An employee-owned chain of bike shops based in Edinburgh has exited administration after fears the business would shut down entirely after nearly 50 years.

Rumours surrounding the Edinburgh Bicycle Cooperative, founded as Recycles in 1977, began online last week, when a Reddit post from the edi.bike newsletter shared a reader’s insight that a deal was being made to save elements of the business. It followed eyewitness accounts that the Canonmills and Aberdeen shop had quickly closed and been cleared out. They added that the business “has been struggling for a while and has been in a process to find a cash injection and/or a buyer.”

Scottish cycling blog The Press Room posted on Facebook that employees had been told of their redundancy without warning, with one employee posting a photo of a stock room whiteboard with an insult directed toward Managing Director Alan Nestor.

Nestor, who has worked for the co-operative for more than 30 years and served as the business’ Managing Director since 2017 per his LinkedIn, subsequently posted a statement on the company’s social media accounts on Saturday, describing the business as “Edinburgh Bike” and saying they had faced “enormous pressures from rising costs, a challenging economy and a very difficult market.

“Despite everyone’s best efforts, we reached a point where the business had to enter administration. That is incredibly hard to say. Many of us have been in the business many years.


“The management team have however worked extremely hard to put together an offer that means Edinburgh Bike can continue, saving jobs and keeping four of our stores open: Bruntsfield, Newcastle, Giant Store Edinburgh & Giant Store Stirling.”

Nestor added that he was “heartbroken that more of our people and more of our locations could not come with us. There are fantastic colleagues and friends who have been part of Edinburgh Bicycle who will not be joining us on this next chapter, and my thoughts are very much with them.

“We are 100% focused on doing the very best we can to continue to give our customers the service, expertise and experience that we have always believed in.”

Where Edinburgh Bicycle Cooperative has been listed as a Community Benefit Society, the new ownership entity, Rothar26, is registered as a private limited company, with Nestor as the sole director. The company was registered on the 18th September, the same day as the business had set a deadline for finding a new buyer.

The co-operative was once the biggest Scottish bike shop chain with multiple stores in the north of England, and in 2012, the then Managing Director spoke at a UN-affiliated event championing co-operative business.

> FROM 2012: Edinburgh Bicycle Co-operative set to add 140 jobs & double in size

The company’s apparent pre-pack administration is not the only similar deal seen in the bike industry in recent months. Clothes brand Le Col entered administration shortly after being taken over by tennis brand Head, but weeks later were sold by administrators back to the company, writing off approximately £8 million in debts owed in tax and to creditors in the process.