HOW romantic are you?

That is the question we put to people in Preston to discover if romance is dead or in full bloom after Valentine's Day.

Are there any Rudolph Valentino's left on the planet or are we all as miserable as Victor Meldrew when it comes to those lavish romantic gestures?

Claire Alty,19, from Lostock Hall and her boyfriend Carl Mason, 20, from Penwortham (pictured), say they are not romantic -- although Carl planned a slap up meal for his beau on Valentine's Day.

Claire said: "I'm not romantic at all. In fact I've dumped a previous boyfriend the day after Valentine's Day -- once I'd got all my presents!"

Although married for 35 years, Lytham couple, Margaret Walsh, 58, and her husband Jim, 63, admit to being realists and don't consider themselves to be romantic at all.

But generous Jim says he often takes his lady-love away on surprise trips -- although Margaret considers this to be more thoughtful than romantic. She said: "He's very caring. But these trips that he books us on are all what he likes and not anything for me specially. But we have a nice time and he is a love."

Student Vicki Masterman, 20, from the University of Central Lancashire, in Preston, says she loves anything romantic and delights in cooking meals for her boyfriend complete with flowers and candlelight.

"I went home to Shropshire on Valentine's Day to see my boyfriend," she told us.

"Reasonably romantic" Andrew Wright, 22, from Longton, Preston, whisked his girlfriend off to a flash hotel for a romantic evening on Valentine's Day.

He said: "The most romantic thing I have ever done is to send a red rose to a girlfriend in Dorset while she was on holiday."