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Would you sit at a Happy to Chat cafe table?

Amy Bromage A woman with shoulder-length mousy brown hair wearing a blue skirt and a white blouse with a flowery pattern sits at a table holding a mug. She is laughing and talking to another woman with slightly shorter blonde hair with a mug on the table in front of her. She is wearing a black outfit and round her neck is a gold mayoral chain. A sign on the table reads: "Welcome to the Happy to Chat Table".Amy Bromage
The Book and Cup Cafe is one of the venues taking part in the scheme

An initiative to get people talking to one another in a Worcestershire town is expanding into local coffee shops.

Four cafes in Malvern are offering Happy to Chat tables for people to let others know they're open to having some company.

The pilot follows the launch of Happy to Chat benches in the town's parks in April.

Malvern Town Council said it wanted to help address loneliness, particularly over the Christmas period.

A growing number of councils across the country are taking part in the Happy to Chat scheme.

Councillor Julie MacLusky, who leads the Malvern initiative, said: "We are thrilled to be expanding the Happy to Chat initiative to include a wider audience of Malvern.

"As a council it is important that we take the appropriate steps in pro-actively addressing the epidemic of loneliness, something the Happy to Chat initiative is critical in doing."

Four cafes are taking part in the pilot initially: Faun, Abbey Road Coffee, Book and Cup Cafe at Malvern Library and The Cube.

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