The Chatty Cafe began in April 2022 as Cobram exited from lockdown restrictions. It’s open weekly from 10.30am-11.30am every Thursday.
Entry cost is just a gold coin donation.
Cobram Community House’s community administrator Paula Hansen said the lockdowns birthed the cafe when staff at the community house noticed how the restrictions isolated people and left them lonely.
“One of our staff members came across the Chatty Cafe program in the UK. We thought it was a great idea. We got a small grant from the shire and renovated one of our rooms into a small cafe,” Ms Hansen said.
Since then the Chatty Cafe has become a fixture of town life with up to 30 or 40 people attending each week.
The cafe is run by volunteers who are all barista-trained.
Along with coffee and cakes the volunteers are there to sit down and talk to patrons.
Although Ms Hansen said this service was rarely needed anymore.
“We have our volunteers ready to chat but people often make their own friendships and chat away anyway,” Ms Hansen said.
Ms Hansen believes that the cafe’s popularity is down to people’s desire to find somewhere safe and secure to connect.
“It just has to be somewhere welcoming and comfortable and they know that if they sit down there would be someone to talk to... People have made friends here and look forward to gathering on a Thursday morning,” Ms Hansen said.
As for future plans Ms Hansen said the Chatty Cafe would continue to operate as it was.
However Cobram Community House itself is gearing up for an exciting 2023 with hopes to introduce new community programs as the year goes on.
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