Sainsbury's launches 'Talking Tables' scheme to tackle loneliness epidemic

Sainsbury’s has set out to tackle the problem of loneliness, which impacts up to a fifth of UK adults, by launching “Talking Tables” – a scheme which asks stores to set up dedicated tables where people can have a chat.

The supermarket announced that the initiative will be trialled in 20 stores across the country with the hopes of bridging the loneliness gap and bringing people together.

The concept has been developed in close association with the Chatty Café Scheme, which was launched in 2017 by mother-of-one, Alexandra Hoskyn, after she spotted an elderly woman alone in a supermarket cafe and a young man with his support worker who looked like he could use some company.

“Talking Tables” will appear in a variety of formats including a sign-posted table located in cafés in-store, a variation where colleagues who’d like to be involved can volunteer to be table hosts, and a charity-led format where stores will partner with community groups and work with their volunteer networks to host scheduled sessions.

Sainsbury’s will also be trialling the programme internally with colleagues by setting up Talking Tables in back-of-house areas in its stores, depots and Store Support Centres.

The initiative comes as new research from Sainsbury’s Living Well Index developed in partnership with leading researchers Oxford Economics and the National Centre for Social Research, reveals the UK’s sense of wellbeing has fallen in the past twelve months – with loneliness identified as a key characteristic of those with a low sense of wellbeing.

The study of over 8,000 people found that one in ten Brits feel lonely all or most of the time – equivalent to almost six million adults across Great Britain.

In addition, it revealed that more than a third of us have admitted to feeling lonely some of the time (42 per cent) – with this figure increasing to almost two thirds (65 per cent) amongst young people aged 18 – 24.

“We know from our Living Well Index that community connections are a key driver of helping people to live well,” says Judith Batchelar, director of Sainsbury’s brand.

“Yet with almost two thirds of us feeling lonely some of the time, it’s important that we contribute to helping to improve the lives of our customers and communities.

“We hope that by bringing people together at our Talking Tables, we can utilise the potential of our store-space to help people be better connected to the communities they live and work in.”

The supermarket is following in the footsteps of Costa, which launched “Chatter and Natter” tables in more than 3,000 branches of its stores in August.

Sainsbury’s branches taking part in the “Talking Tables” scheme include:

It will be trialled from October to December 2018.