Martin Sweet is one of the directors of Repair Café Norwich, which organises events to help the community fix what’s broken. Thirty events (and 1000 repaired items!) later, Martin explains all
Who are you and what do you do?
Repair Cafe Norwich is an entirely volunteer led group that put on monthly events in community centres around Norwich to help people mend almost anything. People bring all kinds of broken things to these events, and our team of volunteer fixers do everything they can to get them up and running again. I’m Martin, one of the directors of Repair Cafe Norwich. I’m heavily involved with the day to day running of the group and look after reception at all our events.
What led you all to starting the Repair Cafe in Norwich? How long has it been going?
I moved to Norwich four years ago and wanted to see if there were any local groups I could help with. Coincidentally, I found Mark, one of our founding members, had just made a post about looking for help starting up the Repair Cafe. We were all aware of the need for the initiative as it’s very difficult to find people to fix things, especially in a way that is cheaper than just buying something new! We all hate seeing so much going to landfill that could quite easily be fixed or repurposed so we did what we could to get the group together,
How does it work? Can the volunteers repair pretty much anything?!
We don’t fix mobile phones (as there’s no way for us to have all the parts) or microwaves (because they are especially deadly!), but we’ll give almost anything else a go. Our fixers have a wide range of skills: we have sewers for clothes and fabrics, bike repairs, laptops and PCs technicians, a lot of electrical engineers/hobbyists and some people good with more physical stuff that requires hammers and glue. I’m still shocked at our events that I can hand someone an obscure 30-year-old vacuum cleaner, describe the problem and hear them say “Ah, I know what this will be!”. Of course, there are some things that our team will look at and find there’s no economical way to fix, but our visitors are often just as pleased to hear that as they know they’ve done all they can before they recycle it. There are also a few artists among us who often have good ideas for upcycling projects if stuff can’t be repaired. We also sharpen knives and tools, as it’s hard to find people to do it these days!
How can people find out more about the Repair Cafe?
Our website: repaircafenorwich.co.uk or @repaircafenor on Facebook and Instagram!
Can people just turn up on the day or do they need to book in?
People can just turn up on the day with whatever they need fixed. If they’re unsure if we can help, they can reach out on social media or via the website and ask our opinion on what they have. Our events run from 9:30am – 2pm.
What’s the aim of Repair Cafe Norwich?
We mainly want to see less stuff going to landfill, which we’re helping with, having fixed over 1000 items since we started over the 30 events we have run. We also hope to foster a culture where people stop and think before throwing things away: do I really need to buy a new one? We’re running one event per month currently, which is the most we can manage as a volunteer group but we’re currently taking on a paid member of staff which will hopefully lead to bigger things!
The next Repair Cafe Norwich event takes place at the Phoenix Centre, 132a Mile Cross Road, NR3 2LD on Saturday September 20, 2025. The one after that takes place on Saturday October 18, 2025 at Cadge Road Community Centre. Visit Repair Café Norwich.
Featured image of (left to right) Nick, Martin and Adrian – supplied
Leave a Reply