Customers bid farewell to London bike shop WF Holdsworth after 86 years

My dad bought me my first road bike here in 1957. It was a Freddy Grubb in purple.The Fred Grubb store was still across the street at the time.My bike came with a cheap Huret gear changer which I eventually wanted to change to a Campag Gran Sport. I only had a paper round at the time,but old Fred Grubb sold me one (cost 4 pounds) and let me pay it off with a shilling a week! I kept the bike for a couple of years till I traded up to a hand built Fred Dean which I raced on for years after. Happy memories!

Very sad, first road bike was a red 531 Holdsworth frame that I built up with Campag Super Record; long since nicked in Oxford

Living in Ireland now but came over for Olympics & watched RR nearby; first port of call to but new tubular was Holdsworth, served by same man that served me as lad (son I guess)

Also surprising considering how popular cycling now is on UK (& Ireland)

My first cycling club had it's club nights at a hall almost opposite the W.F.Holdsworth shop in lower Richmond road. later on I worked for The Holdsworthy Co. who were the main sponsor of the the Holdsworth team as well as Campagnolo who supplied the groupsets for the team. W.F.Holdsworth originally built the team frames but later these were also built by The Holdsworthy Co.

W.F.Holdsworth and The Holdsworthy Co. were two different concerns at that time (the two split due to a disagreement many years ago) with the Holdsworthy Co. being wholesale only but also manufacturers of Holdsworth, Claud Butler and Freddie Grubb cycles, so it was very confusing for people wishing to buy a Holdsworth bike, the shops (there were more than one for a while) retained the W.F.Holdsworth name, but the Holdsworthy Co. produced many of the cheaper Holdsworth bikes and even the Holdsworth Professional model which was based on the team bikes.

Roy Thame was certainly the force behind the Holdsworth professional team and ran it very successfully, but it was the Holdsworthy Co. and Campagnolo who were also backers of the team. The Holsworthy Co. were the official importers of Campagnolo not W.F.Holdsworth.

Is it anything to do with the fact that Planet X have a whole load of Holdsworth stuff now ?

My Holdsworth built, 70s Claud Butler is still providing great service as a winter/wet weather training bike!

It was part of my cycling education and I hung around for ages.
I bought my first decent frame set and all the kit from them in the early 80's.
I used to stop off on my way home from work and chat to Roy and pick his brains about road racing.
There was another older chap in the shop front whose name escapes me who was very kind and helpful, I think he died prematurely.
I wonder if Strattons on Wandsworth hill, just a short ride away is still going?

This is what happens when people buy all their stuff online.... Then those same people who buy online wonder why there's unemployment everywhere

Got my first Road bike here 15 years ago. A very sad day.

Given how popular cycling is in that area, the fact that a well established, apparently well liked shop failed should tell its own story.

I've been into that shop perhaps a half dozen times in the last 20 years, while living locally and slightly further afield, and everytime left empty handed and disappointed. For years it was my local bike shop, I wanted to love the place and to use it, but I couldn't.

The prices were not competitive, the selection had been poor and the customer service ... every time I enquired about servicing or some sort of work, I was met with a blank look as if they'd rather do *anything* else, but if I absolutely wanted them to do it, well, they'd probably be able to look at it in about a fortnight.

I used to lust after a Holdsworth that my mate owned. Gunmetal grey Reynolds 501 with new-fangled aero brakes - the rest of us still had cables sticking out of the hoods!

Very sad.

I'm wondering if the direction from the parent company assisted in the demise?

I take it there products would be the main items sold in the shop?

When I went in, there was a lack of bikes on display but I'd put that down more to end of model year / small shop than anything else.

Now, looking at the brands the parent company own (Dawes, Falcon, Townsend,etc) would indicate low end products.

At the low end your average punter will often buy from Tesco, Argos, halfords at best. Slightly more research will have them at Decathlon or still at halfords.

The cycling 'boom' has meant some stores (think Sigma here for eg) have ridden the wave well. They have targeted high end / quality goods and benefitted from that.

I can't help thinking of all the nostalgic comments from those like myself, who recall the store as a 'go to' bike shop. It still has a smell of a bike shop. Now that's a kick I enjoy instead of smelling like a coffee shop, a kick that is rare in bike shops these days (usually I go to my garage for it now).

I'd love to see the shop as a place for frames, wheels but mainly quality clothing, shoes, accessories. Given the average price of bikes seen passing to hit the wonders of the Richmond Park cycling Mecca I think trade would be healthy.

Sad day for cycling nostalgics like me I guess.

Used to stop there on my Raleigh Clubman on the way back from school and drool at the bikes in the window.
I'm sure LRR needs another estate agent's premises or coffee shop.

Truly, truly gutted. I used to go in there all the time growing up (my dad bought his first road bike from there). I was more into MTBing in the late 80's / early 90's but used to call in there with my riding buddies all the time.

I popped in there in August and got a water bottle and some bar tape. I must go back before it closes now.

End of an era.

My first road bike was a Holdsworth, bought second hand in the 90s whilst a student, after my mountain bike was nicked.

Loved it to bits and rode it a lot. Sadly it met its demise under a London Bus a few years later.