from Mathew Clayton.

This Sunday in the Hanover district of Brighton a lovely little thing is going to happen. At 5pm the residents will take a chair and go and sit outside their front doors and meet their neighbours. It is called the Brighton Zocalo and one of the organisers is my friend David Bramwell. Here he describes what happened last year:

The sun shone and nearly every street had clusters of people sat outside their houses chatting, eating and drinking. Some dragged out barbecues, some brought sofas and rugs. On Albion Hill a table football game appeared while other neighbours challenged each other to games of chess and backgammon. One heroic household on Islingword Street set up their entire living room on the pavement, complete with the obligatory stag’s head. Local legends Tim Pilcher and Sue Bradley wandered round with their rabbits in babyslings for everyone to stroke while one resident (for reasons best known to herself) came dressed as the Duke of York’s Cinema.

David’s ambition is that other places in the UK will copy the idea. Its beauty is its simplicity – no licenses or permissions are needed, just a few posters. If you want to start your own or just find out more about the Brighton event you can here