Brixton Cycles was a workers co-operative bike shop in

Brixton Brixton is an area of South London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Brixton experienced a rapid rise in population during the 19th century ...

in the London borough of Lambeth,

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. It was established in 1983 and closed in April 2025. Its formation was part of an increasing trend in the 1970s and 1980s of a new cycling shops co-op movement across the United Kingdom. Brixton Cycles being directly inspired by the Edinburgh Bicycle co-op. The founders who were keen long distance cyclists apparently germinated the idea for the shop on a long ride from Lands end to John O'Groats. As well as selling products and fixing bike in store the co-op also ran an online shop.

History

Coldharbour Lane 1983 - 2001 The shop first opened in a small space in 435-437

Coldharbour Lane Coldharbour Lane is a road in south London, England, that leads south-westwards from Camberwell to Brixton. The road is over long with a mixture of residential, business and retail buildings – the stretch of Coldharbour Lane near Brixton Ma ...

two years after the Brixton Uprising, at a point that many other businesses had left the area. A founding intention was to make a positive social impact in the area following the uprising. Early brands sold by the shop at this time included Specialized, Bicycle Chain, Marin and Kona. Local wheelmaker Sam the wheels was an early customer. Stockwell Road 2001 - 2016 The shop moved to 145 Stockwell Road in May 2001, sitting alongside Stockwell Skatepark the shop supported the local skating and BMX community who used the park. The shop saw a boom in 2009 when demand for hybrid/commuter bikes outstripped availability. In 2010 police officers who asked the shop to fix their bikes, left multiple bills unpaid. In 2011 the shop saw a big increase in sales of bike tools as shoppers were moving towards building their own bikes. In 2014 the shop won the award for Best Small Retailer at the London Cycling Awards. The gentrification of Brixton in this era saw a rise in development, with the estate containing the Stockwell Road shop marked for demolition. Brixton Cycles quickly made a move to crowdfund to afford looking for a new shop premises. The community support of getting Brixton Cycles to a new premises became part of the wider Reclaim Brixton anti-gentrification activism at the time. Brixton Road 2016 - 2025 With the shop rent tripling with the move to the Brixton Road shop, it at times it became hard for the co-op to stay afloat and open. With an increase of requests for bike building and repairs the shop changed its layout to double the size of the workshop. In 2019 the shop was nominated as one of the best bike shops in London by The Londonist with a testimonial supplied by customer and actor

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. In the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown, bicycle shops were quickly deemed essential businesses and with an increase in cycling the shop saw a large surge in orders for bicycles and repairs. Priority services were provided for NHS staff working during the pandemic. In 2024 comedian and shop regular Chris Morris took to social media to promote the shop's crowdfunding campaign making up funds from a powercut. Closure, 2025 The Co-op closed its doors in April 2025 and the store was listed for sale. It had earlier launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise £30,000 to avoid closure. Announcements appeared on Facebook and in the cycling press. "We gave it everything. For years, we have been at the coalface, all the while trying to keep cycling accessible in a city that doesn’t always make it easy. But the truth is, between rising costs, a brutal economic climate, and a million other small battles, we just couldn’t make it work anymore. And while we never wanted to let anyone down, sometimes love and hustle just aren’t enough."

Business structure

As a workers co-operative staff were equal owners of the company and were paid an equal hourly wage. Decisions were made by consensus at the business' monthly meeting. At times of financial crisis, staff delayed paying themselves or had to work on alternative models. All staff worked in the shop, stockroom and as mechanics in the workshop, so expertise was spread out and shared.

Equality and inclusion

The shop had a good representation of women, published author of Bicycle maintenance books Mel Allwood once being a member of staff and director of the co-op. The shop recognised its community connection, history and support as part of its success of survival. Workshops took place for gender diverse and LGBTQ+ cyclists to learn basic bicycle maintenance and an event in 2023 celebrated Black cyclists and their involvement in the shop.

Stock and services

The shop specialised in bikes from Trek and Specialized amongst others. The advent of online shopping had a negative impact on the shop, with online shops without overheads such as rent being able to offer lower prices. Also the shop has felt they have been subject to

showrooming Showrooming is the practice of examining merchandise in a traditional brick-and-mortar retail store or other offline setting, and then buying it online, sometimes at a lower price. Online stores often offer lower prices than their brick-and-mortar ...

. The shop offered discounts for NHS staff and

London Cycling Campaign The London Cycling Campaign (LCC) is an independent membership charity lobbying for better conditions for cycling in London. Its vision is to make London "a world-class cycling city". It is one of the largest urban cycling organisations in th ...

members. It also accepted the Brixton pound, a local currency. The shop had bold iconic branding, utilising

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inspired imagery for merchandising and bright yellow and black exterior signage.

Cycling Club

Brixton Cycles hosted the Brixton Cycles Club - a social club for cyclists with over 180 members in south London. Their ethos is "based on the principles of the co-operative movement". It has a strong focus on inclusion of Black cyclists, with the club jersey being in the

Pan-African colours Pan-African colours is a term that may refer to two different sets of colours: * Green, yellow and red, the colours of the flag of Ethiopia, have come to represent the pan-Africanist ideology due to the country's history of having avoided bein ...

of red, green and gold. The club held events such as the Beastway series, which had participants including

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as well as regular

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events at

Herne Hill Velodrome The Herne Hill Velodrome is an outdoor velodrome in Herne Hill, in south London. It is one of the oldest cycling tracks in the world, having been built in 1891. It hosted the track cycling events in the 1948 Summer Olympics and was briefly the h ...

References

External links

Brixton Cycles former website
Archived version Feb 2025 {{Authority control Cycle retailers Worker co-operatives of the United Kingdom Retail companies established in 1983 Co-operatives in England Companies based in the London Borough of Lambeth