[Closed] Cycling Cafe requirements

you seem to be missing a few 🙄
-cake
-cake
-cake
-cake
-cake

Good location.
Perhaps the option to purchase a nice bottle of beer.
Savoury snacks, sometimes cake just doesn't cut it.

Two successful cycling cafes around Newcastle for you to consider:

http://www.thecyclehub.org/

http://www.pedallingsquares.cc/cafe.html

[img] [/img]

Both tick a lot of the things you list there. (Not actually been to the second one yet but heard good things)

The Hub also hires bikes, has a workshop, does evening classes on bike maintenance wheelbuilding etc, and allies itself with local cycle campaigns and charities who use it for meetings and the like.

I think I'd agree its the location really - if its a cafe for cyclists then then it needs to be both a destination/waypoint for an enjoyable ride as well as a start point to cycle from and back to. All you need then is some decent refreshments (which people on internet forums will complain about being less affordable than the cafe in Asda) and perhaps a few tools and spares in a drawer that would get people out of a tight spot, but it would rarely be the case that people would need them.

Otherwise what you're talking about is a cycling-themed cafe.

Is this a themed cafe or the sort of place you stop off for a top up whilst on a ride?

If it's the former then I would prioritise good food and drink above any theme.

If it's the latter, then:

- As someone that doesn't drink coffee it would be nice to have more soft drinks on offer other than coke and sprite.

- Outdoor seating with patio heaters, sometimes You're just a bit too wet/mucky to feel comfortable sitting indoors but you don't really want to get cold while having a break so a heated rough and ready area would be great.

- Map with local lanes/routes marked out.

Saddleback cafe in keswick have opened recently, and have done a nice job. Locks for bikes, magazines, great coffee, tea for under a quid (unheard of round here!). On c2c route and next to keswick bikes. Recommended.

[url= http://www.velo-cafe.co.uk/ ]http://www.velo-cafe.co.uk/[/url]

Main thing they do is really try and engage with the local cycle communities (of all types).

- perm roller racing
- some kind of live strava feed for local segments - SuperBob has just got KOM on squiggly climb kinda thing

Please don't.

Cheers for this guys - all great points.

Even/especially the strava/rollers thing, I take your point - may be a bit too much.

Location wise for this would be in the centre of a very cycling centric town, often on the route of people cycling out of a big city into one of the national parks on road or as a pass through point for off road. Also a, non catered, trail centre near by. I guess it might be both a cycling cafe and a cycle themed cafe - a cycle styled cafe catering for cyclists amongst it's other clientelle.

OP your Cafe sounds like a gimmicky, Meeja types and Hipster overrun Hell-Hole TBH, but I'm just a miserable old git...

We often stop in [url= http://www.waterfrontcafe.co.uk/ ]here[/url] and so do a lot of other cyclists. Its got nice (if rather overpriced) cakes and coffee, but the real selling point IMO is having a lovely view of the river, I'd look at that than a "Strava feed" or two web-designers racing each other on rollers...

Incidentally When does the cycle show start up again?

INDOOR PUMPTRACK!

Good location
Good food
Good service
Good value.

Crack that, you're made. It's amazing how many places further that those are the basics. The rest is just gimmickry

Good location
Good food
Good service
Good value.

That's just [i]"a cafe"[/i] though isn't it?

I'm sure there are loads of those near the OP. His USP is the cycling aspect. He just needs to figure out how to do that without slipping into gimmickry and tackiness.

A proper coffee. Not a pretend double espresso. If I'm riding my bike, I'm thirsty!

And it must be a bit grubby. There's nothing worse than sitting there feeling like you're muddying up the doilies.

(if you're thirsty, try drinking water, not coffee...?)

when someone orders an espresso, please pre-heat the tiny cup with hot water first. It's amazing how many places don't do this, and seem happy to serve cold espresso.

my favourite caff is in tideswell, it's not a 'cycling' caff, it's just a good caff, in the right place.

oliverracing - 10% discount
sandwicheater - 10% discount
GrahamS - 10% discount
maccruiskeen - 10% discount
muppetWrangler - 10% discount
TomB - 10% discount
Drac - 5% discount
cookeaa - barred
scottfitz - not barred, no discount
IHN - 10% discount
butcher - 10% discount

Surely the most important thing is:
[img] [/img]

bonus points if anyone can recognise the cycling cafe in question...

scottfitz - not barred, no discount

A lot of cafes / bar type places in Finland have a special drying cupboard thing just in the door so that things like gloves / hats / jackets will dry while you have your drink. Awesome idea, no idea why we don't have them here considering how cr@p the climnate is.

