Brixton news, rumours and general chat
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hiraethified
I've heard nothing but nothing surprises me these days. It would be a real shame if they are closing.
Update: Google says "temporarily closed."
snowy_again
Slush
Yeah, it's closing. Terrible news.
editor
hiraethified
Have you got a source for that? Is there anything people can do to save it, or is it too far gone now?
felonius monk
Well-Known Member
It crowdfunded £30K less than a year ago so surprising that it's in trouble again.
editor
hiraethified
I'm guessing that the rise in hire bikes like Lime/Forest must be impacting bike shops....
Could be but also think they encourage people to buy bikes as they try cycling places with them.
I'd read that they tend to create modal shift from walking/Boris bikes/buses for ad hoc journeys more than replace bike ownership significantly.
Tough times for local bike shops everywhere though. Operating costs rising faster than retail prices, a boom in Covid followed by a bust as folk go back to work (meaning lots of nearly new bikes on the second hand market). Global supply chain crisis for parts. It goes on and on.
Apex in Clapham has also closed recently, I think?
felonius monk
Well-Known Member
Raleigh recently reported a £30m loss and blamed the industry dynamics- return to pre-Covid levels of sales, high inflation, overstocking of inventory at retail level. More bike shops will close unfortunately.
spitfire
Walty McWaltface
Brompton also had an absolute mare last year. luckily they have deep pockets.
Profits fell from £10.7m to £4,602 in the year to the end of March 2024
Brompton profits plunge more than 99% amid bike industry turmoil
Boss of bicycle maker says discounting after Covid boom means ‘sad state of affairs’ in global market is likely to go on
The £30k raised last year would have lasted them 2 or 3 months at best. Wages would soon eat away at that and also they probably had debts to pay out of that money. It's all long gone.
Damned shame, i used to love going in their and miss my brixton cycles courier bag still.
Rushy
basically a scrotum
Brompton too. Broke even in year to last March, compared with 10,700,000 profit the year before. Citing market dynamics.
Rushy
basically a scrotum
snap!Brompton also had an absolute mare last year. luckily they have deep pockets.
Profits fell from £10.7m to £4,602 in the year to the end of March 2024
Brompton profits plunge more than 99% amid bike industry turmoil
Boss of bicycle maker says discounting after Covid boom means ‘sad state of affairs’ in global market is likely to go onwww.theguardian.com
The £30k raised last year would have lasted them 2 or 3 months at best. Wages would soon eat away at that and also they probably had debts to pay out of that money. It's all long gone.
Damned shame, i used to love going in their and miss my brixton cycles courier bag still.
spitfire
Walty McWaltface
Also GT have paused manufacture and selling off remaining inventory. Another huge distributor whose name I forget went out of business last year.
It's carnage in the bike market.
It's carnage in the bike market.
Crispy
The following psytrance is baṉned: All
I also recall that insurers have hiked their prices massively for bike shops who deal with e-bikes due to the fire risk. It's mad, because it's generaly only shoddy conversion kits off aliexpress that explode themselves, not the reputable manufacturer's stuff.
Gramsci
Well-Known Member
Why? Is the question I'd ask
That section of Brixton road is always busy. A lot of people around that section. If there's anywhere on that part of Brixton road not to speed it's that section.
Gramsci
Well-Known Member
I went to the meeting on this.
It was painful.
Several people were asking questions on the affordable housing.
There were also questions about how residents are being consulted.
It got quite heated discussion.
There was no one from London Square. The developers.
Nor was there a Cllr to defend the scheme.
Impression I got is that all major decisions are taken by Council and developers. With "consultation" being little more than window-dressing.
Answers from officers amounted to council and developer haven't decided yet. It all comes across that developer is the dominant partner in this partnership.
Despite this supposedly being a partnership model to develop site it appears there is little in way of guaranteed outcomes. I don't see what real leverage the council has
The answer from officer was that the leverage they have is that they could "walk" away from scheme and therefore end it with this developer. They choose to keep it and agree with developer a reduction of affordable housing.
So in practice the leverage the council have in this partnership model failed at first hurdle.
Imo later on in scheme the same could happen. And affordable housing reduced even more for reasons of "viability".
blameless77
Well-Known Member
My experience is sadly similar. There are one or two people working there that have good customer skills; the rest give the impression that your presence is an imposition. It wasn't always like this, and they've supported the community for decades with e.g. lending out tools, and helping people be more confident about cycling and also minor repairs. Unfortunately I suspect their glory days are behind them. It was all downhill after they were forced out of Coldharbour Lane.
freshapple
Active Member
When I used them they took so long for simple repairs I gave up. Nice people though
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