London, Nov. 23: Our affair with the love letter is coming to an end. Fewer than one in five Britons received a passionate note from an admirer in the past year, new research shows.

And only 28 per cent have received a letter from a lover in the past five years, according to Bradford & Bingley. More than a third (35 per cent) of those aged between 16 and 34 have never written a letter to their sweetheart. The over-55s were more likely to have put their feelings down on paper, with only 14 per cent telling the survey conducted by GfK NOP, a leading British market research organisation, that they had never sent a love letter.

Singletons face mixed fortunes. The survey found they were more likely to have received a love letter in the past 12 months (24 per cent) than those who were married/living as married (17 per cent), or those who were separated, divorced or widowed (10 per cent). However, they were also more than twice as likely never to have received a love letter (30 per cent) than those who were married/living as married (14 per cent), or separated, divorced or widowed (12 per cent).

Writing a letter remains the most popular way of saying thank you, however, with more than a third (34 per cent) of those questioned preferring to put pen to paper to thank someone for a gift. Telephoning was the next most popular way of saying thank you (32 per cent), followed by thanking someone in person (26 per cent). Only four per cent said they would thank someone with a text message and just three per cent with an email.