Bury St Edmunds Repair Café hopes to go ‘on the road’ by holding special events at new locations

A repair café which has proved hugely popular over the past year is looking to expand its horizons.

Repair Café Bury St Edmunds has now held 10 sessions since it was founded in the summer of 2023.

A group of repairers meet every two months at the Unitarian Meeting House in Churchgate Street, Bury, and get to work fixing all manner of items.

The café is a charity and takes donations to cover costs.

The team are now looking to expand their locations with ‘roadshows’ and special one off events

“It has been ridiculously successful,” said founder, Mark Wharton.

“We have repaired around 400 items since we started with a 70-80 per cent success rate.

“We are thinking of visiting new locations such as the Howard or Moreton Hall estates as a roadshow, or perhaps holding one off events at community centres or schools.”

Repair Cafés were founded in Holland 15 years ago. They later became a worldwide movement, with cafés springing up across the world.

“The genius of the idea is the café itself,” said Mark, a retired software engineer.

“If it was just a group of old beardy blokes sitting in a shed, it wouldn’t have the same appeal.

“But the fact you can have a cup of tea, a piece of cake and sit around with the person who is repairing your item, works really well.

“We now have a team of 10 repairers with a range of skills.

“We’ve fixed everything from kettles and toasters to tennis ball machines, a vintage radio, hedge trimmers, autometers, bicycles and children’s games.

“Some of the items have a personal story and it can be quite emotional when we manage to fix something that has personal value.

“Key to it is also the education side in encouraging people to have a go themselves, as some fixes are easier than they look.”

To book a repair, click here, or email repair.cafe.bse@gmail.com.