Just over two years ago, I arrived at Haymarket to meet this guy I'd been talking to. He looked cute but I was super nervous. I wasn't particularly interested in a relationship but I'd just dropped out of my dream uni and had no job so thought I may as well give the boy a couple hours of my time. What followed was a pretty fantastic first date considering I'm autistic and we're both shy! I've narrowed this down to a few reasons.
Firstly, we went to the Hancock museum. When I hear someone's going out for a meal or drinks as a first date, I think it's bonkers! All you can do is awkwardly time your conversation with bites of food. And if it's one of those dates where ten minutes in you realise you aren't compatible... hopefully the food's nice? I would strongly recommend doing something active! There are places to mini golf and axe-throw in town but if you'd prefer something less spenny, the Hancock, Laing and Baltic galleries are all free to visit! These are all good choices because if you're nervous, you'll have something in front of you both to discuss.
Second, try not to interrogate the person on messages beforehand. Of course you need to get to know someone to see if it's worth having a first date, but there might be some things that you'd like to get their raw reaction to. For example, I wouldn't want to be with a guy who watches porn but I knew if I messaged "Ops on porn?", he'd have time to craft an answer that maybe he thought I wanted to hear. Catching someone off-guard doesn't guarantee honesty, but it does make for a less rehearsed answer.
Finally, don't be afraid to text afterwards! One thing that put me at ease was about five minutes after I left the date to catch a bus, I got a text saying the Haymarket pigeons were after his steak bake. It was casual but also a sort of reassuring nod that he was still interested, and the date had gone well on his end too.