Repair Café Wales

A volunteer-run network of free community repair cafes across Wales, where people bring broken items to be mended instead of thrown away.

About Repair Café Wales

Repair Café Wales is a network of local repair cafes. At each one, volunteers with practical skills fix household items for free while the owner watches and learns. Items include electrical appliances, computers and phones, clothes, bicycles, furniture, ornaments and lamps. Some groups have added unusual repairs, such as ceramics. The idea is to keep belongings in use rather than replace them, so less goes to landfill. It also shares repair skills and brings neighbours together in libraries, community halls and other local spaces.

The network is directed by Phoebe Brown and relies on volunteers. A Welsh Government article describes it as powered by about 1,000 volunteers each month. The network reached 100 member communities in 2023, when Barry Library hosted its first repair cafe, and another article describes it as the largest repair café network in the UK. A later Welsh Government page says it now has more than 130 cafes across Wales. We could not find a founding story, so we cannot say when or how it began. Its stated aims are to reduce landfill, share skills, bring communities together, save people money and improve wellbeing.

Its UK presence is entirely within Wales. Examples include cafes in Cardiff, where its Fix it February campaign launched at a pop-up cafe, and in Carmarthen, Barry and Torfaen. The network is mostly funded by the Welsh Government. Its Circular Economy Fund has supported community organisations such as this one, and the Deputy First Minister has visited a cafe in Carmarthen and had a cycling glove repaired. The Welsh Government says the network has saved over a million kilograms of carbon dioxide, and over £1 million for people through free repairs.

For culture, the organisation says its work is delivered by volunteers in community spaces. The Welsh First Minister called repair cafes a "phenomenon of Wales" in the Senedd. Repair cafes in general are friendly, informal places, with tea, chat and learning by doing. The network also appears in the Restart Project's online community, which links it to other repair groups. We did not find a team size or details of paid staff.

A network like this needs people who can organise events, recruit and support volunteers, run local communities, handle funding and reporting, and speak to councils and the Welsh Government. Volunteers bring repair skills in electronics, sewing, woodwork and bikes. It can be a good way to build experience in community leadership, and the repair skills are useful in almost any career. Check the network's website, repaircafewales.org, for how to get involved.

What they do

• {'desc': 'Volunteers fix electricals, clothes, bikes and household items at no charge.', 'title': 'Free community repair cafes'}
• {'desc': 'Owners learn repair skills alongside the volunteers.', 'title': 'Skills sharing'}
• {'desc': 'An annual campaign to encourage more repairs across Wales.', 'title': 'Fix it February'}

Key facts

• Director: Phoebe Brown; reached 100 member communities in 2023
• More than 130 repair cafes across Wales (Welsh Government page)
• Welsh Government says over a million kilograms of CO2 avoided through repair
• Mostly funded by the Welsh Government (news article)

Website: repaircafewales.org