These kind of things:

[url= http://www.geautomatic.co.uk/dryingcabinets ]http://www.geautomatic.co.uk/dryingcabinets[/url]

A good addition for a bike cafe I'd say.

one of these would be a good job

[img] [/img]

http://www.bikebiz.com/news/read/schwalbe-we-ve-been-inundated-with-tube-vending-machine-requests/016339

Roll for the Soul are doing a good job of it though their location means that it's not really somewhere to go while on a ride, unfortunately.

www.rollforthesoul.org

My only issue is that they're veggie only. While the food is actually very good and I'll admit that I greatly enjoyed their meat free 'Soul burger', nothing will ever replace a real burger or bacon.

So, good coffee, good cake, mid ride location (or a very popular/convenient start/end of ride location), safe place to keep your bikes while there and not too hipster fakenger theme. Oh and bike spares.

Job done. 20% I reckon that's worth 😉

The Hub also hires bikes, has a workshop, does evening classes on bike maintenance wheelbuilding etc, and allies itself with local cycle campaigns and charities who use it for meetings and the like.

Also worth mentioning that it's a natural starting point for easily the most popular bike rides here abouts. Location, location, location and all that.

Also, Pedalling squares goes to great lengths to say it's in Newcastle so I was a bit puzzled when I realised it's in Whickham. Surely that's just confusing?

Decent loos please.

There's a good place local to me which is "cycling themed" although it also seems to attract a reasonable percentage of locals.

Good basic range of food, nothing too gimmicky, expensive or complicated.
Nice and varied range of cake.
Excellent coffee.
TV showing the races (or YouTube stuff when there's nothing live)
Various jerseys, photos, pictures etc on the wall - these get changed around regularly to reflect the season, the races.
A shelving unit for helmets, gloves etc so they're not clogging up the tables or rolling round the floor.
Locks and a rack for bikes.
A great big laminated map on the wall showing some local routes, notable climbs etc.
A few books, magazines lying around for people to browse and a small selection of gels, bars and cycle accessories to buy.

Saddleback cafe in keswick have opened recently, and have done a nice job. Locks for bikes, magazines, great coffee, tea for under a quid (unheard of round here!). On c2c route and next to keswick bikes. Recommended.

Agree with c_g - decent loos
Plenty of hooks for hanging stuff up.
Fire or log burner in the winter.
Outside seating in the summer.
Home made cake.

Also worth mentioning that it's a natural starting point for easily the most popular bike rides here abouts. Location, location, location and all that.

True, and it's on the c2c / Hadrian's Cycleway route, which is also a popular path for more local rides. So the location is very important.

But they also [i]make[/i] themselves a starting point by organising multiple monthly rides (including a relaxed social ride) and making themselves available to Sky Ride, Breeze, Bikeability etc

Agree with Pedalling Squares BTW, but I guess "Newcastle Upon Tyne...ish.. sort of.." didn't look as good on their fancy logo:

[img] [/img]

🙂

- perm roller racing
- some kind of live strava feed for local segments - SuperBob has just got KOM on squiggly climb kinda thing

Actualy I quite like those ideas!

Also liking the helmet/shoe rack by the door and a drying cupboard.

Drac - 5% discount

😀

Good location
Good food
Good service
Good value.

That's just "a cafe" though isn't it?

I'm sure there are loads of those near the OP. His USP is the cycling aspect. He just needs to figure out how to do that without slipping into gimmickry and tackiness.

I'm sure the OP has loads of cafes near him, but I bet few, if any meet all four of the requirements I listed. His USP would be doing so.

The cycling aspect can add character, but without the fundamentals of food, value and service it'll just be another slightly $h1t British cafe, along with the other 80%+ of British cafes that fall into that group.

We recently visited the Greystoke Cycle cafe on the C2C route. It had been raining on and off for a couple of hours by the time we arrived, They brought hot water bottles for everyone and had a big stack of blankets and towels so we could dry ourselves and get warm. They do have an aga running though so getting hot water for the bottles is not an onerous, expensive task

Tea
Beer
Cake
Sausage Sarnies
Eggs benedict
Nice view
Bike parking very close to hand/in view
No coffee as it'll just attract the dicks 😛
A collie/lab/cats roaming about the place

I'm sure the OP has loads of cafes near him, but I bet few, if any meet all four of the requirements I listed. His USP would be doing so.

