They say romance is dead - 'classy' letter left on Sheffield bench goes viral

You may have thought Valentine’s Day was over for the year, but an anonymous letter found on a bench has shown that romance is far from dead.

On Sunday (April 21), Rotherham-born actor Ryan Sampson posted a photo on his Instagram story of a hand-written letter that had been discovered in Sheffield.

The Plebs star, aged 38, wrote in a caption that his sister had found it on a “lovely country walk” that morning, before adding: “Ladies of Sheffield, go forth”. 

In the photo, an envelope can be seen addressed simply to “FEMALE ONLY”, along with a note written on a piece of lined paper torn out of a notebook.

It read: “If your [sic] female and up for some fun (no strings), sit on the bench next Saturday at 8.20am.

“I’ll walk past and say morning. If you like what you see, ask if I have the time. If I like what I see, I will say it's time to f***** you.”

‘Stay classy, Sheffield’

The Instagram story was later reposted by another account on X where it has been viewed more than 2.8million times, and has close to 300 comments, many of whom see the funny side.

One social media user said: “The f***** comment is one thing but they lost me at 8:20AM”.

Another wrote: “The way my Dad and his buddies would all go sit on the bench all morning just to ruin this dude’s day.”

A third person said: “Stay classy, Sheffield.”

It is believed that the incident has been reported to South Yorkshire Police.