Commercial Property
Micycle
Hackney has the highest number of people cycling to work in all of London and the second highest number in England (after Cambridge). De Beauvoir Town itself is particularly well served for cyclists thanks to the local road filters that were introduced in the early 1970s closing roads to motor vehicles.
Providing our residents and local workers with somewhere that could service their cycle needs was, therefore, something of a priority for The Benyon Estate so when a new lease on Southgate Road became available we went on the look out for a suitable tenant.
It didn’t take long to find Micyle. The specialist bike shop was established by Matthew Hilton in 2009 with the vision to provide what chain bike shops couldn’t: a personalised service with extra attention to detail for each and every customer.
The Southgate Road shop is their third. “There are a lot of cyclists here so it made sense to The Benyon Estate that there should be a bike shop to service them,” explains co-owner Sam Jacob.
Plans for the building on Southgate Road were just being drawn up and Matthew and Sam were invited to make suggestions. “That was fortunate as we were able to suggest some quite key details such as the position of the staircase, which was moved from the front to the back of the building – it’s critical for a bike shop that access from the pavement is clear.”
Supporting London-based manufacturers is a central tenet and the shop sells a range from affordable city bikes by Bobbin Bicycles to fixed-gear specialsits Brother Cycles as well as high-end San Francisco-based frame speciliasts SOMA Frabrications and children’s specialists Frog Bikes.
58a Southgate Road, London, N1 (020 7249 1212; www.micycle.org.uk)
