Support road.cc

Like this site? Help us to make it better.

news

Cardiff bike shop founded by Welsh cycling legend shuts after 70 years

Reg Braddick competed in 1938 Empire Games and also founded Cardiff Ajax Cycling Club

A Cardiff bike shop has stopped trading, 70 years after it was established by Welsh cyling legend Reg Braddick, who also set up Cardiff Ajax Cycling Club.

Family-owned business Reg Braddick Cycles on Roath Broadway ceased trading earlier this month, reports Wales Online.

It was established in 1945 and three years later the room above the premises became the first clubroom of Cardiff Ajax after Mr Braddick, who travelled by ship to Australia to compete in the 1938 Empire Games, set it up.

Mr Braddick died in 1999 at the age of 86 and his son David told Wales Online that it had been a difficult decision to close the business down.

He said: “It’s completely the end of an era. There’s never a good time, and so many reasons not to do it.

“But retail is also changing and nowadays people buy in different ways.

David added: “The location has always been in Broadway and it was very much what the Americans call a ‘Mom-and-Pop’ shop – something really traditional, a friendly shop – and that’s carried on until today.”

Wales Online adds that the shop’s founder’s legacy will survive thanks to his role in establishing Cardiff Ajax, nowadays based at Maindy Stadium, where double Olympic team pursuit gold medallist Geraint Thomas got his first taste of track cycling.

The club also gave 2008 world and Olympic road champion Nicole Cooke her start in cycling.

A butcher’s delivery boy – something he had in common with Fausto Coppi – Mr Braddick was the only cyclist among the Wales team that travelled to the Empire Games in 1938.

He disembarked from the ship as it entered the Suez Canal so he could train on his bike, and had to wait for it to catch up with him at the other end.

He eventually found a job with Raleigh, and would undertake a 150-mile weekly commute to work at its Nottingham factory.

His son said: “We did that trip before he died and it’s a fair run even in the car. And he didn’t have the benefit of the bridge crossing.”

He also raised money for the charity Barnardo’s Cymru and in the 1980s helped set up the South Wales Echo On Your Bike Ride in the 1980s. He was awarded the British Empire Medal for his work for charity.
A statement posted on the shop’s website earlier this month said:

It is with sadness that we inform you as of this date we will be shutting our doors after 70 years.

The decision has been taken due to the retirement of our Managing Director through ill health.

We thank you all for your support over the years and wish you many happy miles of cycling to come.

See you on the trails!

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

Add new comment

7 comments

Avatar
ct | 9 years ago
0 likes

This particular shop's challenge was a mix of location, it was based in a no longer busy area and there has been a number of very good lbs opening in Cardiff. Don't think Evans arrival made much difference....

Avatar
Tiffin15 | 9 years ago
0 likes

In a market where UK cycling has never been so strong?

Avatar
NatJoyrideCycles replied to Tiffin15 | 9 years ago
0 likes

Don't misinterpret the media hype with cycling. It may well be popular (or atleast have more people interested) but it is harder than ever to trade.

The problem is the media rarely reports the closure of shops unless they are steeped in history like this example. There are plenty of shops around the country closing every single week.

Watch what happens over the next year or 2....

Avatar
marcswales | 9 years ago
0 likes

I bought my first Galaxy from there!  2

Avatar
Bazza | 9 years ago
0 likes

Sad when a lbs closes you don't get the same sort of service from big brand bike stores.

Avatar
ct | 9 years ago
0 likes

Oh that is a shame. Maybe markedly I hadn't been there for years, it was a bit out of my way and many other LBS sprang up offering shiny shiny nearer to me and my commute.

Just to be a pedant, G rode at Maindy with Maindy Flyers.

Avatar
Welsh boy replied to ct | 9 years ago
0 likes
ct wrote:

Oh that is a shame.
Just to be a pedant, G rode at Maindy with Maindy Flyers.

Being a pedant too, it doesn't say that G rode with the Ajax, just that Maindy is where he got his first taste of track cycling.

Shame about the shop closing though, i spent many happy hours (and many hard earned pounds) there when I was younger.

Latest Comments