[Let the coffee chat come to you! In addition to the coffee chats I schedule around town, I also attend apartment / condo building chats. I went to a gathering this spring and we had a great, wide-ranging conversation. Don’t hesitate to get in touch if you want to arrange one 🙂.]
My next community coffee-chat will be announced soon.
Feel free to drop by and share what you’d like City Council and the Capital Regional District to do in the coming months and years. I’ll be there to listen and learn. :-)
“We are not what we know but what we are willing to learn.”
– Mary Catherine Bateson
I’m grateful to everyone who has come to my community coffee-chats; it’s a generous gift. I announce upcoming locations and times here (www.davethompsonvictoria.ca) and on social media (see links below).
Previous coffee chats:
- Monday April 13, 2026, 7:30pm, in a resident’s suite in a multifamily building in Hillside Quadra neighbourhood. (#47)
- Tuesday Feb 17, 2026, 12:00pm at the Second Chance Cafe, in Cedar Hill Recreation Centre, 3220 Cedar Hill Rd. It’s a great cause (and just across the street from Victoria!).
- Friday Feb 13, 2026, 6:00pm at the Community Dinner put on by the Fairfield Gonzales Community Association, 1330 Fairfield Rd. FGCA is a wonderful organization that contributes so much to the community: https://fgca.ca/programs-activities/https://fgca.ca/programs-activities/
- Wednesday Jan 28, 2026, 10:30 am at Blenz Coffee, 1001 Douglas St. at Broughton.
- Tuesday Jan 27, 2026, 12:00pm at Good Earth Coffeehouse in Royal Jubilee Hospital, 1952 Bay St.
- Thursday Jan 15, 2026, 12:05pm at Maiiz Niixtamal Eatery and Tortilleria, 540 Fisgard St.
- Wednesday Jan 14, 2026, 8:00am at Macchiato Caffe on Broad, 1002 Broad St.
- Monday December 8th 2025, 12:00pm, in the Rotunda, another beautiful, free-t0-use third space, located at 1515 Douglas St., Downtown.
- Saturday November 29th 2025, 4:00pm at the Fern Cafe and Bakery, 1115 N Park St in Fernwood.
- TuesdayNovember 25, 2025, 5:30pm at Spinnaker’s Gastro Brewpub, 308 Catherine St. In Vic West.
- Monday November 10th, 2025, 10:00am, at Discovery Coffee, 1920 Oak Bay Ave. in South Jubilee.
- Friday November 7, 2025, 4:30pm, at Ooh La La Cupcakes, 1391A Hillside Ave., in Oaklands.
- Friday November 7, 2025, 8:00am, at Shine Cafe, 1548 Fort Street in Fernwood.
- Saturday September 27th, 2025 11:00am at North Perk Cafe and Make-space, 2150 Quadra St, in North Park neighbourhood. On this one, I had a proviso, which no longer applies: “I can’t hear from you in relation to the official community plan and zoning bylaw update, because we are still in the process of decision making and that’s the rule. So please don’t discuss that. All other topics are fair game!”
- Friday August 22, 2025, 12:00pm at The Atrium, a beautiful, free-to-use third place located at 800 Yates St at Blanshard, in Downtown. It’s a great place to chat, and you can grab a coffee at Habit, or even get some takeout food from Zambris – both in the same building.
- Saturday August 16, 2025 11:00am at Hide and Seek Coffee, 1839 Fairfield Rd., in Gonzales neighbourhood.
- Friday August 8, 2025, 12:00pm at The Italian Bakery, 3197 Quadra Street at Tolmie, across the street from Saanich.
- Monday July 14, 2025, 12:00pm at The Mantra Indian Cuisine, 1015 Fort St. downtown.
- Thursday July 10, 2025, 12:10pm in the cafeteria at Our Place Society, 919 Pandora Ave., 2nd floor, In Downtown. Here’s a post about that one.
- Wednesday June 25, 2025 5:00pm at Good Earth Coffeehouse – Capital Park, 535 Superior St. in James Bay.
- Sunday June 8, 2025, 6:00pm at Pizzeria Prima Strada, 1990 Fort St. in North Jubilee.
- Fri June 6, 2025, 5:30pm, at Île Sauvage Brewing, 2960 Bridge St., in Burnside, and right out front is Bangers Burgers, where you can buy a burger for yourself and a puppy patty for your dog.
- Weds June 4, 2025, 8:00am, in North Park at Wairua Cafe, 1040 North Park St. in North Park.
- Tues June 3, 2025, 12:00pm, at Rudi’s Tea Room, in Cary Castle Mews in Rockland.
