A Cambridge bike shop is to close its doors after trading for 105 years, another much-loved business that has fallen victim to the rise of e-commerce and growth of specialist chains on the High Street.
Ben Hayward Cycles was founded more than a century ago on Trumpington Street, which was on the route of Stage 3 of the 2014 Tour de France, which began in the city and finished in London.
The original shop, in the heart of Cambridge’s colleges, was closed in 2014, with the business moving to the Scotsdales Garden Centre in Horningsea, just north of the city, where it had opened a second location in 2009.
News that the business is now to close permanently comes three years after what had been the world’s oldest bike shop, Howes Cycles, established in Cambridge in 1840, ceased trading after 173 years. Its premises now house a pub called The Old Bicycle Shop.
> Former Howes Cycles premises in Cambridge to become a pub
In a post to its Facebook page on Sunday, Ben Haywards Cycles – now owned and run by Rob Turner – said it was “sad to announce that we will be closing at the end of January.”
High Street changes
The statement said: “Ben Hayward Cycles have enjoyed being a part of the vibrant cycling scene in Cambridge for nearly 105 years. Much has changed in that time, cycling use has oscillated, trends come and gone – remember when we rode round town on mountain bikes!
“We have always tried to concentrate on service, offering the best advice, customisation, hopefully a friendly easy route to a bike that fitted your needs.
“But the High Street has changed, retailing has changed & despite our best efforts, we find ourselves fighting to survive let alone thrive in our saturated Cambridge/World marketplace.
“Thank you to our customers, suppliers, landlord, friends in the trade – we’ve had fun and enjoyed the glory of the bicycle together.
“We will trade competitively and with expert eye for attention as usual until Christmas. Our clearance sale will start on Wednesday 28th December, all welcome, please come in to say hello – we’d love to help with all your cycling needs while we can.”
Dismay & tributes
Customers reacted to the announcement with dismay in replies to the post on Facebook, several referring to the business as “a Cambridge institution.”
One, Tim Waterfield, wrote: “This is so sad. Wishing all your dedicated staff good luck in whatever comes next. It’s shocking that, in Cambridge of all places, there isn’t a place for the expertise and service you have provided.”
Another, Jill Brook, wrote: “So very sorry to hear this sad news. Thank you for offering such great service, and always with superb attention to detail. Reliable, honest and friendly. Every good wish for a successful and happy future.”
In his post, Andrew Rands referred to the practice of ‘showrooming,’ common in cycling and other retail sectors, where people go to a bricks and mortar business to look at products in person then go online to order them at a cheaper price.
He said: “Sad news. You always hope that shops like yours which provide great service & advice will overcome the problem of showrooming & online retailers. Bought my Whyte Dorset from you & it’s a superb bike.”
In a subsequent Facebook post, Ben Hayward Cycles said: “Thank you all for your kind comments. We feel humbled, and all the more determined to carry on advocating the bicycle as a solution to so many of our urban problems.
“Light Blue Cycles [on Chesterton Road] & Blazing Saddles [on Cherry Hinton Road] have generously offered to take on the first service of our new bikes sold in the next two months – I can heartily recommend their servicing and help.”
The company added: “We of course are in full trade at the moment for Christmas, do come in to see us.”
When the company moved out of Cambridge in 2014 and focus the business solely on its Horningsea premises, Turner said it had taken the decision due to a fall in trade at the Trumpington Street store.
He cited factors including declining footfall in the city centre, increased competition from other stores in Cambridge and online, growth in the number of coach trip visitors in the area, which is close to some of the university’s most famous colleges, and difficulty of access and parking.
23 thoughts on “Cambridge bike shop Ben Hayward Cycles to close after more than a century as online and specialist chain competition squeezes out another traditional bike shop”
Tragic really. A small bike
Tragic really. A small bike shop who were trading through the doldrums of the eighties has to close in 2016 when cycling is more popular than its ever been?
Something is going badly wrong with our high streets and with retail in general. Online outfits like Planet X are dumping their staff and rehiring them on zero hours contracts, already dominant Wiggle are buying up Chain Reaction to reduce competition.
All this greed has made the industry bloated beyond belief, they stoke up a mania of upgrading and faddish new developments that no one actually needs just to keep it going , the bubble will inevitably burst and we’ll all lose in the end. Once shops like this are gone they never come back.
Hipshot wrote:
Great post, couldn’t agree more. Local LBS says exactly the same. Ground into the dust by Internet sales. Used to sell plenty of bikes and gear, not anymore, primarily just repairs and servicing now. I guess all of us are guilty though…….you try and use them as much as possible, but you can’t always pay £50, when you could pay £25.
