04/05/2026
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After Dean's best friend Rob died, he left an empty space behind. Now Dean offers empty chairs for strangers to sit and chat...
The concept is simple. Dean Perryman goes to a pub wearing a bright orange hoodie, and sits with the empty chairs around him. The idea came to him as he struggled with grief and guilt following Rob's death.
"I had no idea how sad Rob was. So I was just overwhelmed by all of that. And I felt compelled to do something," he says.
He decided he wanted to help strangers who might be struggling with their own feelings of distress and loneliness.
"The thing that I couldn't wrap my head around was this idea of the empty chair where Rob would have always sat," he says. Casting around for what to do, he had a lightbulb moment.
"I was like, well. I'm not good at many things, but I'm OK at chatting and I'm good at drinking beer. So let's go to the pub and let's just see if there's anyone there that wants to chat."
One man he spoke to early on says the comfortable environment helped him open up to the point where he was ready to get professional help.
And Dean says what he does has helped him process his own loss too.
"It kind of forced me to talk, and it also kind of just exposed me to other people, I mean, how helpful people are," he says.
Now Dean's campaign, which he called Empty Chairs and started in the UK, has gone global, with groups in Germany, Belgium, Canada and the US.
Dean says the success hasn't sunk in - but he's inspired by everyone who's hosted events as he knows from experience it isn't an easy thing to do.
"It takes courage to put on the orange hoodie and it takes courage to go and sit with a stranger," he says. "But every single time I've left empty chairs, I've felt so much better for going."
Above all, it's brought home to him just how helpful people can be.
"If you give them an opportunity, strangers tend to be quite incredible."
🎧 https://bbc.in/4exWael
