sticker, which will be coloured blue or pink depending on whether they’re looking for a room, or have a room to offer. The sticker will say their name, desired location and budget – so it’s a really easy way to quickly pick out someone who matches your needs.

The events are in different locations across London (and Manchester), so you can localise your search a little. Which brings us nicely onto…

Where on earth are they?

We hold the events every week in both London and Manchester. Currently in London we’ve got an event every Monday in Bethnal Green (East London), or a Wednesday evening affair in Clapham South (South West London). There’s just one event in Manchester in the Northern Quarter, every Tuesday.

You can get all the details for each one (and venue addresses) here.

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I'm a bit nervous. What will happen when I get there?

Chill! It’s really not that bad, we promise.

When you get to your event, you’ll be greeted by SpeedFlatmating staff at the check-in desk, who will sign you in and get you to fill out your badge. Pro tip: it’s worth thinking about your area/budget before the event, just to speed this process up a bit.

Then you can grab a drink, and get mingling. SpeedFlatmating staff will be on hand all night to answer your questions, and will circulate the room to help matchmake potential flatsharers for anyone who’s a little shy. The atmosphere is always really relaxed, so don’t worry about feeling intimidated. And remember everyone’s in the same boat.

If you’ve met someone you’ve clicked with – great! We recommend you stick to using SpareRoom to continue contact after the event, but hopefully having a couple of ads to revisit and message will be much quicker than hours of endless scrolling while searching...

Ok, I'm game. How do I sign up?

Head to the events page to see upcoming events, and book your space. It’s totally FREE to attend, and all attendees will get a FREE upgrade code too so they can contact absolutely everyone they meet on the night. Because we’re nice like that.


Now we have your attention… we’d like to say a little thank you for reading this article and following SpareRoom.

We also say a BIG thank you every month to one lucky user – with our Live Rent Free competition, where we pay one winner’s monthly rent, every single month. Fancy it? It’s FREE to enter, and you can enter every single month. What are you waiting for? Click here and cross everything…