Wikipedia

Chatty Café Scheme

The Chatty Cafe Scheme is an initiative started in the UK to encourage conversation among strangers.

The Chatty Café Scheme
Company typeNot for Profit Social Enterprise
Founded2019
Headquarters
Oldham
,
England
Area served
United Kingdom
Key people
Alexandra Louise Hoskyn, director
Websitethechattycafescheme.co.uk

The scheme was started in 2017 and promotes the marking of certain tables in cafes and other venues as tables at which talking to strangers is explicitly welcome.[1] The initiative found support by several companies and politicians in the UK. The Chatty Cafe Scheme CIC was registered as a community interest company on 19 July 2019.[2]

The founder of the initiative and director of the company, Alexandra Louise Hoskyn, was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours for 2021.

United Kingdom

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Implementation in the United Kingdom

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The first Chatter & Natter table was set up in a cafe in Oldham, England, in 2017.[3] The founder of the initiative and later director of the company, Alexandra Louise Hoskyn, is a social worker in the Learning Disability and Autism team in Oldham.[4] The Chatty Cafe scheme soon found support by Costa Coffee and Sainsbury’s, referring to the tables with varying terms, for example "talking tables",[5] and was implemented in cafes across the country as well as in the United States.[1] By 2023, there are over 1400 participating cafes around the world.[6][7]

The Oldham Borough Council discussed the scheme and noted that "libraries, leisure centres, and the local markets; health centres and hospitals run by the NHS; and pubs, cafes, shopping centres and retail parks run by business partners have potential to host such schemes".[8] Other organizations supporting the scheme included Beefeater, Age UK, Mind, Campaign to End Loneliness, and Whitebread.[9] Andy Street, mayor of the West Midlands county, campaigned for coffee shops and other venues to participate in the scheme.[10] MP David Lammy referred to the scheme in his book Tribes[11] in terms of his proposed ‘encounter culture’ for encouraging "meaningful engagement between people of different ages, ethnicities, backgrounds and places on an equal basis".[12]

Chatty Cafes run three afternoons a week. To overcome persons' hesitation to be the first at a table,[13] the initiative created the role of an "ambassador" as a person to be present at a table a few hours a week. Additionally, the role of a "volunteer" was created, who visits various venues seeking feedback as to how the tables are going.[14]

During the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom, the scheme was extended to include telephone and video calls to combat isolation, matching volunteers with persons wanting a call on a weekly basis.[1] Local social services have used the Chatty Cafe initiative as part of social prescribing.[15]

In September 2020, the Chatty Cafe Scheme joined the British government’s Tackling Loneliness Network,[1][16] a group of charities formed in spring 2020 as part of the government’s plan to tackle loneliness and social isolation during the COVID-19 outbreak and period of social distancing.[17][18]

In 2023, there were approximately 600 venues across the United Kingdom.[19]

Critical views

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Bethan Harris, the founder of the research project Loneliness Lab, has been quoted as saying that initiatives such as the Chatty Cafe scheme are praiseworthy, yet may offer too simplistic solutions as far as overcoming loneliness is concerned, given that people may be searching for meaningful interaction and the opportunity to build relations, not mere chance interaction.[20]

Similar initiatives

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In 2019, the BBC reported on "Happy to Chat" benches[21] and on an initiative by the BBC and public transport companies encouraging people to talk to their fellow passengers.[22]

Implementation abroad

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In December 2019, Hoskyn presented the scheme in a TEDxKazimierzWomen event in Kraków, Małopolskie, Poland,[4][23] and at the end of 2020, Chatter and Natter tables had been set up in Poland, Gibraltar, Australia and Canada.[3][24]

Impact

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The scheme started in Britain, where "traditional reserve is said to make it almost impossible for the British to talk to strangers in public places".[25] The scheme has been cited as one of several examples of social, affective spaces[26][27] Sociologist Thomas Thurnell-Read has credited the initiative as inspiring further schemes such as the use of ‘Join Me’ cards in a pub in the Southeast of England. Such cards enable customers to let other customers and staff know they are open to having a conversation.[28]

