have hired a repairer regardless of skill.212 Also, one may argue providing physical spaces to repair items could be detrimental to other independent businesses, however, ‘slower cycles of consumption are also dependent upon the attitudes and behaviours of consumers.’213 Kannengießer, also recognised a change ‘could only happen when there are people who identify with and support these ideas.’214 These arguments recognise the success of initiatives such as Repair Cafés are reliant on introducing customers to a new way of consuming and they would not be damaging to the configuration of the high street nor other businesses. The shift in shopping behaviour represents an ideal time to reignite peoples interest in helping the environment and a beneficial concept. In 2021, Bassam further illustrated their significance as ‘Covid-19 has brought about a renewed interest in the community- of which the repair café is increasingly a part’.215 The government have recently announced the ‘Right to Repair’ law, designed to move towards a circular economy and extend the life of objects by 10 years as manufacturers are now obliged to provide customers with replacement parts, aiming to reduce 1.5 million tonnes of electrical waste, this in itself demonstrates how the public are aware of the unnecessary consumption that Repair Cafés can help combat.216 The scholarly discussion demonstrates they could be a step in the right direction and deliver another reason to visit our high streets.
Conclusion To conclude, the current literature determines that we have reached a pivotal moment. The way the high street presently operates is not feasible as many including Portas identified,217 varying factors have contributed to the demise of our high streets, the pandemic being the final blow, however the damage may not be irreparable and there is now a great opportunity for it to adapt and thrive. The 'The CAG Project Guide to: Repair Cafes’, The CAG Project, 2018 https:// cagoxfordshire.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/The-CAG-Guide-to-Running-a-RepairCafe.docx. (Accessed 10th June 2021) 212
A, König, ‘A Stitch in Time: Changing Cultural Constructions of Craft and Mending’. Culture Unbound: Journal of Current Cultural Research, 5 (33), 2013, pp. 569-585 .https://doi.org/ 10.3384/cu.2000.1525.135569 213
S, Kannengießer, ‘Repair Cafés as Communicative Figurations: Consumer-Critical Media Practices for Cultural Transformation'. In: A, Hepp A, Breiter U, Hasebrink (eds) Communicative Figurations. Transforming Communications – Studies in Cross-Media Research, Palgrave Macmillan, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65584-0_5 214
E, Bassam, ‘THE REPAIR CAFÉ: WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM IT?’, Rethinking Poverty, 2021, https://www.rethinkingpoverty.org.uk/local-initiatives/the-repair-cafe-what-can-we-learn-from-it/ (Accessed 10th June 2021) 215
Harrabin, ‘Right to repair' law to come in this summer’, BBC, 2021, https://www.bbc.co.uk/ news/business-56340077 (Accessed 16th June 2021) 216R,
217M,
Portas,‘The Portas Review’ 2011, https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/ uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/6292/2081646.pdf (Accessed 7th June 2021) and
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