Welcome to the Camden Town Shed!

Photo of a group of Shed members in the workshop

We are a charitable organisation offering a workspace where members can work on practical projects or follow hobbies in the company of others. We offer a fully equipped woodworking shop plus a clay room with a kiln. Members decide when they come and what they do and enjoy learning from each other. We aim to be a very friendly and supportive environment.

Who We Are

  • We seek to build social connections and friendships through bringing people together to pursue their practical interests and hobbies.
  • We do this through providing a very well-equipped workshop for woodwork, ceramics and other handicrafts.
  • We are a volunteer-run charity, funded mainly by donations from our membership.
  • We have about fifty active members from across London and the South East, with a range of skill levels from beginner to expert.
  • We welcome both men and women aged over 40 to join our general membership, so long as you can work safely within our workshop.
  • We helped start UK Men's Sheds, a national body which aims to reduce social isolation in older men. This movement has grown to over a thousand sheds and you can find out more at menssheds.org.uk
  • Please watch this short video from our founder, filmed at the Camden Shed, which talks about our aims and benefits:

What We Do

Two men working in the Shed workshop

Members mostly work on their own projects at their own pace, to practise skills and enjoy making and mending. We also come together to work on projects for the community or make improvements to our shed.

We have an extensive range of hand and power tools plus all the fixings you could ever need. Our machine tools are well-maintained with plenty of support to help you operate them safely, under supervision if necessary.

There's no formal tuition provided but members are very willing to share their expertise and to learn from others. We all tend to have different areas of interest as you can see in our gallery but we constantly challenge each other to learn and improve.

Most of our wood we use is recycled from discarded material and many of our projects are the upcycling of unwanted furniture. As well as the many forms of traditional woodwork, we have members who enjoy sculpture, leatherwork and marquetry. Our clay room is also very popular, having a variety of glazes plus our own kiln which is free for members to use.

Donations

We are very happy to receive any donations of spare wood and tools that we might be able to use. To donate some cash to help us keep going, please use the PayPal button below:

A black woman in the workshop

Visit us

We are open from 10am to 4pm on weekdays, except Wednesdays, throughout the year. The best way to find out more is to simply visit us. Our staff are all volunteers and will be happy to show you around and discuss whether we can help you. The best time to drop by is around noon on any Tuesday when we normally give inductions and safety briefings to new members.

Maiden Lane Community Centre
St.Paul's Crescent
London
NW1 9XZ

///Sake.Apples.Cooks on what3words

Our workshop is part of the Maiden Lane Community Centre. Our door is on the upper level to the right of the main office entrance. Look out for our sign board.

The Camden Town Shed at Maiden Lane Community Centre

Camden Town tube station is about 15 minutes walk and Camden Road overground about 12 minutes.

The nearest bus stops are ZA/ZF on Agar Grove for route 274 and P/Q on York Way for route 390, which are all only a few minutes walk from our shed.

Contact us

The best way to find out more is to simply visit us! (see above) If you'd like to get in touch first, please email us at: info@camdentownshed.org. If you don't have an email account, please contact Mike on 07757 024749.

Attendance on Mondays and Thursdays is restricted to adults of any age needing direct help and supervision, often having been referred to us by a local health agency, and is by appointment only. If you are a health professional and wish to refer someone or are someone willing to provide assistance on these days, then please contact: referrals@camdentownshed.org