Repair cafés

There is a repair revolution gathering pace in Buckinghamshire and we are encouraging more people to take part and maybe even start their own in their local area.

What Repair cafés are

Repair cafés are free meeting places where people can repair things (together) and the idea is spreading.

Visitors bring their broken items from home. Together with the specialists they start making their repairs in the Repair Café.

There are over 1,500 repair cafés worldwide and Buckinghamshire has a growing list of cafes and groups, check them out below.

We throw away vast amounts of stuff. Even things with almost nothing wrong, and which could get a new lease on life after a simple repair. The Repair Café changes all that!

Things are being used for longer and don’t have to be thrown away. Valuable practical knowledge is getting passed on. If you have a broken item, want to volunteer your skills or just want to see what's going on pop along to your nearest Repair Café.

We want to encourage as many items to be repaired as possible, because it saves the items from the bin and reduced the impact on the environment of making new things. More importantly, Repair Cafés can show how much fun repairing things can be, and how easy it often is.

Find your nearest repair café

View the repair cafés in Buckinghamshire:

Reusing electrical items in Milton Keynes

Milton Keynes repair café is also part of a new trial project with the Milton Keynes Community Fridge to help rehome working electrical items. If you want to be added to the page let us know.

If you want to repair things yourself

There is a growing online community which supports fixing stuff by sharing free helpful instructions and videos. You can look for advice online at places like:

  • We Are Repairs - is a national database of repairers
  • ifixit.com includes a wide range of appliances, gadgets, household items, clothing and musical instruments
  • instructables.com includes a variety of guides on how to make or repair things, and you can search by category
  • for free bicycle repair videos, tutorials and trouble-shooting, try parktool.com
  • for sewing repairs and tips to make your clothes last longer loveyourclothes.org.uk

Check for courses available. Either online learning or at your local colleges – to improve your skills, as well as local interest groups, like sewing clubs.