Meet Ember: the app for meeting people at the pub

Picture a busy pub on a Friday night. Warm light, good noise, a room full of people. Somewhere in that room there is probably someone you would get on with. But walking up to a stranger is hard, so most of us never do it. We stay with the people we came with, and the room stays full of near misses.

Ember was built for that exact moment. This is the first post on our blog, so it feels right to introduce ourselves properly: what Ember is, why it exists, and how a night on it works.

Why we built Ember

The UK has a connection problem. The Office for National Statistics reports that almost one in four adults feels lonely often, always or some of the time, and the numbers are highest among younger adults: 27% of people aged 16 to 29.

At the same time, the tools we were all given for meeting people are wearing thin. Ofcom found that close to five million UK adults use online dating services every month, yet the four biggest dating apps all lost UK users between May 2023 and May 2024. Swipe apps are good at starting conversations. Many people simply want something different now: a better way to meet people in real life.

Here is the hopeful part. The best social space in Britain already exists, and it sits on every high street. Research from the University of Oxford found that people who have a local pub they visit regularly feel more socially engaged, more content and more trusting of the people around them. The room works. What is missing is a gentle way to turn "strangers in the same room" into "people who just met".

That is Ember. Our whole idea fits in one line: meet where you already are.

What is Ember?

Ember is a social discovery app for pubs and bars in the UK, built by PubCrush. Every venue on Ember has its own room. When you are at the pub, you join that room, and you can see who else in the same place is open to meeting someone tonight.

Ember is not a dating app. There is no gender field, and there never will be one. There are no filters and no endless profiles from across the city. You simply say why you are out, with tags like "here to make friends", "up for a chat" or "new to the area". Some people find a new friend, some find a quiz teammate, and some find a little more. The point is the meeting, not the label.

Ember is for adults aged 18 and over, and you can sign in with your phone number or a social account.

How to meet people at the pub with Ember

1. Join the room. Open pubcrush.com in your browser, or use the code on the table if your pub has one. Rooms open at 5pm each day. Before that, Ember is asleep.
2. Say why you are here. Pick a tag or two so people know what kind of hello to expect.
3. Send a wave. See someone who seems fun? Wave. Waves are private. If the other person does not wave back, nobody ever knows.
4. Match and meet. If the wave is mutual, it is a match. A match on Ember is not the start of a long chat thread. It is an invitation to walk over and say hello, because you are both already in the same room.
5. Claim your match reward. A match unlocks a small reward at the bar for the two of you, set by the venue. Go up together, show the code, and the staff will take care of the rest. Each pub decides what its reward is, and it is valid that night, at that venue only.
6. The night resets. Everything from the night is deleted within 24 hours. No old messages, no history hanging over you. Tomorrow is a fresh start, for everyone.

What Ember is not

• Not a dating app. No gender field, no filters, no swiping through half a city. Just the people in your room tonight.
• Not another chat app. Ember is designed to get you talking in person within minutes, not typing for weeks.
• Not a cost for you. Ember is free for guests. The venue pays for Ember, so you never buy credits or pay to wave.
• Not a data collector. Because every night is wiped within 24 hours, there is no long profile history to keep or worry about.

For pubs and bars

Ember gives venues a simple reason for people to arrive earlier, stay longer and talk to each other. Each venue sets its own match reward and gets easy tools to run everything. If you run a pub or a bar and want your own room, our venues page explains how it works.

Quick questions

Do I need to download anything? No. Ember runs in your browser at pubcrush.com, so you can join a room in seconds. For the best experience, you can also get the Ember app on the App Store or Google Play.

Is Ember a dating app? No. Ember is about meeting people, whatever that means for you. There is no gender field and no filters. You choose your reason for being out, and that is all anyone sees.

How much does it cost? Nothing, if you are a guest. Venues pay for Ember, and guests use it for free. More questions? Our FAQ covers the details.

That is us. One room per pub, waves instead of swipes, a match reward at the bar, and a night that resets by morning. If you are curious, see which rooms are open on our nights page, or read more on the help page. If we do our job right, the best part of Ember will not happen on your phone at all. It will happen when you put it down and say hello.