I think there's maybe two sorts of cycling cafe people are talking about here and I'm not sure which the OP wants to open.

There's the lunch stop cafes, usually out in the country somewhere, which are absolutely chocker with riders all day on saturday and sunday but which rely on locals and passing trade the rest of the week - for these I think you're right and there's little reason to go down the road of making it too cycle themed.

Then there's the inner city cycling cafes which try to be something of a community hub for local cyclists. In most cities you can fulfill those requirements in dozens of places these days so there needs to be something to make you stand out.

You need to encourage folks to ride to your cafe, with that in mind you need to provide temporary storage either secure or not, if not secure then on view.
Rapha have a simple hanging hook near the door but down some steps that encourages folk to ride to, get off, hang bike up, waddle over to coffee/cake, buy coffee/cake/have a piss then sit and watch Eurosport feeds of current/past races.
LMNH has a secure lock facility but that's outside and not on view to the riders, it's not very encouraging leaving your £10k sex machine outside in the rain whilst you go have a shit.

Nice Loos.
Nice Loos
Nice Loos
Nice Loos

Hairdryer.

False Tan rubber'inner/spray or lube, not fussy.

Mirrors, lots.

beer/cake/good coffee/good music/chilled out friendly staff/comfy seats/somewhere to lock bikes with free locks?

i'd rather go to a good cafe than an average/naff cycle themed one mind. i used to live near the Hub in newcastle and tbh there's plenty of other places i'd go instead of there, great idea though - they do put on film nights and organise rides/have workshops too. will try that peddaling squares place over swallwell way that GrahamS link to, not strictly on the derwent walk though so not sure if it will get much passing trade (i ride the Derwent Walk every day and didn't know it was there!)

Knowing some of the figures from a cycling cafe.

Choose your location well. Reliance on only cyclists during the week especially in winter is not a good idea.

Some cyclists will happily buy one coffee and then engage you in conversation for hours whilst nursing it.

I reckon a cafe that would make a reasonable amount of money would have to be quite large.

There's a good place local to me which is "cycling themed" although it also seems to attract a reasonable percentage of locals.

Good basic range of food, nothing too gimmicky, expensive or complicated.
Nice and varied range of cake.
Excellent coffee.
TV showing the races (or YouTube stuff when there's nothing live)
Various jerseys, photos, pictures etc on the wall - these get changed around regularly to reflect the season, the races.
A shelving unit for helmets, gloves etc so they're not clogging up the tables or rolling round the floor.
Locks and a rack for bikes.
A great big laminated map on the wall showing some local routes, notable climbs etc.
A few books, magazines lying around for people to browse and a small selection of gels, bars and cycle accessories to buy.

I've noticed large mid-week, presumably CTC, groups at both pubs and cafes around Hampshire.

Polite request: Please don't make it poncey or pretentious. 🙂

I'm a midweek cafe/pub user. Lot of us shift workers out there enjoying the quieter times.

With this in mind I'd say please offer everything as you would on a weekend.

And make sure furniture/floor is mud proof (for yourself)

Tea
Cheese on Toast
Cake
Simple coffee - none of that poncy FrappeMachiaLatte rubbish that takes 15 minutes to make whilst I'm standing in the queue trying to get a cup of tea

Hear hear. If you must have coffee then make them queue up separately for it

Oi! Don't tar all coffee drinkers with the same brush as a bog-standard filter coffee does me fine. 🙂

Bike parking - this is probably the number one for a group ride.
Tea
Cake
Coffee
Cake
Soft drinks
Cake
Light meals
Cake
.
.
.
And cake, obviously.

Generally not fussy, only requirement is for it not to be filled with old timers who think they own the place and give you daggers or winge outright if you sit on 'the table they've sat on for 35 year'. Thinking of a local place.

Decent locking place in view on the tables. Maybe some fixed ones with keys to borrow?
Tea and coffee in bog mugs as cheap as possible with the money made on silly food.

Fancy coffee in little cups can go with the trendies and Rapha kit in some remote city. that might fit in with a themed café but who the hell would want one. Thats not a cyclists café. Who the hell wants to pay to go somewhere like that? Eat out when riding maybe but really. Otherwise?

