Author Topic: Bike Shop Cafes  (Read 81152 times)

Bike Shop Cafes
« on: 23 February, 2017, 09:52:01 pm »
Came across a great bike shop café in Berlin:
http://www.westerley.cc/cafe-au-lube-spares-repairs-and-eclairs/

Then asked on Facebook if anyone  knew of any more bike shop cafes that I'd left out and the list now looks like this:

CYCLE RIGHT – NORTHWOOD HILLS, NW LONDON
http://cycleright.cc/
 VELOLIFE – WARREN ROW (MAIDENHEAD / HENLEY)
https://www.facebook.com/velolife.co.uk/?fref=ts
 THE HUB – REDBOURN (ST.ALBANS)
http://www.hubcoffeebikes.com/
 LOOK MUM NO HANDS – LONDON (CITY / EAST)
http://www.lookmumnohands.com/
 RAPHA – CENTRAL LONDON & MANCHESTER
http://pages.rapha.cc/clubs
 VELO HOUSE – TUNBRIDGE WELLS
http://www.thevelohouse.com/
 THE FREEWHEEL – FAVERSHAM, KENT
http://www.thefreewheel.pub/
 CAFE VENTOUX – TUGBY NEAR LEICESTER
https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=cafe%20ventoux%20-%20destination%20cycle%20cafe&hc_location=ufi
 ROAD CYCLE EXCHANGE – KINGSTON
https://roadcycleexchange.com/
 ROCKETS AND RASCALS – PLYMOUTH & POOLE
http://www.rocketsandrascals.com/
 EUREKA – CHESTER
http://www.eurekacyclistscafe.co.uk/services/eureka-cycle-sports/
 THE GREN JERSEY – CLITHEROE
http://thegreenjersey.co.uk/
 VELO DOMESTIQUE – BOURNEMOUTH
http://www.velodomestique.co.uk/
 PEDALING SQUARES – NEWCASTLE
http://www.pedallingsquarescafe.com/
 PSYCHLING – WIMBORNE, DORSET
https://www.facebook.com/psychling.co.uk/?ref=nf
 SYNERGY – AUCJHTERARDER – SW OF PERTH, SCOTLAND
http://synergycycles.cc/
 MAGLIA ROSSO – BURY St.EDMUNDS
https://magliarosso.co.uk/
 MICYCLE – ISLINGTON, LONDON
http://www.micycle.org.uk/
 LONDON VELO – DEPTFORD, LONDON
http://www.ldnvelo.co.uk/
 MACHINE – ELEPHANT & CASTLE, LONDON
http://www.ldnvelo.co.uk/
 PEDAL BACK – TOOTING, LONDON
https://www.timeout.com/london/restaurants/pedal-back-cafe
 CADENCE PERFORMANCE – ANERLEY HILL, SOUTH LONDON
http://cadenceperformance.com/
 SOHO BIKES – CENTRAL LONDON (WEST END)
http://sohobikes.co.uk/

So, anyone on YACF want to add to the list?

Manotea

  • Where there is doubt...
Re: Bike Shop Cafes
« Reply #1 on: 23 February, 2017, 10:24:23 pm »
Giro, Esher
https://www.girocycles.com/pages/cafe
Pilgrim Cycles, Westhumble (at the bottom of Box Hill)
http://pilgrim-cycles.co.uk/

Re: Bike Shop Cafes
« Reply #2 on: 23 February, 2017, 10:31:25 pm »
Veloton in Tetbury

Re: Bike Shop Cafes
« Reply #3 on: 23 February, 2017, 10:37:32 pm »
Kirkley Cycles, near Ponteland, Northumberland:

http://www.kirkleycycles.com

Re: Bike Shop Cafes
« Reply #4 on: 23 February, 2017, 10:50:17 pm »
A number of Audaxes and clubs have used Maglia Rosso in Hawstead, south of Bury St Edmunds (Suffolk) - whoops, you got that one!

Also Bicicletta in Saffron Walden (Essex).

The local one for me is Kinetic in Hitchin (north Herts).

