Been back first time in 15 years, seems to have gotten on alright without me.
Lots of buildings that weren't there before, but otherwise business as usual, taps and whitelocks still serve a nice pint.

I'm trying to remember the name of the bike shop on lower briggate, seems to be a hogs head boozer now, can anyone help?

watson and cairns.

doing a ride from city square on wednesday night if you fancy.

Yep, Watson and Cairns, and Freewheel was just up from there on the corner opposite Mcdonalds.

freewheel, a retro edingburgh bike coop, but i think better.

aye that the one. i used to drool over marins in twowheelsgood that was near there as a youngster 🙂

mick, bought my 1st mtb from twowheelsgood.
a muddyfox explorer.
great bike, and a great little shop when it was upstairs on the calls.
bloody hell, 3 good bike shops within 300yds of each other, and now there is not a good one in the whole of leeds.

not even Woodrups?

no………….
but i forgot, crosstrax is ok.
ed is a good bloke.

Read that post Ton, would have loved it but driving home AM wednesday and havent brought anything with me anyways.

Thanks for the name, Watson and Cairns lent me a bike in the 80's to cycle to the south coast they were superb and Ive been hooked on cycling ever since.

You should make the city square rides a regular, I'll definetly chuck a bike in the car next time.

Cheers

aye its a shame tony ;-(

Here's another question – why isn't there a bike shop in Leeds city centre now? What's the economic reason that there isn't one, or is it just a quirk and should there be one really?

I

I always used to wander around Leeds city centre (before I moved) pondering on why there wasn't a bike shop located there. I think it probably is because rents/overheads are too high…I always thought one of the empty shops down towards the station would be a good place for one (e.g.the one next to Spencers)

City centre rental costs really don't work with something like a bike shop. As a result, every town is full of bland-u-like, stupidly high profit margin places like Starbucks.

Bike shops need a lot of display space, a lot of storage space and a lot of workshop space. Much of that space doesn't really make any money. Add to that the fact that rental rates for city centre shops are based on the amount of space in the shop and you get the picture.

As such, most bike shops tend to be a little out of town centres, where people can either ride or drive to them.

Am sure it won't be long before Evans or someone put in shop aimed at commuters. I am noticing more people cycling around the city centre these days, there must be a market for it.

Visit Bikology opposite the Hyde Park pub in Leeds you don't need that much space! Although their bread and butter must be repairs as the amount of 'stock' on display is a pretty small selection.

Are they still building that 'bike hub' at the station?

people in leeds seem pretty lazy, when it comes to alternatives for the commute.
so i do noty think a shop for them would work.

It's true, and annoys me alot! if people commuted by bike more then the roads wouldn't be so busy with angry drivers in the morning, and it'd feel a whole lot safer for cyclists!!