It’s the Rotherhithe Repair Café. There, four volunteers — Khalil, Tanya, Natasha, and Itziar — bring broken radios, toys, and textiles back to life.
In this first of a three-part series, we visit the Repair Café, where small acts of repair help stitch together a stronger community.
The radio isn’t broken.
Khalil presses and turns the dial, and the speaker crackles to life. For a moment everyone leans in, then music bursts out, clear and bright. The owner laughs in disbelief. The fix was simple: it needed pressing, not just turning. Around the table there’s a ripple of laughter, the kind that spreads easily across the room. Another quiet triumph at the Rotherhithe Repair Café.
Tanya, Repair Cafe Volunteer
The Time and Talents Centre buzzes with activity. Folding tables are crowded with toolkits and half-mended things: a lamp that flickers, a jacket that no longer fastens, a toy that has fallen silent. People gather around them, swapping advice, patience, and biscuits.
‘Where I live, people throw away so much,” Khalil says. “Once someone dumped a 55-inch TV with nothing wrong with the screen. I fixed it for £5. Things like that make me think, if it’s such a simple fix, why send it to landfill? There’s just too much waste.’
Having studied aeronautical engineering at university, he takes on the electronics at the café. Tanya works on circuits too, tracing fine lines of solder until a green light glows again. Across the room, Natasha and Itziar, the sewing team, work side by side, threading needles and restitching visitors’ favourite jumpers, asking about their day as they go. Tools and easy conversation flow between them.
‘They come thinking something can’t be fixed,’ Itziar says, smiling. ‘And speaking with them while we work, seeing their faces when it is finally fixed — that’s the best part for me.’
Small victories ripple through the morning. A zip slides smoothly again. A lamp steadies its glow. A child’s toy begins to sing. Each success draws smiles not only from the owner but from everyone nearby. The café feels part workshop, part gathering of friends, filled with the quiet rhythm of people mending what matters.
Khalil, Itziar and Natasha get stuck in!
Repair here isn’t only about objects. It’s another kind of conversation — the slow stitching and soldering of community.
Khalil reads manuals aloud to owners, explaining each step. Tanya shows visitors how the circuits and switches work. Natasha smiles as a visitor tries on a newly stitched sleeve. Itziar shares a laugh with someone waiting for a fix. In each exchange, something more than an object is being restored.
‘It’s amazing to actually meet people you pass on the street every day,’ Tanya says. ‘We live in such an individualistic city, and places like this help us stay connected.’
By early afternoon, the hall begins to quiet. Tables are scattered with threads, screws, and biscuit crumbs. A newly fixed lamp glows near the door, ready to go home. The volunteers tidy up, curious about next month’s session and the small mysteries that might arrive with it.
Outside, St Mary’s Churchyard Gardens brighten in the midday sun. Inside, the radio still plays softly, reminding everyone that it’s not just about fixing. Sometimes, it’s about being noticed, and heard.
Next time, we’ll get closer to the people behind these tables and hear how they first decided to begin.
