Rent a friend for £6.50 an hour

An internet entrepreneur is making friends available for hire at an hourly rate. Scott Rosenbaum, 30, has a database of 218,000 men and women who members of his site Rent a Friend can hire "to hang out with, go to a movie or restaurant with", or be "someone to show you around an unfamiliar town".

The US-based site already has around 2,000 members, each paying up to £16 a month ($25) to access the site. When they see a friend they like the look of, they can rent them for as little as £6.50 ($10) an hour.



Rosenbaum said he wanted to "go a step back" from dating sites and offer a service that was, in the words of his website "strictly platonic". He said: "No one was offering friendship." The service is not just about getting people to meet up for a drink or a meal. It lists a host of diverse activities that members might like to hire friends for, including "teaching manners", "snowboarding", "family functions" and just "hanging out".

Similar services have proved successful in Japan, where there are now about 10 of them, where such agencies are often used to provide 'friends' at social gatherings. Rent a Friend is being launched in the UK this week.