My wife found Twenty3c in Stony Stratford (west of Milton Keynes, Bucks) on a recent conference visit, so I'm off to try it on Saturday.

And you didn't mention LMNH in London.

But there must be loads.

mcshroom

  • Mushroom
Re: Bike Shop Cafes
« Reply #5 on: 23 February, 2017, 11:03:01 pm »
There's the Hub on the rover side in Newcastle
http://www.thecyclehub.org/

There's also the quirky Greystoke Cycle Cafe on the C2C near Penrith
http://www.greystokecyclecafe.co.uk/
Climbs like a sprinter, sprints like a climber!

fuaran

  • rothair gasta
Re: Bike Shop Cafes
« Reply #6 on: 23 February, 2017, 11:25:48 pm »
Ronde, Edinburgh http://rondebike.com/

Velocity, Inverness http://velocitylove.co.uk/

LEE

  • "Shut Up Jens" - Legs.
Re: Bike Shop Cafes
« Reply #7 on: 24 February, 2017, 12:01:18 am »
"Tubs" Cafe at Abbots Ann Cycles, Andover, NW Hampshire.

It's a great bike shop, with a Wattbike studio, demo bikes and has become a cycling hub for the area.  They buy their coffee from local Roasters, they have rides from the shop, they run training camps in Spain...etc..etc.  They have bike maintenance evenings, some women specific, they run Breeze rides...etc etc.  It's so much more than just a cycle shop. 

(Note.  I have no financial affiliation to Abbots Ann Cycles... I just think it's a superb place.  I'm going to their Chianti & Pizza evening soon, to celebrate their new status as a Colnago dealership).



Some people say I'm self-obsessed but that's enough about them.

JStone

  • E=112
Re: Bike Shop Cafes
« Reply #8 on: 24 February, 2017, 12:10:53 am »
Néophyte > 2007 > Ancien > 2011 > Récidiviste

Re: Bike Shop Cafes
« Reply #9 on: 24 February, 2017, 06:25:19 am »

Gus

  • Loosing weight stone by stone
    • We will return
Re: Bike Shop Cafes
« Reply #10 on: 24 February, 2017, 06:39:57 am »
Ilkley cycles in Ilkley http://www.ilkleycycles.co.uk/

Re: Bike Shop Cafes
« Reply #11 on: 24 February, 2017, 06:57:27 am »
The Commute, also in Ilkley.

http://www.thecommuteyorkshire.com/

The coffee is really good.

LEE

  • "Shut Up Jens" - Legs.
Re: Bike Shop Cafes
« Reply #12 on: 24 February, 2017, 09:24:42 am »
Interesting to see the evolution of the cycle shop.

It's clear that the "pile-em-high" bike shop, where you just crammed as many bikes into a dusty old shop as possible, is changing into a "cycling hub".  The Rapha Cafe and Look-mum-no-hands model is spreading.

It's a positive reaction to the threat of on-line retailers.  Obviously no independent can compete on price and range with Wiggle (Check how many types of brake blocks/pads Wiggle sell) but they can definitely compete on customer service and atmosphere.


Long may it continue to evolve and spread.
Some people say I'm self-obsessed but that's enough about them.

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Bike Shop Cafes
« Reply #13 on: 24 February, 2017, 09:41:07 am »
Mud Dock cafe and bike shop, mentioned already by JStone, opened in 1994, which I think makes them older than Rapha and LMNH. This makes sense because if there's anywhere in Britain that's going to emulate the Mediterranean cafe lifestyle, it's Bristol, where we're all too stoned/sleepy/lazy to do any real work.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Bike Shop Cafes
« Reply #14 on: 24 February, 2017, 09:49:04 am »
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Re: Bike Shop Cafes
« Reply #15 on: 24 February, 2017, 10:18:22 am »
Bertie Maffoons In Marlborough - although slightly out of town
http://www.bertiemaffoons.com/giftcert.php

