Channel 4's First Dates to move to Manchester

Fred Sirieix will continue to welcome the show's singletons

Channel 4's hit show First Dates is to move to a new restaurant in Manchester, after seven years in London.

Maître d' Fred Sirieix will stay with the Bafta-winning show when it moves.

The dating series has been filmed at the Paternoster Chop House in central London since it began in 2013.

The next series is being filmed in London, but it will move north after that. Meanwhile, parts of the show's production team will be based in Channel 4's new hub in Bristol.

First Dates, which looks in on singletons as they meet over dinner, won the Bafta for best reality show in 2016 and has spawned the spin-off First Dates Hotel.

Danny Horan, Channel 4's head of factual, said the move would be "so great for Channel 4 Bristol and Manchester".

Producers have yet to reveal which Manchester restaurant will be the show's new eaterie.

Format tweaks

Leanne Klein, managing director of production company Twenty Twenty, said viewers could expect "a few exciting new tweaks" to the format.

"We are very excited to be taking our flagship dating series to the regions," she said.

"We have already begun tapping into the fantastic local talent pool in Bristol from where we are putting together our new team of casters and date editors."

Channel 4 and Twenty Twenty are co-funding a new training scheme to train up 24 Bristol-based production staff to work on the show.