- Mon June 2, 2025, 8:00am, at QV Coffee House, 1769 Fort St. in South Jubilee.
- Weds May 28, 2025, 8:00am, at Koffi, 1441 Haultain Street, in Fernwood, across the street from Oaklands
- Weds May 21, 2025, 4:30pm, at Fantastico Bar-Deli, 398 Harbour Road, in Vic West.
- Saturday, May 10, 2025, 12:30pm in Fairfield at Big Wheel Burger, 341 Cook St. in Fairfield.
- Thursday, March 20, 2025, 12:00pm, at Blue Nile African Restaurant, 1724 Douglas St. in Downtown.
- Thursday, November 14, 2024 at 12:10pm at Odd Burger, 790 Fisgard St. in Downtown.
- wings on Wednesday, November 13, 2024 at 5:30pm at Hecklers Bar & Grill, 123 Gorge Rd E. in Burnside.
- Tuesday May 28, 2024 at 12:00pm at Caffe Fantastico, in Quadra Village, 965 Kings Rd in Hillside Quadra.
- Weds May 15, 2024 at 12:00pm, at 2% Jazz Coffee, 740 Hillside Ave., in Burnside.
- Mon April 29, 2024, 3:00pm at Nor Cafe, 860 Johnson St. in Downtown.
- Tues Feb 27, 2024 at 11:45am at the Savoury Cafe in Fairfield Gonzales, 1841 Oak Bay Ave. in Gonzales.
- Thurs Jan 25, 2024 at 11:45am at the Loft and Ladder Coffee House, 932 Johnson St. in Downtown.
- Fri Dec 8, 2023 at 12:30pm, everywhere, online, via Zoom, at the request of a resident.
- Fri Sept 15, 2023 12:00pm over lunch at Gonzales Coffee, 1548 Fairfield Rd. in Fairfield.
- Thurs August 3, 2023 over the noon hour, lunch at Tacofino, 760 Pandora, in Downtown.
- Fri May 12, 2023 4:30pm to 6:00pm, after-work tea at Murchie’s Fine Tea & Coffee at Hillside Mall in Oaklands Neighbourhood.
- Tuesday Feb 14, 2023, 2:30pm – afternoon munchies at Bear and Joey Cafe, 1025 Cook St. in Fairfield (and within half a block of Harris Green, Rockland and Fernwood!).
- Friday Jan 6, 2023, 8:00am, morning coffee at Spiral Cafe, 418 Craigflower Rd., in Vic West
- Tuesday Dec 20, 2022, at 10:00am, mid-morning coffee at Selkirk Cafe, 2960 Jutland Rd. in Burnside Gorge neighbourhood.
- Monday December 5, 2022 at 12:30pm, at Gigi’s Cafe, 1002 Hillside, in Hillside Quadra Neighbourhood.
- Fri Nov 18, 2022, at 3:00pm for an afternoon coffee/tea break downtown at Habit Coffee, 552 Pandora Ave., in Downtown
- Tues Nov 8, 12:00pm at James Bay Coffee and Books, 153 Menzies St, in James Bay.
- before work at 8:00am on Tues Nov.1, 2022 at Little June, 1301 Gladstone Ave., in Fernwood.
I’ve heard from a few people that they cannot attend at a given location, or on a particular date, or at a specific time of day. As I recently said in a reply email “No worries – most people cannot attend any given coffee chat that I host, for one reason or another. And so I schedule them at a wide variety of locations and different times of the day. I’ve held them at almost 30 [note: now over 30] different locations around the City, and will be scheduling more.”
I’ve held coffee chats in all Victoria neighbourhoods; please feel free to email me your favourite spots. Location choice does not imply any form of endorsement.
Sorry, I can’t treat and I can’t accept treats. Everyone is on their own at the counter :-). And yes I pay out of my own pocket; the City doesn’t cover the costs.
If you want to follow my social media posts, including coffee chat announcements, I’m on Bluesky davethompsonvic.bsky.
*****
(How the online coffee chats work:
Use the link I provide. Please log in showing your first and last name, and indicating whether you are a Victoria Resident or Business Owner (there will be an online waiting room, and I will admit people from the waiting room who have done this). We will proceed with regular Zoom protocol – raise hands for getting on the speakers list, and please stay muted while others are speaking. The meeting will be recorded.
If you’re unsure about the tech, please ask someone who is good with tech. I am not that guy – and my apologies if it doesn’t work out for you. I much prefer to meet people in person, and Zoom meetings can have a lot of technical and other problems, so we will see how they go before deciding on doing more of them. 🙂
Topic: David Thompson Virtual Coffee Chat
Time: tbd
[Zoom link, Meeting ID, Passcode])