Re: Bike Shop Cafes
« Reply #16 on: 24 February, 2017, 10:30:01 am »
Dynamic Rides in Hockley Heath

http://dynamicrides.co.uk/cafe

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Bike Shop Cafes
« Reply #17 on: 24 February, 2017, 10:57:03 am »
On a slightly different note, Peppers Cafe in Gloucester is run by a cyclist – a former competitor in RAAM and RAW, no less – and has cycling themed decor, such as sprocket saucers (Campag, naturally), but doesn't sell or service bikes. http://www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk/this-is-why-peppers-cafe-is-gloucester-s-best-eating-out-establishment/story-29976303-detail/story.html

In fact, there are probably (at least) two sorts of bike shop cafes in terms of who eats there: ones which feed cyclists on rides (I stopped at Cafe Ventoux, which someone has already mentioned, on my way back from Rutland last summer, mostly because it was just in the right place but also the evident cycling-ness attracted my attention) or while buying/browsing bikes and bits; and ones which might share a general ambience but are essentially parallel businesses in one premises. Mud Dock and Roll for the Soul are definitely in the latter category – the people eating there are not generally cyclists.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Re: Bike Shop Cafes
« Reply #18 on: 24 February, 2017, 11:15:02 am »
Bike Beans Cycle Cafe in Ashtead nicely straddles both those categories: owned and run by a cyclist, good stock of the sort of stuff you just might need to pick up whilst out on a ride without trying to be a fully-stocked cycle shop, great coffee and great cakes, space to park your bike safely. But it appeals to civilians too which dilutes the Sky-jerseyed testosterone fest all too common on the weekend in the Surrey Hills. And an antidote to the, ahem, experience that is the Box Hill Cafe on a summer weekend too.

http://www.bikebeans.co.uk

Eddington Number = 132

Re: Bike Shop Cafes
« Reply #19 on: 24 February, 2017, 11:21:26 am »
useful list, but why isnt there one of these in cambridge? there are bloody millions of cafes and bike shops, nobody does both! 

(the espresso library has some bikes on the wall and serves awful coffee so it doesnt register on either scale)

Re: Bike Shop Cafes
« Reply #20 on: 24 February, 2017, 12:12:58 pm »
When I wrote the original article 'CAFE AU LUBE - SPARES, REPAIRS AND ECLAIRS':
http://www.westerley.cc/cafe-au-lube-spares-repairs-and-eclairs/
I was definitely focusing on establishments that sold both bike stuff and refreshments alongside each other. I left a few suggestions out where they were just cycling themed cafes, or where there was a bike shop and a café in the same retail building, but they weren't the same establishment.

Thanks for all the replies, I will collate these, and someone has just added Hex in London via Facebook. In particular, I wasn't sure about Bike Beans which I knew of but had never visited, so thanks for the clarification that it does sell spares....that's good enough for me!

The primary test could be: ONE LUBE OR TWO?
Coffee/tea and chain lube in one establishment meets the criterion.

hellymedic

  • Just do it!
Re: Bike Shop Cafes
« Reply #21 on: 24 February, 2017, 12:26:43 pm »
I have not been to Emily's Tea Rooms in Whitwell, Herts. I understand they sell bike spares, which doesn't make this a bike shop...
 

Re: Bike Shop Cafes
« Reply #22 on: 24 February, 2017, 02:30:12 pm »
Zappi's bike cafe in Oxford (now above http://www.bike-zone.co.uk/) is well known locally and even made the Guardian top 10 bike cafes a couple of years back.

Re: Bike Shop Cafes
« Reply #23 on: 24 February, 2017, 02:45:04 pm »
Veloton in Tetbury

Now we know that cycling has joined beagling, shooting and equestrianism as a true sport of the elite.

When I lived near Tetbury I never ever saw another cyclist. Nearest shop or club run was Gloucester or Swindon.

:-)

Re: Bike Shop Cafes
« Reply #24 on: 24 February, 2017, 03:25:39 pm »
Active Cycles in Corbridge. Started life as a bike shop, added a cafe but the bike shop bit is dwindling. Good food though.
I am often asked, what does YOAV stand for? It stands for Yoav On A Velo