Repair shops popping up across UK as cost crisis spurs trend for fixing things

15 April 2023 , 18:07

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Oswestry & Borders Repair Café in Shropshire (Image: Alison Alexander/Ross Kaniuk Media)

We are becoming a nation of fix-its as the cost-of-living crisis spurs pop-up repair shops to spring up around the country.

Inspired by Jay Blades and other restorers on hit TV show The Repair Shop, 298 repair cafés have opened.

Organisers say the half-hour sessions – where “fixperts” help people mend items they bring in – are so popular they are fully booked.

Cash-strapped householders are increasingly mending essentials such as clothes, bags, kettles, toasters, clocks and vacuum cleaners to avoid costly replacements.

Tracey Darch, 58, of Shanklin, runs a monthly pop-up on the Isle of Wight. She said: “In the earlier days, people tended to bring in more unusual items they’d been keeping, such as eight-track stereos, lamps with old-fashioned flex, and even Nintendo 64 units.

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Zarena Allen at work at the Oswestry & Borders Repair Café (Alison Alexander/Ross Kaniuk Media)

“The type of items we have had recently seem to be changing, with people wanting to get essential items working again.

“In many cases the repair is often a simple one – a loose connection in a plug which can be fixed with a screwdriver and the knowledge of how to repair it.”

Alison Alexander, who runs the Oswestry & Borders Repair Café in Shropshire, said the movement harked back to the time when repairing was more common.

BBC 1's Repair Shop has been airing since 2017. Pictured: Presenter Jay Blades (BBC/Ricochet/Guy Levy)

She added: “It can be expensive to buy new. The way people lived before was more sustainable.”

BBC1’s The Repair Shop has aired 261 shows since 2017.

Ross Kaniuk