The new shop on East Street where you borrow things and don't buy them

There’s a new addition to the retail offering on East Street in Bedminster - but instead of popping in to buy something, people will just be borrowing it instead.

The Library of Things acts just like a regular book library, but instead of the latest Jilly Cooper novel, people borrow anything and everything from a jet washer to a carpet cleaner to a gazebo - all for a small monthly membership fee.

The charity Share Bristol has already set one up in Kingswood, and the new Library of Things in Bedminster is the first in the city itself.

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Actor and radio presenter Joe Sims was given the honour of declaring the new library open - but only agreed to do it if he was allowed to use a large pair of garden shears to cut the ceremonial ribbon. It turned out garden shears aren’t the best tool in the Library of Things to use to cut a ribbon, but he hacked through it in the end, and said the principle of a library for stuff most people only need to use occasionally was a great idea.

“I like no clutter around my house and I like the idea that you can just go there and you can get yourself a lawn mower, a leaf blower, whatever you need,” he said. “Your mother-in-law’s coming around and you’ve got to make the place look tidy so you’ve got to get a vacuum cleaner or a pressure washer - they’ve got all that stuff and you can borrow it and you can borrow it all for less than a quid a week, it’s amazing.

“It’s good for the environment, it’s good for your bank balance and it’s good for your shed. It’s absolutely fantastic. It’s also good to see so many fantastic volunteers, giving up their time and making Bristol a better place, I’m all about that.

“It’s amazing, it truly is - philanthropic, front-footed, good community decent people, putting together a project like this that is going to make such a difference to the community in South Bristol,” he added.

Share Bristol trustee Anna Perry explained how the idea works. “What a Library of Things is is a place where you can come and borrow whatever you need to live your life, whether it’s camping equipment or DIY tools or gardening tools, you join the charity and you come and borrow,” she said.

“So we’re helping people to afford the things they need, to live their life to the full, to create community hubs on the High Street, and it will just be a nice place to come and volunteer. It’s a real community effort and a real community project,” she added.

Anna said that as well as donations of things to the library, they are looking for many more volunteers to help out in the Library of Things - the more they get, the longer each week they will be able to open.

As well as ‘front-facing’ library staff to deal with the members, they are also keen to recruit volunteers who are handy with tools. Every time something is borrowed and returned it gets a bit of a service, so people who are good at fixing things, odd jobs and maintenance are especially welcome, Anna explained.

“We hope that the Bedminster’s Library of Things will become the first place people think of going when they need something for around the house, garden or for a trip, but also that it becomes a true hub for the community - bringing people to the area for a variety of activities centred around sharing things, resources and knowledge,” she explained.

“Share Bristol Bedminster already has around a couple of hundred Things available, and more are being added every week. Many people assume that Share Bristol is primarily a tool library, but actually carpet cleaners, gazebos and pressure washers are just as popular as DIY tools. The biggest thing donated to the charity so far is a roof box for a car, whilst the smallest is probably a tiny allen key.

“Share Bristol is asking local people to support their charity and help get Bristol borrowing, by donating Things to the Library - they are looking for anything that people might want to borrow for a week or two, rather than have permanently in their homes. They are also looking for more volunteers - at the moment Share Bristol Kingswood is open 11 hours a week across four days, but Bedminster is only open on Wednesday lunchtimes and Saturday mornings, whilst the team scale up,” she added.

You can join Share Bristol by visiting the Share Bristol website, paying an annual membership fee and then you can borrow from the Bedminster or Kingswood Library of Things for free, as often as you want. “This is a win-win-win - it's affordable, it brings life to the high street and it’s great for the environment,” added Anna.