Hipshot wrote:
Sad that they closed, sad that Planet-x are not treating their staff right. Still, lived in Cambridge for five years, and only spent 15 quid at Ben Haywards, and about the same at Howes. Everything else was Planet-x, CRC, Wiggle, Merlin and Rose. I just couldn’t pay twice the price … or more likely that I still paid the same price, but got Dura-ace/XTR instead of 105/Deore.
For service in Cambridge, the lads in the parking building who ran a service shop were my regular for jobs I couldnt do at home … mostly wheel building.
Adapt or die. Same for all
Adapt or die. Same for all businesses.
LBS should all be selling online and offering same day delivery by bicycle to their local town/city.
Any LBS not doing that but complaining about sales has it rightly coming to them.
unconstituted wrote:
Ignorant beyond belief. Often the trade price for a small bike shop is the same as the retail price of a Internet retail giant. They get around this by buying huge quantities in areas of the world where prices are set based on demands by companies. (Shimano in Poland for example). Also because they sell in vast numbers so they do not need as high a profit margin.
There is no way LBS can compete if they try to sell online, they’d wouldn’t be able to stock as many brands and with free postage they’d be practically selling at a loss. Some LBS offers price match and sell at no profit just to hope to get return customs and servicing.
Perhaps you are one of those people who goes in a bike shop to try something on before buying it from wiggle/CNC for cheaper.
Adapt or die? Shut the fuck up and try and have a clue on what you are talking about.
pants wrote:
Adapt or die. Same for all businesses.
LBS should all be selling online and offering same day delivery by bicycle to their local town/city.
Any LBS not doing that but complaining about sales has it rightly coming to them.
— pants Ignorant beyond belief. Often the trade price for a small bike shop is the same as the retail price of a Internet retail giant. They get around this by buying huge quantities in areas of the world where prices are set based on demands by companies. (Shimano in Poland for example). Also because they sell in vast numbers so they do not need as high a profit margin. There is no way LBS can compete if they try to sell online, they’d wouldn’t be able to stock as many brands and with free postage they’d be practically selling at a loss. Some LBS offers price match and sell at no profit just to hope to get return customs and servicing. Perhaps you are one of those people who goes in a bike shop to try something on before buying it from wiggle/CNC for cheaper. Adapt or die? Shut the fuck up and try and have a clue on what you are talking about.— unconstituted
Yes, I’m ignorant because apparently I didn’t know that bigger orders mean lower prices. And you needed to type an angry wall of text to educate me on it.
Profound stuff. Unfortunately retail is much more complex than you seem to understand which is why lots of small shops thrive in many sectors and for lots of reasons.
Big one now is that people will pay the premium for fast same day delivery. They’ve been doing it for years now. I base my choices now not on the cheapest, but on convenience. Price isn’t the bottom line any more, if you’ve been even remotely paying attention to retail trends. Amazon is a good example, people are still buying from them even when a product is a couple of quid more expensive – because they can get it same day.
There’s a reason why LBS die off, it’s because they don’t understand the world they’re living in any more. Guys like you for example and the majority of people, still haven’t caught up. Stuck whining about competition because they can’t move on.
It really is adapt or die out there. You can tell people to STFU all you want and other childish, throwback nonsense, the world doesn’t care. The best LBS will do great regardless of Wiggle, they find a niche and nail it. Rest sit around whining about it with a shop full of dusty stock. That applies to all businesses.
+ 1 to progress.
Is that what Planet-X are up
Is that what Planet-X are up to? Zero hours contracts? They join such enlightened company with that business practise…
105, great number
105, great number 😉
People can knock Planet X all they want, but I’ve been in countless shops like this Cambridge one, and it’s all Dawes stuff around £400 with Shimano Acera or worse. Those baskets are probably 50 quid a pop, sold to clueless trust fund girls to poodle around the campus for a few years etc.
That or 2 grand for a bike still with a Sora chainset on it!
Meanwhile, 2 days delivery, buid it yer’sen… Apex 1 groupset, carbon fork, actually a decent paintjob, hydro brakes, all light years ahead of what you mostly see in central Cambs, for a few hundrfed quid more than those 15kg Dawes and Butlers… it’s just no competition.
They were my LBS for a good
They were my LBS for a good few years, along with Howes who went a few years ago. Sad to see them go, you’d think if there was anywhere a shop like that could make a go of it it would be Cambridge!
It’s a good point about the coaches/parking problems in that spot though and there’s more competition in Cambridge than there used to be.
Don’t know what the answer is really. Apart from things like inner tubes and lube it seems the only things it’s really worth going to a shop for are to actually try out a bike, try on some clothes, or get some servicing.
The first two are just ripe for showrooming and the majority of LBSs that I’ve ever dealt with have done themselves no favours with the level of service they provide. That’s in terms of the quality of the work done and stuff like getting in contact, doing stuff you didn’t ask for, doing it on time etc.
