Kenya: Paving Over a Sanctuary - Nairobi's Pallet Café to Be Replaced By Petrol Station

By Jody Kockott

In Nairobi, the sudden closure of Pallet Café -- a rare shared space run almost entirely by deaf and hard-of-hearing staff -- has come as a blow to its community. As the café makes way for a petrol station, its disappearance highlights just how significant this space had become.

Turning off from the constant traffic of James Gichuru Road, the noise and commotion of Nairobi almost instantly fall away. Walking down the driveway into Pallet Café, people come to a shaded garden where conversations are carried out through gesture, expression and eye contact.

For years, this was a quiet anomaly in Nairobi's Lavington district, known for being nearly completely run by deaf or hearing-impaired people.

But on Wednesday, 15 April 2026, the café opened its doors to customers for the last time. According to a notice posted on its gate one month ago, there are plans for the site to be redeveloped into a petrol station.

Pallet Café is now in the process of being dismantled, expected to be fully cleared by the end of April. At its entrance, customers were once greeted by a smile and gestured to choose where they'd like to sit. The first page of the menu introduced the essentials of Kenyan Sign Language needed here - "thank you", "please", "more", "finished".

When I first visited, I was struck by the high level of friendly customer service, communicating with eye contact, a smile, and lots of thumbs up. It's this attentiveness I will miss most,...

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