Awards

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d "The Chatty Café Scheme". independentliving.co.uk. Retrieved 11 August 2021.
  2. ^ "THE CHATTY CAFE SCHEME CIC". Companies House. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
  3. ^ a b Szatkowska, Wiktoria (December 17, 2020). "Salford Alumni Success: Alexandra Hoskyn strives to increase human interaction". Manchester Evening News. Retrieved 11 August 2021.
  4. ^ a b "Alexandra Hoskyn, TEDxKazimierzWomen: Connecting in Cafes". TED. December 7, 2019. Retrieved 11 August 2021.
  5. ^ Green, Miranda (November 8, 2018). "Chatty cafés try to ease Britain's loneliness epidemic". Financial Times, ft.com. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  6. ^ Independent Living website, Retrieved 2023-05-31
  7. ^ "Meet the woman behind anti-loneliness scheme Chatty Café". inews.co.uk. October 12, 2018. Retrieved 11 August 2021.
  8. ^ "Council Meeting Wednesday 15 July 2020" (PDF). Oldham Borough Council. Retrieved 12 August 2021. Page 26.
  9. ^ "Chatty Cafe Scheme". Prevention research and practice. social care institute for excellence (SCIE). Retrieved 12 August 2021.
  10. ^ "The Chatty Cafe Campaign". Meet the Mayor. West Midlands Combined Authority. October 12, 2018. Retrieved 11 August 2021.
  11. ^ Lammy, David (2020). Tribes. A Search for Belonging in a Divided Society. Little, Brown Book Group. ISBN 9781472128713.
  12. ^ Lammy, David (May 4, 2020). "The New Tribalism". Fabian Society. Retrieved 12 August 2021.
  13. ^ Video on YouTube
  14. ^ "Chatty Cafe". Take part - Oldham. Retrieved 11 August 2021.
  15. ^ Video on YouTube
  16. ^ "Annex A: List of Tackling Loneliness Network members". gov.uk. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
  17. ^ "Policy paper. Emerging Together: The Tackling Loneliness Network Action Plan". gov.uk. May 8, 2021. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
  18. ^ "Government launches plan to tackle loneliness during coronavirus lockdown". gov.uk. April 22, 2020. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
  19. ^ Jennifer Ferreira (May 2023). "Tackling Loneliness and Social Isolation: An Evaluation of the Chatty Café Scheme Services" (PDF). Coventry University. Page 14.
  20. ^ Lavelle, Daniel (January 6, 2020). "A month of meaningful conversation: my quest to befriend a new person every day". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 August 2021.
  21. ^ Lloyd, Matt (October 19, 2019). "'Happy to Chat' benches: The woman getting strangers to talk". BBC. Retrieved 11 August 2021.
  22. ^ Burridge, Tom (June 14, 2019). "Crossing Divides: Can a 'chatty bus' combat loneliness?". BBC. Retrieved 11 August 2021.
  23. ^ "Theme: TEDxKazimierzWomen". TED. December 7, 2019. Retrieved 11 August 2021.
  24. ^ "The Chatty Cafe Scheme Australia Ltd". Australia Charities and Not-for-profits Commission. 2020. Retrieved 11 August 2021.
  25. ^ Cook, Lindsay (March 1, 2019). "Combating the 'loneliness epidemic' with coffee and chat". Financial Times, ft.com. Retrieved 11 August 2021.
  26. ^ Koksvik, Gitte H; Richards, Naomi (April 28, 2021). "Death Café, Bauman and striving for human connection in 'liquid times'". Mortality: 1–18. doi:10.1080/13576275.2021.1918655. hdl:11250/2995494. Page 12.
  27. ^ a b Dixon, Anna (2020). The Age of Ageing Better? A Manifesto For Our Future. p. 251. ISBN 9781472960740. Retrieved 12 August 2021.
  28. ^ Thurnell-Read, Thomas (2021). "Open Arms: The Role of Pubs in Tackling Loneliness" (PDF). Retrieved 12 August 2021.
  29. ^ Howes, Anton (2020). Arts and Minds. How the Royal Society of Arts Changed a Nation. Princeton University Press. p. 313. ISBN 9780691182643.
  30. ^ "Chatty Cafe Scheme wins Innovating for Ageing competition". International Longevity Centre UK. February 1, 2019. Retrieved 11 August 2021.
  31. ^ "Chatty Cafes - 1303. Alex Hoskyn". Points of Light, Prime Minister's Office. Retrieved 11 August 2021.
  32. ^ Vickery, Kit (June 12, 2021). "Mum who told family she'd been given an OBE as an April Fool's joke gets OBE". Manchester Evening News. Retrieved 11 August 2021.
  33. ^ Greig, Finlay (June 12, 2021). "Queen's Birthday Honours List 2021: full list of awards issued - including Arlene Phillips and Jonathan Pryce". nationalworld.com. Retrieved 20 August 2021.
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