Lonely hearts are creeping out of the small ads and leaping on to giant billboards in a new campaign.

Faces of singles looking for love will be plastered across Brighton and Hove from June 16 when the hoardings are launched.

Dating agency Lovers2.com copied the idea from the USA and has already run a successful trial in Birmingham.

Now the firm is offering people in the city the chance to advertise their charms.

The company is looking for its first recruits to come forward for the launch advertisement.

It costs £59.99 to have your face and nickname put on display in the city.

And if Mr or Miss Right pass by and like what they see, they contact the agency to arrange a date.

Becky Butlin, the housewife who started Lovers2 three months ago, said: "I got the idea after reading an article about a woman in the USA who was fed up with her terrible love life.

"She took out an advert and stuck her face on a billboard with a number underneath. I thought it would be a good idea to try it over here.

"We've had a tremendous response so far. We've got 34 billboards in Birmingham and a list of people wanting to add their picture."

Billboards contain about 16 faces of men and women of all ages looking for love.

The fee covers space on one billboard for a week.

Shy singles who prefer not to be plastered all over the city can have their photo put on the Lovers2 web site instead.

The service costs £19.99 for three months or £45.99 for 12 months.

Becky, 32, said: "People don't seem to mind having their picture on display. It's something different."

As well as Birmingham and Brighton, the company is also booking billboard space in London, Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, Leicester, Newcastle and Glasgow.