An independent bike shop which traded in Oxford since the late 1990s has shut its doors with the business entering liquidation, the directors explaining it has struggled to fight off rising costs since the pandemic and the cycle industry has been “in a major recession”.
Beeline Bicycles is now closed, the bike shop having traded on Cowley Road in Oxford for around 30 years. The business’s directors explained the factors behind it being placed into voluntary liquidation recently and pointed to falling turnover since the Covid bike boom which, when combined with rising costs, culminated in a significant loss in the year to July 2024.
While trading had been positive in spring earlier this year, with sales of £116,000 and £129,000 in the months of April and May respectively, the directors blamed the June heatwave for sales plummeting by £40,000 and leaving the figure at a level “we would expect for the off-season in winter”.
Even with trading improving to £103,000 in July, “it was not enough to address the failings” and that month “the bank opted not renew the £10,000 overdraft due to arrears with HMRC, and with a negative balance sheet the directors took the decision to cease trading on 2 August 2025 and place the company into Creditors Voluntary Liquidation”.
It is a now-familiar tale for cycling businesses, the industry picture having looked fairly bleak since the pandemic.
Like many, Beeline Bicycles had enjoyed initial success during 2020, turnover up to £1.46m and rising to £1.53m in 2022. Even in 2023 with turnover dropping to £1.44m this was still above pre-pandemic levels.
However, the business’s directors say “2024 saw the cycle industry in a major recession, with bike imports significantly down due to lower demand, suppliers and shops closing down and ceasing to trade”.
Suppliers tried to hold prices for customers, but Beeline Bicycles says this ate into its margins, while “more bikes were being purchased through cycle to work schemes who charge a commission meaning a lower realised profit on sales”.
Ultimately, even with turnover not that much lower than 2023, at £1.38m in 2024, margins were “being squeezed” and costs were on the rise.
Savings were made on retail space, rent and staff costs, but this summer’s poor sales were a significant blow.
The business initially began during the 1980s, refurbishing and selling second-hand bikes, beginning trading on Oxford’s Cowley Road in the late 1990s. Documents regarding the liquidation detail how the business grew “steadily” from £1.15m turnover in 2004 to £1.47m in 2007 and £1.96m in 2010.
With a second shop operating (which later closed), 2012 saw the peak of Beeline Bicycles’ sales, passing the £2m mark, but this “fell significantly” over the next few years and dropped to £1.6m in 2015 and down to £1.2m in 2017 where the directors say it plateaued. Even with turnover more recently being back above pre-pandemic levels, the rising costs of running a retail business and reduced margins from suppliers ate into profits and there was an accumulated loss of £85,000 as of 31 July 2024.
It has been a tough few years for independent bike shops in the UK. In April, the iconic south London favourite Brixton Cycles closed, citing “rising costs and a brutal economic climate”.
And just the other week a popular bike shop in York closed after 45 years in business, telling us it “can no longer compete” with online retailers.
York Cycleworks’ director explained how: “We offer what the internet can’t, but it’s not enough. We’re still bonkers busy with repairs but it just doesn’t bring us enough money.”
20 thoughts on ““Cycle industry in a major recession”: Independent bike shop enters liquidation and claims summer heatwave saw sales plummet to off-season winter levels”
Adjusting for inflation
Adjusting for inflation throws these figures into stark relief. £1.15m in 2004 is equivalent to over £2m today. £1.96m in 2010 works out to more than £3m, which may have been the peak in real terms. It’s a sad tale of decline despite a lot of council-led measures to promote cycling in Oxford over the past 15 years.
This is clearly part of the “death of the high street” narrative, but as an Oxford resident I wonder whether bike theft is also a part of this story. Cycling feels well-integrated into the transport mix around here, with plenty of people on bikes and motorists generally getting along with us very well, but you don’t see many new or high-end bikes around the place – and a lot of my neighbours are vocal about avoiding anything that looks “fancy” because of the very high crime levels.
Indeed, two cities stand out for way-above-average cycle theft figures: Oxford, and Campbridge.
It must be hard to sell new bikes when so many locals prefer an 8-speed rustbucket because they trust it’ll still be there when they get back.
It’s a real shame that
It’s a real shame that another independent bike shop is going. I was a loyal customer to Brixton Cycles. I bought 3 bikes from there over the years and countless parts, as well as having bikes serviced and my BMX race bikes built up there. There are other bike shops in the area, but they’re not as good.
Years ago, when I lived in
Years ago, when I lived in Herne Hill, I used Bon Velo on Half Moon lane. I found they were good. Don’t know if you’ve tried them but it looks like they are still in business. I agree once you’ve built a good relationship with a bike shop over the years and they know your bike it’s a real shame when they go.
Yes, the Bon Velo shop is
Yes, the Bon Velo shop is still there. I’m not a fan. It was ok when a guy I know was one of the mechanics. He went somewhere else and I’ve not been impressed since.
OldRidgeback wrote:
Went in there once, just before Covid, found them properly snotty and uninterested in customer service at all. A mate uses their branch in West Norwood and seems to have much the same experience, and their prices for repairs are very steep.
It’s a real shame to lose
It’s a real shame to lose your local bike shop, but the new age we live in has created a situation that makes it really hard to trade. I am old enough to remember pre internet when you could only price match and shop for bikes and stuff as far as you were physically able to travel, now you can look and shop with a few clicks sitting on the sofa. Then the bike manufacturers have pushed bikes prices higher buy adding more and more stuff and complexity to them in a yearly cycle of new tech. As soon as you have bought the latest model it is soon out of date, and obsolete in a flash!