Think about those old pics of Milk Bars from the 30's to 60's.
Plastic seats so people can go in wet and plenty of radiators in the winter to dry gloves.

I don't think you can moan about dicks wanting coffee and then ask for eggs benedict! Now eggs on toast perhaps....

Sounds a lot like 'Polocini' in Romiley ,Stockport they do a good brew and flapjack in there.

That's the one! 🙂

Free bottle/camelbak refills and somewhere to watch races in a relaxed environment. Open early for people who want to get out nice and early but, preferably with some good breakfast choices for a long ride (rice pudding, porridge etc) then something with a bit more oomph for post-ride.

That said, I saw Nacer Bouhanni (the guy who won 3 Giro stages and the red jersey this year) tucking into a HUGE sundae yesterday at the end of a training ride.

I'll add:
Are you running for a theme?
Well it depends on location but I've a hankering for rustic Italian cafe bars with home made flapjack/brownies etc. from the Rapha model, which works well in London cos they offer light bites/cakes/coffee which are all locally sourced and a quality fest, allows folks to meander and quaff. Not too sure that would work in Manchester or Newcastle mind where it's a bit Pies n White Trainers 😆

Not too sure that would work in Manchester or Newcastle minds heretics a bit Pies n White Trainers

Soon find out I guess, the Manchester Rapha Cycle Club opens at the end of June (just off Deansgate/St Ann's Square).

I'm a big fan of [url= http://www.rollforthesoul.org/ ]Roll for the Soul[/url].

Decent food, cake and coffee, staffed workshop, nice atmosphere without being cycling exclusive and putting people off. Importantly, it has a licence so you have

the option to purchase a nice bottle of beer.

evening screenings of cycling related stuff/adventure films

It also has locks you can borrow if you've forgotten yours, and a solid looking vandal-resistant track pump concreted in outside.

Indeed. White Adidas only I hear.

But seriously, piss take apart, so long as it's warm, foods good, some welcoming atmosphere and easy access to munchies it'll be fine.

There's a few successful models out there to amalgamate soooomthiiiing.

Best of luck, tell us where it is whydontcha ...

Fancy coffee in little cups can go with the trendies and Rapha kit in some remote city. that might fit in with a themed café but who the hell would want one. Thats not a cyclists café. Who the hell wants to pay to go somewhere like that?

^^ good shout Jameso.

It's what I tried to convey.

Sounds brilliant wherever it is!

I like the racing idea but hard to implement.

Woodbine Cafe
OPA Llandegla
Coffeefix
Caffeine & Co
Polocini
The herb garden cafe
That one in Elton, not sure if it's still open tho? Was close to closing a few years back not been that way since.

All good.

Not the cafe by Grindleford station, with it's passive aggressive notes everywhere. No swaps.

I've seen your tweet retweeted by my cycling club so had my suspicions confirmed about where you're thinking of. The thing that would sway it for me (and this is very much a personal thing rather than necessarily being typical) would be opening past 4pm on a sunday to stop in when we get back from club rides - things are usually closing down by the time we get back. I probably wouldn't stop in mid ride as it's more a start/finish point for me, but as a post ride refuel I might. i'd almost always stop at the bike shop for tubes etc if i was in the town anyway (opening times permitting). Weekday evenings with cycling on tv or other events might help me drag my OH away from eurosport and would probably be the most likely thing to get me through the door.

Show World Cup DH on your tellybox! That combined with 'mazin coffee / a few good craft beers would get me through the door every time.

I quite like the roller racing/KOM screen malarkey, never mind the grumpies. Have you been to a Rollerpalooza night? It is FUN both as a spectator and extremely untalented participant.

Look Mum No Hands! in that London is the finest example of a cycling café I've been in. Good cake and coffee, little workshop, nice merchandise, convival atmosphere and full of interesting bicycle paraphernalia.

Genuine thanks for all the input chaps. Location is Otley. Premises requires some work/conversion.

Genuine thanks for all the input chaps. Location is Otley. Premises requires some work/conversion.

The new dunnies?

edit: n.b. if you do become the new dunnies, cyclists will be the least of your interests business wise.

Westmalle and little cubes of aged Gouda in a bowl.

Can you install a few cobbles outside too?