Where that leaves them I don’t know.
Bikes are cheaper now than
Bikes are cheaper now than they have ever ever been yet cyclists still think they are being ripped off all the time. When I started in working in a bike shop in 2000 a basic specialized hard rock was £350 16 years later it is £325! Even if a bike shop sells the same amount of bikes it did in 2000 it will still struggle because I can garuantee you that rent,rates,staff costs etc have not stayed the same.
Entry level bikes have always been the bread and butter of any bike shop. That’s why they sell them. The high end bikes are much harder to sell, need much more after service etc and even then it’s not possible to compete of direct to consumer online retailers.
So that’s why the bike business is screwed. It’s been a race to the bottom.
16 years ago a shop made maybe £100 on that hard rock and that covered but that £100 is worth bugger all now. Yet that’s the expected price for an entry level MTB…
Bikes are cheaper now than
Bikes are cheaper now than they have ever ever been yet cyclists still think they are being ripped off all the time. When I started in working in a bike shop in 2000 a basic specialized hard rock was £350 16 years later it is £325! Even if a bike shop sells the same amount of bikes it did in 2000 it will still struggle because I can garuantee you that rent,rates,staff costs etc have not stayed the same.
Entry level bikes have always been the bread and butter of any bike shop. That’s why they sell them. The high end bikes are much harder to sell, need much more after service etc and even then it’s not possible to compete of direct to consumer online retailers.
So that’s why the bike business is screwed. It’s been a race to the bottom.
16 years ago a shop made maybe £100 on that hard rock and that covered but that £100 is worth bugger all now. Yet that’s the expected price for an entry level MTB…
SouthCraven wrote:
Yeah, the perception of what is value is an odd thing. It’s like the computer games market with people moaning on about games reaching £50. They were £50 sometimes in a the 90s! I was reading an old mag from 1995, Sega Saturn £399. Now £399 would be a no no for selling a console. I remember getting a BBC model B for £399 one year. I guess you can only judge it by what surrounds it at the time.
There does seem to be a market for expensive stuff though. My local sells nearly exclusively high end, there are no ‘starter’ bikes and you’ll be lucky if you see shoes for less than £300. The only thing I go in for are inner tubes and to look at stuff like a kid hoping his parents will get him it for Christmas. They don’t need my business though. Maybe once the middle aged moneypots move onto other hobbies they’ll suffer, who knows.
Some shops will adapt and
Some shops will adapt and some will go. I think the traditional business model is dead. To be honest there are too many shops and suppliers who’ve jumped on the band wagon. There hasn’t even really been a boom in cycling. Not like there was with MTBs.
But many people will always need their bike servicing so there are opportunities there. So there is hope.
This is a shame, but the
This is a shame, but the writing was on the wall for this company as soon as they vacated their Trumpington St premises which could have adopted a new business model: coffee shop; internet browsing iPads so customers can buy from Wiggle/Chain Reaction/etc; then deliver to LBS for collection and fitting because if you can’t beat them you have to take advantage of what you can offer: advice/care and so on. You can’t provide this service from Horningsea, which I’m sure has its attractions.
As someone has pointed out, selling GBP 400 Dawes bikes that are going to be left out to rust and inevitably nicked is not a business model that is going to survive. Service, knowledge, a friendly environment and a bit of innovation are the answer to this… and not just in Cambridge.
Anyone seen my Cervelo wrote:
I’d be interested to see if anyone could actually make a go of this sort of thing. Threads on here and other places on how LBSs should survive often suggest models along the lines of lots of coffees and cakes and comfy chairs and free tool loans and advice. The bit where you actually make the money that’s going to allow you to keep the lights on is a bit further down the road somewhere. Meanwhile, other threads suggets that people think they’re being ripped off if servicing and fitting costs more than a tenner and a packer of biscuits. So I have my doubts.
I get the point about adding value where the internet big boys but I think in practice attaching a price tag to that stuff might be hard.
Chuck wrote:
I bought a £2K bike from my LBS last year. All I wanted was a cup of coffee and a decent fit to start me off, and rather than put the kettle on, the proprietor, who knew me, just wanted to talk my leg off.
Despite many hints I never got a coffee, and I only really wangled the fit via the mechanic when the boss was on the phone.
Much of the stock was all Reynolds wheels and Colnago framesets; the service did not match. In the 2 years it was open I spent almost £5K in there, including C2W stuff. I got a free water bottle out of him. Completely clueless about added value, and if you’re not getting that, why don’t you just raid the internet for the lowest price?
They went bust in the spring owing £200K.
