FAQs
A Repair Café is a place where visitors can bring along all sorts of broken items and where a group of volunteers will try to mend them. It’s a community event where the emphasis in on mending broken items to prevent them being thrown away.
Refreshments are usually available at each venue (for a small charge) although in some locations we are currently not permitted to offer a cafe. See our Upcoming cafe dates.
You can bring along electrical appliances, clothing, furniture, housewares, toys, etc. Anything that’s broken (and which you can manage to carry on your own to the Repair Café) is welcome!
Our volunteers can advise if you need a special part. When this is the case, we ask visitors to source the part directly and bring it along to the next Repair Café where our volunteers will use it to try and mend the item.
Our sewing specialists can replace zips free of charge but you will need to source and bring along the right length zip. We also ask that you remove the broken zip in advance. You can buy zips online or try Timpsons, Guildhall Market, Mark Pickles Sewing Studio, or even Hobbycraft.
No, there’s no need to bring tools. Our volunteers use their own (much-loved) tools.
Visiting a Repair Café is free of charge, but voluntary donations are always appreciated! In each Repair Café, a collection box is available for donations if you’d like to make one. Or you can make a donation online.
Donations are used to cover some of the costs involved in running Repair Cafés. These include: hall hire; insurance; resources such as glues, batteries and fuses; and publicity.
Share and Repair's funding comes from a mixture of donations and grants.
Donations by visitors to the Repair Cafés are used to cover the costs of hall hire, insurance, materials and an annual volunteer celebration. Library of Things membership fees and loan fees cover the cost of maintaining the items.
Grants from St John’s, Bath & West Community Energy Fund and Bath Boules are used to buy capital items such as PAT Testers (to check electrical items are safe to use), publicity and marketing materials.
A Library of Things is a place where you can borrow items - ‘Things’ - that you might need to use just now and again.
By using the Bath Library of Things, you can reduce the environmental impact of purchasing and owning items, as well as save money. We now have 400 items you can borrow, from power tools to camping equipment.
We have more than 400 items in stock across five categories and are always adding more things:
Our items include power tools for tricky DIY projects to specialist equipment for cleaning the home or having a party.
Search for an item on the online catalogue here.
Our items have been donated by people in and around Bath. Most now belong to the Library of Things but people also lend us items to lend out to other people, especially if storage space at home is limited. They retain ownership of their item and can use it whenever they need to.
Borrowing costs vary depending on the item (starting from £1 a week) and the type of Membership you choose. Our Membership options are:
Temporary. Free Membership valid for two weeks. No discounts on loans. Good for a one-off loan.
Best Friend: £10 for annual Membership. 25% discount off every loan.
Proud Supporter: £40 for annual Membership. No loan fees. Best value Membership for frequent borrowers.
Super Supporter: £80 for annual Membership. No loan fees. This Membership allows us to donate memberships to local charities for those in need.
Please bring two forms of ID when you come to collect your item: one with proof of address and one with a photograph.
Our current location is at the Share and Repair Shop, 3 York Buildings, George Street Bath BA1 2EB.
Wednesday 10am-1pm
Thursday 1pm-4pm
Friday 10am-1pm
Saturday 10am-1pm
(closed on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday)
- We have a number of procedures in place to limit the risk to borrowers, volunteers, and staff from COVID-19. We have been adapting as lockdown guidelines and restrictions have changed across the past year!
- We are encouraging all borrowers to pay online before coming to collect an item so that we can reduce the need for long periods of interaction in the shop.
- Our volunteers and staff are all requested to wear a facemask inside the shop.
- All customers are requested to wear a facemask inside the shop unless exempt.
- Hand sanitiser is available.
- All reserved or repaired items waiting for collection will be ready and easily accessible to limit time customers need to spend inside the shop.
- The windows and shop door will be left open for airflow when practical (e.g. in fine weather or when traffic noise is not excessive!)
We ask all borrowers to clean items before returning them. All returned items are disinfected before being returned to the shelves. Items can only be borrowed the day after return to allow time for cleaning and safety checks. We also recommend that borrowers clean certain items they borrow once they get home and before using them. Recent scientific studies have shown contamination from items is very unlikely so we no longer quarantine items for long periods.
If you show any symptoms of COVID-19, or have been in contact with anyone else showing symptoms within the last 14 days, we ask you to stay away from the shop. Please follow Government advice around self-isolating in these circumstances.
If you have already paid for your item online, or you are unable to return an item you have borrowed, please get in contact. We will refund you for any items you are unable to collect and waive any late fees if you are unable to drop-off. We can also potentially arrange for a suitably safe collection or delivery via cargo bike.
George Street is a busy road with limited places to stop.
The nearest car parks are: Cattle Market Car Park and Broad Street Car Park
There is also a loading bay outside the entrance to the Travelodge between Wagamama and Revolution on our side of the road on George Street.
We have a wheelbarrow or trolleys in the shop to take items to and from your car if needed!
We also encourage you to liaise with us about our bike delivery and collection service - for a £2 fee we can transport most items within 3 miles of the shop in Bath.
We have paused taking new donations for now due to your overwhelming generosity. In future, you can donate good quality and re-usable items at our pop-up shop - we will update this page when this is possible.
If you’re not sure whether your item is something we need, please ask via hello@shareandrepair.org.uk first to check. We wouldn’t want you to come all this way if we cannot take your item.
You can also check out our latest Wishlist of items.