😀

Not the new Dunnies. Ain't gonna be room for bikers, and far enough away to avoid the bank holiday clientelle. Hope is to give some of the cycling clientelle somewhere to go and to engage with the cycling community in a way that Dunnies didn't. And the coffee will be better.

Well it would be hard to make worse coffee.. I think in otley you'll have to be careful location-wise , but there can't be many towns in the north with more passing cyclists. It's a fairly conservative (small c) place thought so I'd not go too overboard on the biker theme. You could probably be the best cafe in town without really trying and if you ask Gareth at the deli in Menston, there's a lot of repo pole around there who'll plan their whole ride around a really good sandwich...

Provide tap water with the espresso in a largish glass. Cakes made with butter not the cheapest margarine. Be open on the day of the week everyone else is closed (our bit of Suffolk near work is shut on Monday, even bank holidays).
Most importantly never, ever run out of baked potatoes at a weekend.

Good food, good company, good location.
Look at the old coed y brenin caff.
It was a small shed of a thing but Dafydd and Sian turned it into a cult location with easy tasty food and Sian's home made cakes.
The forest saw how much money they were making and wanted a piece of it. Dafydd and Sian told them to go away so the forest kicked them out hence that new cafe.

Big jugs of made up juice as free top ups for paying customers. Apple & black & orange.

Otley?

Well it's not like there aren't enough bikeeees there is it and it's only 8 miles from the farm on a route I've done a few times..

Let us know when it's done and I'll pop on in.

Best of luck with it.

😀

Location is Otley.

loses interest

Big jugs

regains interest

[img] [/img]

All the coffee and cakes but most of all a friendly welcome.

The best cafes and restaurants I've used have been the ones where the visitor is greeted as they walk through the door. Even better if they are known and greeted by name.

Friendly.
Cake.
Somewhere round the back to stash the bike while I gorge myself.
Phone reception to call for rescue when I've eaten too much and can't be bothered with the last two climbs. 🙂

All great ideas, but from the café owners perspective.....they sell you a coffee and cake for next to nothing whilst having to spend £200,000 upgrading the loo's...

I'd rather have somewhere scruffy like Grindleford Cafe which welcomed my mud-splattered arse into the place than somewhere uber-smart.

However, I'm sure that most of the potential revenue would come from grannies or leisure walkers who would prefer somewhere more refined.

Bike beans in Ashtead is pretty nice, rides organised on Tuesday night and Sun morning plus friendly staff and good cake. Your bike locks up outside where you can see it and the food is wholesome and fillling.

However, I'm sure that most of the potential revenue would come from grannies or leisure walkers who would prefer somewhere more refined.

In otley* that market's reasonably well catered for to be honest, coming up with somewhere that appeals to a slightly younger/more active clientele would probably be a good way to differentiate. You do have the problem of filling the cafe during the week though, maybe the OP needs to try to appeal to the yummy mummies coming over to use Waitrose.

*unless something's changed in the last year since I left.

There's a little cafe attached to the new/relocated bike shop on the A65 in Ilkley. Might be interesting for the OP to see how that's faring. Certainly, the plan there must be to have more than one source of revenue.

You could make it a chic venue, 50's French Riviera all sunglasses/tans/pretty dresses and "frankly Maam, I don't give a damn" lookeeelikeee's.
It'd fall in line with CupCake hell/heavan that's all the rage ATM, by doing this StayAtHomeMum's would flock sideways and fill your cafe during week days, then keep the chic and enter the greats of historic TdF/Belgian/Italian cycling heros at the weekend and... Voila!

Place is Full, you seel out in 5yrs and retire to Sunderland.

Don't thank me 😆

I literally just found out about this place:

[url]www.readingbicyclekitchen.org[/url]

I live in Reading and I'm going to be heading there for their opening on Saturday to Donate some parts and find out about volunteering.

This seems like the perfect sort of thing to my mind not just Cakes, Coffee and posing but also some actual community benefit, Reading is starting to feel more and more like a "Cycling City" (although still technically a town), I'm actually quite excited about it...

Very interesting sounding setup you have planned, russianbob. Having ridden a lot out north of Otley in the last few years, I would be very keen on checking out the finished product.

Bit cheeky, but if you're ever in need of a polite twentysomething employee who knows his way around road & mtbs, appreciates good coffee and loves to bake, drop me an email.

Best of luck with everything.