Cullybackey gets “Chatty”
Monday 14 April 2025
Mid and East Antrim’s Loneliness Network are delighted to launch a new Chatty Café this week!
The Chatty Café is located in Delightful Bites in Cullybackey and replaces Blessings Coffee shop which had also been part of the Chatty Café schemes.
The Chatty Cafes scheme is just one of a suite of initiatives organised by Mid and East Antrim Loneliness Network aiming to reduce loneliness and social isolation in our Borough. Other initiatives include Chatty Benches, Loneliness Champions and Kindness Postboxes to name a few.
The idea of a Chatty Café is to encourage venues to designate a table and make it available as a ‘chatty table’ where customers can sit if they are happy to talk to other customers.
Mayor of Mid and East Antrim, Alderman William McCaughey said: “The Chatty Café will encourage local people in Cullybackey to make opportunities to connect with each other and see how it could benefit the lives of the surrounding community. Loneliness can affect anyone, and simple social exchanges can make a big difference to how people feel.
Mid and East Antrim Loneliness Network is to be commended in bringing people together by creating spaces where people are happy to interact with others and aims to tackle loneliness by taking the pressure out of day-to-day communications.
Whether a student is feeling homesick at university, a grandparent is suffering from loneliness, or a new parent is looking for some company beyond that of their new-born, the Chatty Café is open to everybody!”
Sabrina Lynn from the Northern Health and Social Care Trust says:
“Chatty Cafés give people a pathway to reconnect with society and have been really effective in bringing people together, tackling loneliness within the community, encouraging stronger relations and building upon an existing positive community ethos.”
Mid and East Antrim Loneliness Network Chairperson Marjorie Hawkins said:
“A positive a conversation can have a huge impact on you, especially for those feeling lonely. It can really brighten up your day! Many people can go a long time, even if they are out of the house all day, without properly interacting with somebody else and this is what the Chatty benches and the Chatty Cafés aims to change. We aren’t trying to build friendships or get people to meet their future spouses – we simply want to increase interactions that combat loneliness and can make a big impact on somebody’s day.”