Do you have something that’s broken that you don’t know how to fix but can’t bring yourself to throw away? Something like a toaster, kettle, lamp, bag, pair of jeans, jewellery or computer? You can book in and bring it along to the Repair Cafe being held on Saturday 21st March from 1pm to 4pm at Gamlingay Eco Hub. Our team of volunteer repairers are helping for free and there is no charge for admission. We welcome donations to cover our costs and to help us grow our network and foster a culture of repair. They will pinpoint the problem and try to fix it there and then for you, or let you know what spare parts to get for when you come back next time.

We will open the booking form in early January 2026 because the cafe has proven popular in the past, see below for booking details. In 2025 we had beautiful necklace repairs, jackets and trousers sewn, bags mended, bicycles fine-tuned, record players and radios fixed and even lawn mowers and ironing boards.

Repair Cafes are a great way to save money - with households spending about £35 a week on items that can be repaired at repair cafes including clothes, furniture, computers, electrical items. They are also great at reducing waste and emissions by extending the life of items. The average Repair Cafe saves 450kg CO2, about the same as driving from Lands End to John O’Groates and back again.

Most importantly these events bring our community together. We have all sorts of people offering to help to repair things, all of whom have been volunteering at Repair Cafes across Cambridgeshire for several years.

They’re keen to share their skills, stop things going to landfill and reduce the impact that buying new stuff has on the environment. Electrical items that are suitable for fixing will also be PAT tested before you leave by a competent PAT tester.

While you wait our fantastic team of volunteers will make sure you are kept topped up with tea and coffee and a choice of cake and biscuits. You are welcome to come along and visit the cafe even if you don’t have an item for repair; there will be people to chat to and lego and colouring for children.

To find out more about Gamlingay Repair Cafe and to book your items in for repair, (link to follow soon). Or visit the Gamlingay Eco Hub Facebook page or email us at [gamlingayrepaircafe@gmail.com]. Or pop in when the Library is open at the Eco Hub and we’ll get you booked in.

== Hosted by Gamlingay Repair Cafe ==

Gamlingay Repair Cafe is a volunteer-led venture between The Eco Hub community centre and the Climate Action Group of Gamlingay Parish Council. As a group we were looking for positive actions to take in our local area to reduce our collective carbon footprint, reduce waste as well as bring the community together. Our first cafe is Sunday 7th April 2024 and we hope to run an event twice a year.

https://gamlingayecohub.org.uk


Learn more about Repair Cafés and how to start one at: https://therestartproject.org/