It's a long time since Gid was there with Dirt and Dreams, providing everything the London mtber could want to drool over and buy.
I was in a large central London bike shop today and there wasn't a single mountain bike there. It wasn't even Condor.
So, it's excellent to see Soho Bikes enter the market, at the above address.
See here - http://www.pinkbike.com/news/introducing-soho-bikes-2014.html
Good luck to them! I'm certainly going to be dropping in next time I'm in the area.
Hmm. Not exactly an original idea (coffee shop and bike shop in one), and mtbs in central London now? But good luck to them. I've seen many bike shops come and go in the Covent Garden/Soho area; Covent Garden cycles off Shorts Gardens, such a shame when they closed. There was one on Drury Lane, is it still there? Was there also one on Endell st? Then there was one on Stukely s, and another in an aleyway off there I think. Many seemed to open then close within a short time. There was a Scott dealership in the old YHA shop on Southampton st. I don't think that lasted very long either. There's a really pretentious one on Macklin st, but you need an appointment to get in i think! I'm sure I've forgotten loads of others though, and does anyone remeber a funny little sho in a tunnel sort of under the Savoy hotel? Only fund it by sheer chance, always struck me as a wierd place to have any sorto f shp!
Used to be an awesome veggie / vegan fast food place on Berwick St, is it still there?
^ Ask binners!!!
How much do they charge for inner tubes?
Darling, in Soho [i]everyones[/i] tubeless these days 😉inner tubes
There is lots of good coffee within 30 seconds walk away and the rapha cafe 1min away plus Kinoku cycles. Both those cycling shops have a huge mail order business behind them (talking a turnover of millions here) the rents are stratospheric but if you are doing the trade then that's not a problem. Where is the money going to come from? A few tourist MTB'ers wandering in for a mooch around and maybe a coffee isn't going to sustain a business, if you work in London your MTB needs are catered for by the satellite shops of chains and independents near people's homes and the Internet, I guess if you are a soho/Mayfair/fitzrovia/victoria resident then it will be your LBS. (Actually there is a good LBS in store st off TCR)
It wouldn't surprise me if it's closed within 2 years, be good if it didn't but I can't see the volume of trade to sustain it.
I agree with Mr Smith. It's a strange business model to be trying out in an area like that. Skate shops work well because of the general trendiness of the area; skaters can come and hang out, have a coffee, shop for clthes, peruse skate equipment. Cyclists generally aren't likethat, and the vast majority inLondon are just using a bike for transport really. LookMumNo Hands works well, but it's in more of a 'cycle trendy' area, and isn't competing with other shops for trade in the same way as someone selling coffee in Soho. You also have to appeal to passing trade, and I can't see how a niche shop like this can do that effectively in that particular area. There's a reason why all the 'specialist mtb' shops in the west end have generaly failed.
And they're missing a massive trick here; the legitimate trade in second hand/vintage bikes has really taken offf in the last few years (where the cool bike to have in town was a Muddy Fox, then a hybrid, then a fixie, now it's a 1960s era British/French/Italian racer), but not many are daring to venture into that market. There needs to be an antidote to the slick, corporate shiny shiny hi-tech glossiness of Evans, Condor, Cycle Surgery etc, more of a grubby workshop with lots of cool and obscure bits and bobs, where you can get your Sturmey Archer AW hub serviced and keep your 'heap of junk' running for another few years.
Personally I try my best to never be in London, but if I do I'll try my best to check this place out.
If the atmosphere is good and service is good they should be able to create a group of loyal local customers who come to have a coffee and hang out and buy other stuff when they need/want to.
How is Gid? Where is he now? A bloody passionate bloke about bikes.