About Repair Cafe Docklands

Repair Cafe Docklands is an initiative of the Docklands Representative Group, who are passionate about our environment and finding ways to reduce the amount we contribute to landfill each year.

The Repair Cafe to taps into the incredible wealth of skills & knowledge in our community to help build capacity, support connections, and reduce landfill & household spending. Most of all, to provide a space to celebrate our community strengths, an area owned and operated by our community.

Why repair things?
We throw away enormous amounts of stuff.
Often items going to landfill have very little wrong with them.
So repairing, fixing, and mending them will give them a second life.

What else can you do there?
This is a share-and-learn space.
You might be able to play an instrument or be a history buff with stories from yesterday year to share with someone keen to listen. Maybe you have skills in sharpening tools, sewing & mending, and repairing string instruments or small battery-operated or electrical items.

What happens at a Repair Cafe event?
On arrival, you’ll be asked to complete a Registration Form.

The house rules are printed on the reverse, and it’s essential that you read and understand them and then sign the disclaimer before seeing a repairer. We ask that everyone accepts that all repairs are undertaken at their own risk. The Repair Cafe reserves the right to refuse any item if it is deemed to be in a dangerous condition and cannot take responsibility for any item once it has left the premises.

After registration, you’re matched up with one of our volunteer repairers, who will examine the item, diagnose the problem and offer advice before proceeding with the repair. If an item is damaged or broken beyond repair, the repairer will discuss the options that may, if required, include guidance on its safe disposal. You can work with our volunteer fixers to do the repairs yourself (with their guidance) or have them tackle the job directly and see how it is done. The exchange of a good story with your repairer is always welcome!! With luck, you’ll walk away with a once-again useful item, knowledge of how to repair other things, and greater confidence to do it.

Our repair cafe sessions may get busy, and you may have to wait a bit after the first half hour or so. You can have a coffee and look around – seeing other people’s items being fixed is pretty interesting. We try to keep waiting times to a minimum, but the coffee aspect also provides the opportunity to sit, chat, and meet others in your community.

Do I need to book in advance?
We don’t take bookings in advance, but we invite you to contact us if you plan on bringing something that may require materials or parts. Otherwise, you can come along and get the item assessed and then return later or to a future repair cafe event after purchasing or sourcing the fixings you’ll need. The best way to contact us is when we post the repair cafe event you plan on attending.

What do I pay for the Service?
Repair Café doesn’t charge for repairs. It is offered in the spirit of the gift economy, where we hope to share what we know and can do with our community. If the purchase of repair parts or materials is required, and they are available, you may be asked to pay for them.

Of course, donations to help cover other expenses, like operating costs and miscellaneous supplies, are always appreciated. We usually have a donation jar at each repair cafe event that you can pop in a gold coin or something of the folding kind!