Repair Café

What is it?

Repair Café is an international movement that encourages people to think about re-using and repairing items rather than throwing them away.

The Guildford Repair Café is run by a dedicated group of volunteers and is supported by us.

The Café helps you to continue using and enjoying items you love. It also develops skills, reduces waste and CO₂ emissions, and encourages a sustainable community.

Mend your favourite things

What do you do with a wobbly chair or when the zip breaks on your favourite jacket? Throw it away? No way! If you have an item that is broken or needs adjusting, bring it along to the Guildford Repair Café! Come and learn how to fix items yourself with the help of our friendly team of volunteer repair experts, all free of charge.

We have experts on DIY, woodwork, bike mechanics, electrical items (including portable appliance testing), sewing and upholstery who will show you how to make all possible repairs and answer your questions.

Where is it?

Our Repair Cafés normally take place in the Park Barn Social Centre on Park Barn Drive, Guildford GU2 8EN. See the map below showing this location.

Unfortunately we are unable to hold the events that were planned for 2020. We hope to start again in January 2021 if possible.

What can we repair?

Our team are always on the look-out for a new challenge! If the item is hand-portable and not in a dangerous condition, then our experts will take a look, give honest opinions and go ahead with any viable repairs with your agreement.    

The team has achieved a fantastic 86% repair rate in the last 12 months. In the last six months, 158kg of waste has been diverted from landfill, saving an estimated 20.02kg of CO₂ emissions using our carbon foot-printing methodology.

Here are some of the successfully repaired items:  

• Small household appliances - table lamps, kettles, sewing machine, food mixer, telephone
• Furniture - cot, tables, chairs, bench, drawers
• Gardening equipment - branch loppers, hedge trimmer
• Electricals - battery drill, phones, projector, electric drill, vacuum cleaner
• Sewing / upholstery - jeans, rucksack, pillowcase, duvet cover, trousers, curtains, cardigan, fleece jacket, quilted baby blanket, track suit top
• Toys - wooden jigsaw, electric toys, Nerf holster, rocking horse; railway sets, toy kitchen
• Push bikes - children's and adults' bikes.

Volunteer with us

If you have good basic DIY/practical skills, enjoy fixing things and support the 'make do and mend' culture, we would love to hear from you. No specialist qualifications are needed. Many of the repairs brought to the Repair Café are basic and straight forward. 

If you are, or know of, an electrician, seamstress, carpenter, bike mechanic, gadget guru or handy person who would like to volunteer to help us, please get in touch.

You don't need to commit to every month as occasional help is welcome too.

Get in touch!

If you have any questions or would like more information please contact us:

Email: community.wellbeing@guildford.gov.uk

Phone: 01483 444150

To keep up to date with our most recent news, follow us on Facebook www.facebook.com/RepairCafeGuildford