'Share cafe tables with strangers to tackle loneliness'

A CAMPAIGNER is encouraging more people to share tables with strangers as a way of tackling an “epidemic” of loneliness.

- BY JAN DISLEY

Mother-of-two Alex Hoskyn, 41, founded the Chatty Cafe movement after sitting in a tearoom feeling “fed up and lonely” during her maternity leave.

Her “chatter and natter” tables are at hundreds of venues. Now she’s hoping to expand it to help thousands of others.

She said: “This isn’t just for the elderly, and it’s not about forcing people to chat. It’s about giving them the opportunity to if they want.

Helped