Watch as Hartlepool residents put their feet up at York Road’s pop-up ‘living room’

It was set up on the pavement in York Road where sofas and chairs were set up for passers-by to sit down, chat and have a biscuit.

Public ‘living rooms’ are agenda-free places where people do not have to worry about spending money and can be found in community spaces including community centres, disused shops, libraries and hospitals.

The idea was set up by a company called Camerados, in Sheffield, in 2016 and there are currently 169 active ‘public living rooms’ across the UK, USA, Australia, New Zealand and Sierra Leone.

Maff Potts, founder of Camerados, said: “We want people to realise that when times are tough, it’s not just about food and energy poverty, it’s also about a connection crisis.”

Speaking about the Camerados movement, Mr Potts said: "The Camerados movement is all about bringing people together and looking out for one another and aims to be a catalyst, enabling people to feel more connected and communities to be more unified during tough times.”

Petra Douglas, who has been a volunteer at Camerados since 2018, said: “You get all sorts of people that come and sit and chat together and they look like they’ll have nothing in common but they always find something.”

Petra, who volunteers at a public ‘living room’ in Middlesbrough, added: “At the end of the day, people are people. They always have something in common.”

Throughout the afternoon, people from across the town gathered together to chat with a hot drink and biscuits.

Mark Lewis, a resident of the town who decided to take a seat, said: “It’s a nice idea to just be able to sit and chat.”

LilyAnne’s cafe owners Trevor Sherwood and Angela Arnold also came along to show their support with a cup of tea.

Angela said: “It’s all about getting people talking and connecting with each other.”

Trevor added: “It shows the importance of community. Without it, what are we?”

For more information or to set up your own public “living room”, see https://camerados.org/.

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