Project Empty Chair grows from Essex pub to international friendship movement

Project Empty Chair, also called Empty Chairs, has grown from one pub meeting in Essex into an international friendship movement in less than a year. The campaign rests on a simple idea: people need people, someone to talk to, someone to listen and somewhere to belong.

The movement began after Dean Perryman lost his friend Rob Clancy to suicide. Rob was 29 when he died. Perryman went to a pub, booked an extra chair and invited anyone who needed it to turn up for a chat. He wore a bright orange hoodie so people could find him, and he posted details on social media and on the website emptychairs.uk. The site includes a map that lets people search for a host near them.

The first Empty Chair event drew six people, which Perryman said shocked him. Less than 12 months later, volunteer hosts in orange tops ran more than 100 Empty Chair events in a single week, including a meeting in Banbury. The idea has also reached other countries, with a participant greeting the group from Longville in Canada. Organisers say it is not crisis support. It is a way for people to connect with strangers and experience kindness.

Perryman has said he felt he let his best mate down because Rob did not feel able to talk to him about what he was going through. He said he had to do better for someone else. The project has become a response to the sense that strangers are frightening, with supporters describing an empty chair as a way to embrace community and neighbourhood.

The campaign appears to speak to adult loneliness and the difficulty of making friends later in life. Danielle, described as the first person to attend an Empty Chair event, said she saw Perryman's post on TikTok and decided to go. She works as a chef and her days off often fall in the middle of the week, when her friends are working. She said the group helped her meet new friends. Hosts say the format works because a host is already at the venue, so newcomers feel welcome when they arrive.