Man's meet-ups with strangers in pubs goes global

A campaign aimed at tackling loneliness by encouraging strangers to chat with each other in pubs has spread to six other countries.

Prompted by the death of his best friend, Dean Perryman reserved tables at pubs in Essex and London every day in December and advertised his whereabouts online.

He set up his Empty Chairs website, and since then, 400 people have signed up to host meet-ups in Belgium, Canada, Australia, Norway, Switzerland and the United States.

"It's honestly still so surreal to me," said Perryman, 29, from Hockley in Essex.

"I never had any plan when I started. I just wanted to do something positive with the grief and the guilt that I was feeling from having lost Rob.

"To see that it's resonated with other people has just been incredible."

Perryman wore bright orange so he was easily spotted during his events.

Thale Kalbakk, 48, slipped on her own orange jumper in Norway, and explained that their winters could be depressingly dark and cold.

"The people were so nice. I'm overwhelmed," she said.

"I hope I played a role. I hope I made a difference, because [the women I met], for certain, made a difference for me."

Belén Luna Sanz, 32, is from Bolivia originally, but has hosted three events in Brussels, in Belgium, since seeing Perryman's videos.

"I realised that people were feeling quite lonely, even though we had so much social contact," said Sanz.

"For me, that was key. To realise that it wasn't enough to talk to people, it was about the connections that we were creating."

Marketing professional Federico Lamanna, 25, is from Geneva, Switzerland, but is also setting up groups in Bern and Zurich.

He described the cause as "close to my heart", admitting personal struggles when he moved between cities.

"I sort of wish that empty chairs existed back then, because obviously it would have been an opportunity to just meet new and interesting people.

"No-one showed up [the first week], but that's not really the point of Empty Chairs, and actually this week I've hosted another event and someone did show up... and we had a wonderful, wonderful time."

Jill McFarland has hosted twice in Canada, and named her initiative as Andrew's Empty Chair, after her husband who took his own life in 2020.

"I have looked for some way to honour my husband and the algorithm brought Dean to me," said the 55-year-old.

"Loneliness is an epidemic in our society for people from all ages and walks of life.

"So, if I can go and create space for even one person, and let them know I saved a chair for them so they can have a chat, then maybe they will feel encouraged to talk again.

"One of our attendees this week was 79... she never leaves the house but was so glad she did. That made my night."

Perryman made a video on what would have been his friend Rob's 30th birthday, who said Rob's parents had been his "biggest supporters".

He said it was "incredible" to make a legacy for Rob and to make a positive impact during an otherwise "truly awful situation".

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