Date locations in Derby

Whilst trying to organize a date with my girlfriend, it struck me that it must be pretty awkward to arrange a date with a girl that you’ve never been out with before, due to the chronic lack of places to go.

We settled on going out for a pizza, but only out of the frustration of looking for suitable stuff to do.  The way I see it, you can do the following in Derby:

• Go to the cinema (only if there’s something good on);
• Go out for a meal (expensive);
• Go bowling (a bit expensive, and a bit sad if there’s only two of you);
• Go to a gig (only local bands in local venues here – not very good if you dont like the same music)
• Go to the park (my local park is now a dogging-ground)
• Catch a bus to Nottingham (cheating!)

Other activities include ‘studying’ together (ahem), renting out DVDs from the Blockbusters store on Ashbourne Road, or waiting for one of Derby’s annual council-arranged events such as last week’s excellent Darley Park Concert (the largest annual free music event in the UK), or the Markeaton Park Bonfire Night Fireworks… but these are few and far-between.

Nottingham has better cinemas, cheaper bowling, better (i.e. world-class) gigs, and generally more to do for teenagers.

Humpf.  Derby needs some more stuff.

Any ideas for what we have or what we should have?