I know BH very well (as I
I know BH very well (as I used it for maintenance jobs I couldn’t do) and quite honestly, in my opinion, there was nothing more they could do other than trying to go big (i.e. take on CRC/Wiggle, etc), which would have required a bottomless money pit to do so. They had the only pick-up and delivery repair service in the Cambridge area as far as I know, so tried that. Quick turnaround for bike repairs, sometimes same day, sometimes the next; often requiring no book in – you could just give a them a ring by telephone, or drop an e-mail, get a quote and turn up. Had previously done online orders, long before the likes of Wiggle came on the scene. Also delivered bikes free around Cambridge if you ordered one. Were always well stocked for components, better than their rivals, from what I saw. Mostly Bontranger stuff though. They didn’t sell Dawes either anymore. Trek (I think they have been a Trek dealership since the 1990s and were the only one in the city for much of the 2000s), Whyte, Brompton, Gazelle. Not really many other manufacturers they could have gone to IMHO if looking at others in and around the town – Cambridge Cycle Company: Ridley, Genesis, Saracen, Ridgeback. Townsends: Scott and Bianchi. Primo Cycles: Cervelo, Scott and Trek. Rutland: Giant and Trek. Evans (yep, that one): BMC, Cannondale, Scott, Specialized, Trek. See the problem there if buying a new bike, specifically if you fancy a new Trek. And there’s also a Halfords.
Other problem for BH was their new location was on the wrong side of town, especially if coming in across town in rush hour. But still not much use being anywhere when there are so many bike shops selling the same stuff and your likely main clientele comes from people riding around the town on cheap bikes, often second, third, fourth-hand going to college, uni or A to B wanting a fix for their chain coming off or flat tyre, while maybe buying some lights and similar accessories because of the local constabulary’s latest have a go at a cyclist campaign. Station Cycles was founded on the back of that market, but it was a tiny shop until it [boldly] opened three stores across Cambridge as well as a Giant one, despite the tricky nature of the cycle trade especially in Cambridge, and was sold to Rutland Cycles last year.
I seriously doubt BH will be the last shop to close in the Cambridge area in the near future to be honest. Apart from Howes closing in 2013, Wiggle opened and closed a service centre all in just twelve months, while the Cambridge Cycle Company quietly closed its second store last year.
Your LBS didn’t happen to be
@davel: Your LBS didn’t happen to be Royles in Wilmslow did it, (relocating to an odd rather-inaccessible plot behind a gym)?
No: I won’t mention the name
No: I won’t mention the name as I’ve not been very complimentary.
I did hear of Royles though, as I’m not very far from that bit of Cheshire myself.
Generally been underwhelmed
Generally been underwhelmed by lbs service in the past. Snotty clique types or generally not really bothered doesn’t get me to part with money or my scant spare time. You can use the internet or a book to learn how to fix set up stuff bought off the internet.
The last bike I got from a now closed lbs was poorly set up with brake blocks rubbing tyres and a sticky bottom bracket.
In contrast i have bought bikes from halfords and wiggle which have been set up fine.
I’d prefer to spend free time riding by getting things delivered than paying for lbs ‘service’.
Most of IBD s are already
Most of IBD s are already doing their best to adapt and survive. Their owners aren’t idiots and are well aware of the changing retail landscape.
Options for them are limited though and unless they’re already in a unique location, own the premises, run a large scale hire operation, specialize in high end stuff or other niche markets or have some keen wealthy investors, all they can do is wait and pick the best time to close. They simply have found themselves in an impossible situation.
It’s also worth mentioning a serious issue of theft that bike shops face these days. No, not cash from the till, bikes or stock from the shelves… a theft of time and expertise. It appears that it’s socially acceptable nowadays and considered as “smart” (in some circles) to unashamedly walk into a store and steal several minutes of staff’s time, trying bikes, clothes etc. without any intention of purchasing anything and often making some unrealistic pricematch requests. On a larger scale, from the business point of view this unthetical conduct is no different than stealing products from shelves or grabbing cash from a till.
You might as well bemoan the
You might as well bemoan the loss of the local video store and scheduled tv programmes versus online viewing.
I personally hate walking around shops hoping something is in stock.
Before the internet you were stuck with whatever the local shops sold unless you were willing to travel or phone around- at least now prices are transparent and you can find something interesting no matter where you live.
Scheduled TV programming isn
Scheduled TV programming isn’t over yet. I cannot see the BBC giving it up on it just yet. I occasionally miss BBC 3, but ITV 2 started carrying Family Guy and American Dad!
The LBS will always have it’s place. Convienience for one, total lack of P+P, I know mine are a lot closer than my courier distribution centres. I’m sure you can get a wheel built or trued online but the P+P could really add up, and the time, and once you start thinking of getting a steerer faced and a headset fitted.