First, you don’t need to book. Just turn up between 10.00am and 12.30pm with your item and we’ll do our best. If you’re not sure whether we would be able to repair it or not, by all means contact us ahead of time. Either email to repairs@sharehavant.org.uk (ideally with a photograph), or via Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/groups/repaircafehavant) or pop in to our office at The Old Parcels Office on any of our open days.

When you arrive, you will be met by our Triage Team who will get some details of what you have brought us and what the problem is and then arrange to allocate the most appropriate repairer. We have lots of repairers and most of them specialise to some extent. There are specialists in bikes, clothing and textiles, tool and knife sharpening, furniture, electricals, electronics and so on. This means there may not be a repairer free at that time who is suitable for your particular item. So there may be a short wait, but we do try to ensure nobody is kept waiting for too long. But while you’re waiting, you can enjoy a drink and a piece of cake: that’s the cafe bit!

When a suitable repairer is available, you will be directed to them and they will have a proper look at your item and try to see what the problem is and what can be done to fix it. They will be very happy to discuss the whole process with you, and may well need to ask a bit more about what is or is not causing the problem, and in the process, you may learn how to do the repair yourself!
If the repair is too complex or there is not enough time to complete the fix, you will be given some suggestions on what to do next and possible places to go. Sometimes it may need a spare part and they will suggest where this can be obtained (or sometimes help you to order it on line) and then it can be fitted if you bring the item back next month.
All items are brought in at your own risk and with no guarantee of a fix (they are broken already after all!) but the repairer will discuss with you what can and cannot be attempted.

There are no fixed prices and we don’t want anyone to be prevented by cost from using the Repair Cafe, so we just ask for a donation and leave it up to you. But we are all volunteers and altogether, including hiring the hall for the session paying insurance and publicity and mantaining the websites, the cost of running each session is a little over £100.

So we just ask you to donate what you can afford and what you think would be fair. That way, we hope to cover our costs.

We can take donations in cash or by card.

We would like to be able to repair everything but unfortunately that isn’t possible. Still, to give you an idea of what we have managed to repair so far, look at the scoreboard!

However, there are some items which we cannot tackle, including:

• Petrol powered things, including lawn mowers and chain saws, etc. To repair these safely they need to be firmly mounted on a solid workbench and that simply is not possible for a pop-up to manage.
• Microwave ovens, because any damage to their outer skin (the “Faraday cage”) could lead to a leakage of microwaves which could be very harmful.
• Mobile phones, because we don’t want to be competing with local businesses and there are plenty around doing phones. Also, to offer this properly we would need to stock a huge quantity of brand-specific spare parts. Again this is not really feasible for a pop-up.
• Valuable antiques; we don’t have the specialisation for this.
• Anything you can’t carry! We don’t offer a visiting repair service, and so we can only tackle things which you can bring along to us.
• Anything which the repairer considers they should not attempt. We always reserve the right to say No! This may be because of safety considerations, either in the repair itself or during future use of the item. Or because the repair is too complicated and would take too long. Our Repair Cafe sessions are only three hours, so if something comes in which is going to take too long to do, that is not fair on other customers.

The Old Parcels Office is where the Library of Things is based, but you can also pop in there with any questions about the Repair Cafe, the Community Marketpalce, or anything else that ShareHavant does.

Our normal opening times are :

Mondays: 2.00pm to 4.00pm
Thursdays: 10.00am to 12.00 noon

Please note we are not normally open on bank holidays.