Repair cafés are an attempt to combat our “throwaway society.”

In the UK, two million tonnes of electrical equipment are discarded each year, with much of it ending up in landfills. Our “throwaway civilization” is now being fought back by a burgeoning army of repairers.

It can be tempting to throw away a damaged toaster, a broken kettle, or a laptop that has reached the end of its useful life.

The staff at Stretford Repair Café in Greater Manchester has offered to help in this situation.

They will attempt to repair your malfunctioning electrical equipment in 15 minutes for the price of a drink.

“Fix it before you throw it away,” their motto states.

Stitched Up, the company that runs the café, also runs sewing workshops across Manchester.

Bryony Moore, co-director, described the concept of a repair café as “simply basic logic.”

“We live in such a disposable society,” she remarked, “and it bothers a lot of us.”

“It’s quite simple with something like a phone, but there’s nowhere to get a toaster or radio mended, so you just get a new one.”

The repair café is a nice way to push back and say, ‘Actually, I don’t want anything new.’ “All I want is for my device to stay working.”

In 2016, Stitched Up opened its first repair shop in Chorlton, Manchester.

Stitched Up was shut down amid the Covid epidemic.