I may be an old Luddite but the bike I want and am being sold to by all the marketing is probably far more than I could ever need, this has ultimately pushed pice to a point that many fall away and are just running there old bikes longer and longer, reflecting in often LBS only being profitable because of there workshop facilities.
I do think the big brands
I do think the big brands have certainly not helped LBS’s. Quite rightly, a corporate business in a capitalist market is going to want to maximise the revenue they generate from their customers, and the big brands have been doing this evermore effectively.
For instance the increasingly high percentage of bike parts that are proprietary to specific bike models… and more expensive with it. No more ‘upgrading’ or spec changing for the customer; you choose a bike for the complete package and that’s it. This leaves nothing for the shop to sell to scratch those little new-tech itches we all used to have.
Integration makes it harder for people to maintain their bikes at home, so lower consumable sales.. Now the flip side here is that bikes need professional mechanics more and more, however hydraulic brakes and electric gears need far less maintenance in the first place. So it’s a net loss for bike shops
Taking advantage of the above, the brands charge more for their bikes and secure the maximum revenue they can in the process.
It’s all good captilalism in action. There are winners (basically Specialized) and losers (everyone else, but in particular local bike shops).
Why did so many bike shops
Why did so many bike shops think the Covid boom was going to continue? And why didn’t they plan for the inevitable correction and the fact that for a few years afterwards most people wouldn’t buy another bike? Seems like business 101. …What am I missing?
Not quite as simple as that
Not quite as simple as that and its been reported over and over. The cycle industry wasn’t unique. Lots of other areas suffered as much. I had friends in garden machinery sales with the same issues.
We were just riding the wave, you got bikes wherever had stock. We were essentially forced to forward order and take stock as and when it landed, the threat/risk being that if you didn’t you wouldn’t know when the next delivery would be. Stock was sporadic, we’d end up over stocked with the wrong sizes/spec. We’d get the new seasons bikes land in February. All our kids bikes came at the end of December – missing the critical Christmas sales. We ran a tight ship but like many invoices starting falling due with only having sold a small portion of stock.
I was careful to manage it but it was still a tough position and far from the money maker we had it billed as.
Wave riding is unpredictable,
Wave riding is unpredictable, growth capitalism is surfing it. Yep that’s the game. …But what is predictable is that the wave was always going to hit the shore.
Wave riding is unpredictable,
Why is the system double posting?
I have no idea how you read
I have no idea how you read this article and concluded that the sole, or even main, problem is the shop thought the covid boom would continue indefinitely, and failed to plan appropriately.
There’s no suggestion that the shop over-stocked inventory during covid, or invested in e.g. larger premises that could only be justified on the basis of the inflated sales figures.
I’m not sure exactly how you expect a business to “plan” for people not buying what they sell, beyond trying to sell as many products as they can while they can, in order to build up a healthy cash reserve. Which, ironically, is exactly what you would seen to consider poor management if they got the timing slightly wrong (i.e. if they stocked up on inventory during the covid boom in order to make the most of it, but the demand tailed off faster than they expected, you would be saying it’s their own fault for being left with a load of inventory they are struggling to shift).
It’s in the opening para and
It’s in the opening para and throughout the article: “Sales doubled during pandemic bike boom but yet another cycling business closes for good as demand eased and costs rose in recent years” Growth capitalism is a dangerous and fragile beast for sure. But it’s also predictable. Making hay while the sun shines always has a flip side. The pandemic has led to massive inflation off the back of unsustainable growth capitalism and profiteering (while the sun was shining…for some). Now ‘profits’ have dried up somehow it’s someone else’s fault. …so many articles of woe about the bike industry despite boom times …Where are the articles about why so many customers can no longer afford to buy bikes at all post-pandemic? Hint: many who were not in business, didn’t even have an income during the pandemic (ie were effectively ‘out of business), let alone making a profit! Now massive inflation caused by pandemic profiteering by business means ordinary wages are effectively halved, while bike prices have doubled! So now it simply doesn’t matter if there’s a bike store or not, because the ecosystem has collapsed as a result. All of which was foreseeable. …and there will be another pandemic as a result of growth capitalism ignoring the ecosystem.
By that logic, the “smart”
By that logic, the “smart” thing to do is to ride the wave while it’s happening, and then shut up shop so as not to be paying rent, rates, and wages when demand inevitably falls off a cliff.
Of course, the other smart thing is to transition to lower sales and more maintenance – which can’t be shipped in by online sellers. But there, we are in a sense our own worst enemy. None of us want to pay enough for servicing to allow shops to stay in business and pay mechanics decent wages.
The only winning move is not
The only winning move is not to play.
It’s in the opening para and
Why is the system double posting?
Their monthly sales figures
Their monthly sales figures are much higher than I had imagined for a local bike shop. I’m surprised they couldnt make it work.
Huge, aren’t they? £1.4
Huge, aren’t they? £1.4 million turnover last year and couldn’t turn a profit? I’m sorry to be cynical but this smacks of mismanagement somewhere down the line. Why would a bank withdraw a £10,000 overdraft facility for a company with a £1.4 million turnover unless they suspected serious incompetence?
Why would a heatwave cause
Why would a heatwave cause sales to plummet – surely if there’s one thing that gets people buying bikes and accessories it’s good weather?
It’s certainly what Halfords
It’s certainly what Halfords always claim when their bike sales go up.
I dont know feels like there’s more to this that were missing, to how the business was operating making money, or not, high turnovers dont always mean profitable and a simple currency conversion wobble could wipe you out if your importing lots stuff on wafer thin margins