Pull Up a Chair: Plymouth’s Tide Cafés Invite Everyone Into the Conversation
There are few places where the tides are felt quite as strongly as Plymouth.
They shape our coastline, change the view from one hour to the next and influence everything from wildlife and weather to walking routes, sailing, fishing and the way we use the waterfront.
But how often do we actually stop and talk about them?
This September and October, Sea for Yourself is inviting people across Plymouth to do exactly that through a new series of Tide Cafés; relaxed, free gatherings where anyone can come together to talk about the tides, the sea and what Plymouth’s coastline means to them.
And because good conversations are often even better over something warm and something sweet, tea, coffee and cake will also be available free of charge for people taking part.
Join a Tide Café
Market Hall, Devonport
Saturday 19 September 2026
11am–1pm
Efford Library
Thursday 24 September 2026
6–8pm
East End Development Trust
Saturday 10 October 2026
2–4pm
Not a talk. A conversation.
A Tide Café isn’t a lecture, presentation or panel discussion.
There is no stage and no expectation that you need to know anything before you arrive.
Instead, local people will sit alongside artists and people with different knowledge and experience of Plymouth’s marine environment, sharing stories, observations, questions, memories and ideas.
You might know exactly when to walk a particular stretch of coastline before the tide turns. You might remember swimming somewhere as a child. Perhaps you fish, sail, paddleboard or walk the coast every week.
Or you might simply wonder why the sea sometimes seems incredibly far away and, just a few hours later, is almost at your feet.
All of those experiences belong in the conversation.
The idea is that everyone around the table brings something. The knowledge of someone who has studied tides for years can sit alongside the experience of someone who has watched the same stretch of water every morning for decades.
It might start with a question as simple as: What do the tides mean to you?
And from there, the conversation can go almost anywhere.
You can stay for ten minutes or settle in for longer, have a chat, listen to someone else’s story, enjoy a free cup of tea or coffee and a slice of cake, and see where the conversation takes you.
A city shaped by water
Plymouth’s relationship with the sea is obvious in some places.
Stand on the Hoe and it is right in front of you. Walk around the Barbican, Mount Batten, Devil’s Point or Royal William Yard and the movement of water is part of the landscape.
But the relationship between the city and the sea is also more complicated than that.
Tides create places that appear and disappear throughout the day. Mudflats emerge. Rockpools are uncovered. Birds arrive to feed. Harbour walls change height. Boats that were floating can suddenly seem much closer to the ground.
There is an entire landscape between high and low water that is constantly changing.
And the sea has a way of marking time.
People who live close to it often notice things without even thinking about it: where the water usually sits, when a beach becomes walkable, when a particular path disappears, or when the moon and weather seem to make the tide behave differently.
The Tide Cafés are an invitation to notice those things – and to hear what other people notice too.
Meet some of the people joining the conversation
Among those taking part in the first Tide Café at market Hall, Devonport will be artist David Cotterrell, whose work often explores how people understand the environments and systems around them.
David works across art, technology, moving image, installation and public space, creating work that encourages people to look differently at familiar places and ideas.
He has been spending time in Plymouth developing Intertidal, a major new artwork for Sea for Yourself.
We’re not revealing too much about Intertidal just yet. It has grown from David’s fascination with Plymouth’s relationship with water – including the movement of the tides, the boundary between land and sea and the ways the marine environment connects with the everyday life of the city.
Visitors to the Tide Café will have the chance to meet David, hear a little about the thinking behind the project and, importantly, share their own observations and questions with him.
Also joining the conversation will be journalist and former BBC local weather presenter Emily Wood.
Emily spent more than 15 years presenting the local weather on radio and television, sharing forecasts – including the tide times – with audiences every day.
She now works as a journalist across social media platforms and continues to tell stories connected with weather and our local environment.
Having lived and worked in and around Plymouth for more than 20 years, Emily has a strong connection to the area and its coastline.
At the Tide Café she’ll be sharing some of that knowledge and experience, but she is just as interested in hearing from other people.
What do you notice about the tides?
Do you plan parts of your life around them?
Have you watched Plymouth’s coastline change over the years?
Do you have a place where the incoming or outgoing tide completely transforms the landscape?
Those are exactly the kinds of conversations the Tide Café hopes to start.
What would you ask?
Perhaps you’ve always wondered why there are two high tides and two low tides most days.
Maybe you want to understand more about the relationship between the moon and the sea.
You might be interested in the wildlife that lives in the intertidal zone, how weather affects the water, or what changing sea levels could mean for coastal cities such as Plymouth.
But Tide Cafés are just as much about memories and experience as they are about facts.
Where did you first learn to swim?
Which bit of Plymouth’s coastline feels most like home?
Is there somewhere you can only reach at low tide?
What sounds, smells or sights tell you the tide is changing?
What stories about the sea have been passed through your family?
There does not need to be a right answer. Sometimes the most interesting thing is simply hearing how differently another person experiences the same coastline.
Part of Sea for Yourself
The Tide Cafés are part of Sea for Yourself, a cultural programme creating new ways for people to experience and explore Plymouth Sound National Marine Park through creativity, participation and digital innovation.
They also connect with Tide Together, the wider programme of activities exploring Plymouth through its tides, and with David Cotterrell’s forthcoming Intertidal artwork.
Over the coming weeks, more will be revealed about Intertidal and how it will appear in unexpected places across Plymouth.
For now, consider the Tide Café an opportunity to begin the conversation.
To look again at something that happens twice every day.
To think about the water surrounding our city.
To hear how other people experience Plymouth’s coastline.
And to do it all over a free cup of tea or coffee and some cake.
First Tide Café at Market Hall
Saturday 19 September 2026
11am–1pm
Market Hall, Devonport
Free, informal and drop-in
Free tea, coffee and cake provided
Come for ten minutes or stay for the full two hours. Ask a question, share a memory, listen to someone else’s story or simply see where the conversation takes you.
No specialist knowledge required.
