Pandemic leads to surge in people chatting to their neighbours

TWICE as many people have talked to their neighbours in the past week compared with this time last year, a survey has found, as communities support each other through the pandemic.

More than 2,500 people said they had stopped to chat with a neighbour in the past week, according to polling.

This is six in 10 of the 4,000 people surveyed between May 10-13, up from 30 per cent in 2019, while one in three respondents (1,171) said they had helped a neighbour during the pandemic. This is the equivalent of 33million people chatting with a neighbour in the past week and 15million helping them during lockdown.

The survey was commissioned for The Big Lunch, a National Lottery-supported initiative from the Eden Project, which is backed by the Duchess of Cornwall. This time last year, around one in five people said they had nobody in their community they could call on. Almost the same proportion had never spoken to a neighbour, with three times fewer people (6 per cent) saying this was the case now.

And 16 per cent of respondents said they had spoken with someone they did not know before the pandemic. Seven in 10 respondents said people in their area are now more likely to stop for a chat, and three quarters want this new-found friendliness to continue.

Last year, six million people came together for street parties and celebrations as part of 100,000 Big Lunch events, and next weekend it will go virtual for the first time. Ainsley Harriott, a Big Lunch ambassador, said: “It’s heartening to see neighbourhoods looking out for each other, forming online contact groups and shopping for those who need help.”

Jo Brand, the comedian, said: “We can carry on sitting in our gardens and waving at our neighbours or pulling up a chair and raising a glass to the people over the road.”