Brighton Repair Café Pop-up at Moulsecoomb Place
Amid the ongoing cost of living crisis and growing awareness around sustainability, Repair Cafés have surged in popularity in recent years, and it’s easy to see why!
Let’s be honest: most of us have something gathering dust at home that needs fixing, whether it’s a faulty electrical item or a beloved piece of clothing in need of repair, but figuring out how to fix it, or who to turn to for help, isn’t always easy.
Brighton Repair Café was first launched 13 years ago by local residents Victoria and Sam, who were inspired by the expanding Repair Café movement that began in the Netherlands.
Essentially, Repair Cafes are social events where people can come along with their broken things and are helped to repair them, so their items don’t end up in landfill.
Brighton Repair Café started out in the basement of a café in Kemptown and is now a monthly social event that usually takes place at St Georges Hall in Moulsecoomb on the first Saturday of the month.
Following discussions with Victoria and several fantastic local organisations earlier this year, we agreed it would be a great idea to team up and host a pop-up community event, and that’s exactly what we did last weekend!
East Brighton Trust, Brighton Repair Café, Gladrags, Leftover Threads and The Real Junkfood Project joined forces to host a pay-as-you-feel event at Moulsecoomb Place, where you could bring your broken items for repair, enjoy a cup of tea, grab incredible surplus snacks and produce, participate in workshops, make your own sewing kit, take home surplus clothes and costumes, explore the Gladrags Dress-up tent, and more!
Victoria from Brighton Repair Café shared her reflections on the success of the event:
“There was such a great buzz on Saturday, and lots of lovely connections were made between both visitors and organisers. It definitely felt like the start of some great new collaborations between some amazing people who are working in our community to support a just transition to a more sustainable future.”
More than 20 items were repaired on the day, ranging from garden tools to trousers, leaving many attendees delighted and preventing a significant amount of waste from reaching landfill.
Victoria told us more: “What I really loved about the event was that we were able to help people with current needs – by helping them repair their broken belongings and take home low cost nutritious food, pre-loved clothing, sewing kits – while also empowering people with repair, making, upcycling skills and signposting local repair and re-use resources for greater resilience going forward.”
It’s estimated that over 100,000 tonnes of electrical items go into landfill every year in the UK alone, along with 350,000 tonnes of clothing. Many of these items are repairable, and by using Repair Cafes, you can help to reduce waste, protect the planet, and hold onto the things you love.
Brighton Repair Café returns to St George’s Hall in Moulsecoomb on Saturday 5th July, and we’re hoping to collaborate and organise another similar pop-up event at Moulsecoomb Place in the not-too-distant future.