London store moving

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After 40 years of operating from 25 Tanners Hill we have found that recent demand for our bicycles has forced us to expand and move to a new purpose built factory.

Our new facility will be based in Wales and will enable us create more modern fiber based bicycle frames together with our handbuilt steel bicycle frames which we have made for over 60 years.

If you have a bicycle with us for restoration or you have ordered a new build don?t worry, we will be contacting you as soon as it is ready and will arrange collection from this store.

Our plans will bring to the UK the most advanced bicycle workshop in Europe which will be grounded in our handmade and traditional craftsmanship.

We last had a factory in th 1970s also based in Wales when WITCOMB was at the height of it?s fame, so we hope this change will be equally prosperous.

We?d like to thank all our shop customers for the last 30 years. It is with great sadness we make this move.

20% sale continues to this Saturday

We're continuing our 20% off sale through to this weekend. With 20% off selected items. This includes saddles, luggage racks, helmets, locks, lights and many other stock items.

Saturday 19 January 2009, 10am to 5pm

Our new signage

The new signage is going up at the workshop. Our last sign was starting to show its age, so we have looked over many old images of the shop, deciding to create a new sign which borrows elements of the 1950s original but layout elements from the 1970s version.

Here we have Terry putting up the new Ply-wood for the signage, before it is painted black and the signage stenciled on. We just need a few days of dry weather to finish it!

Frame sale!

We've got a selection of used steel, alloy and carbon frames from many different makers available. These have all come from our clearing of the upper levels of our building to make way for our new facilities.

We are offering these on Saturdays for a price of £250 for 'sold-as-seen' or £400 for a fully restored frame and forks in a single colour. Visit our workshop on a Saturday for more details.

Please note: there are no Witcomb Frames in the selection.

20% Sale this Saturday

This saturday we have a sale with 20% off selected items. This includes saddles, luggage racks, helmets, locks, lights and many other stock items. We're making space for future rebuilding works and also to make way for our own 'Witcomb' brand products.

Saturday 10 January 2009, 10am to 5pm

2009: focusing on frames

From the re-opening on the 10th January 2009, we will be making changes to how we work at Witcomb Cycles. Over the last two years we have seen a vast turnaround in our business, at present we have more new frame orders than we have had during the last decade combined.

Keeping our focus on quality and handcrafting we will be focusing on making our bicycle frames and other Witcomb products by reducing some of our other services. We will now only be offering servicing and repairs to Witcomb bicycles or those restored by us. We will still offer our frame and bicycle renovation and restoration services to any brand.

The most dramatic of these is a change in our opening hours. Our workshop will be open, Monday to Friday every week, but only open to the public on Saturdays. We will also be open on Sundays during the summer months.

During the week we will be open for new frame appointments only. At weekends we will be open to customers for sale of Witcomb products and for same day servicing and repairs to any brand of bicycle.

We now have approval to proceed with our heritage center and gallery space, this will be located on the first floor of the building, the 2nd floor will be restored during 2010 to 2011 as part of our ongoing restoration of the 361 year old building.

2009 will also see some exciting new products, some of these include a new range of frames which will be made here in deptford as "off the peg" frames, retailing at £750 and for a frame & fork set. More information about these will be released in the spring, these will be offered alongside our custom frames.

The Limited edition London Cycling Campaign bicycle is also still available for the 2008-2009 period, at only £1500 for an off the peg frame or £1900 for a bespoke bicycle. We will also be adding a second limited edition to this, a thoroughbred velodrome bicycle, which again is in collaboration with a charity, and limited to only 50 bicycles.

Our clothing and accessories will be extended with new cycling products throughout 2009, and we'll also be introducing our own brand range of energy drinks based on collaboration with infinite nutrition's laboratory.

Barry is going to be continuing to train up Terry, our new framebuilder some of you may have met, together with other young framebuilders who will be joining us throughout the year.

Open hours during 2009

Saturdays, 10am to 5pm
Sundays, 11am to 4pm
(Sundays are April to September only)

from 10 January 2009
Our workshop will only be open to the public on Saturdays, 10am to 5pm, and in the summer months we will also be open Sundays, 11am to 4pm. We will no longer be open during the week for servicing, repairs or shop customers.

SERVICING, REPAIRS AND RESTORATIONS
Our servicing department will now only be open on Saturdays for one day servicing options. You are welcome to book in advance for this. Bicycles for restorations may book their frames in at anytime by prior arrangement. New frame orders are now being taken by appointment at any time.

We are sorry for any confusion as we switch to our new hours. We have made these changes to allow us to focus on our framebuilding services to meet the demand for our frames

Christmas and New Year opening

Our opening hours for the festive period

We close on 20 December 2008 at 5pm

and the workshop will re-open on the 10 January 2009

We would like to wish all our customers a very Merry Christmas, and best wishes for the New year!

VAT reduction!

As we're sure you know, in the 1st December 2008, VAT will be reduced temporarily to 15%.

We're eager to pass this saving on to our customers, so all sales an orders after the 1st December 2008 will be at the new VAT rate.

We will not be updating our price lists, as VAT is stated on these, so you may need to call into to confirm current pricing with the VAT reductions.

We hope this helps our customers through the current economic turbulence and look forward to welcoming you at our workshop.

Witcomb Badges

www.witcombcycles.co.uk/fashion/

cappa-mocha-latte-witcomb-chino

Just a note to say we've had our coffee machine fixed!

We always get people who just come to "be" at Witcomb cycles, look at our photographs, stroke our frames, chat about "the good ole days of cycling" and of course get into heated debates over tubulars or clinchers. So when we started the refurbishment last January, we added the sofas. This was good.

The sentiments of many of our visitors were summed up by one customer: "This is not a bike shop. It's a cycling happening".

In February we added the coffee machine. This was better. After two months it broke. This was not good.

But now it is all working again and cappa-mocha-latte-witcomb-chinos are available again for anyone who wants to "be" at Witcomb Cycles for some good chats about bicycles.

(PS. Tubulars are more fun. Tony.)

Clement Evolution - 13c 'Tubulars' sort of..

While clearing space in our archives up stairs we found lots of pairs of these odd tubular tyres / tube combination. Even Barry has no idea what size or shape rim they would fit on.

They have a sort of flat panel underneath which hooks like a modern Clincher tyre, but would require a specific rim to fit them.

So if anyone has been searching for these rare tubulars, please get in touch, we've got a lot.

Another new look

The current shop front, 2002 to 2008

The Witcomb workshop at Number 25, Tanners Hill has seen many different changes and alterations over the years. And as our last sign was looking a little tired and in need of an update we've decided to re-paint it over the winter. Keeping it in style with our Grade II surroundings and neighbouring businesses.

It also gives us a chance to boost our security system with new equipment as well as performing some repairs to both the timber framing on the building and the horsehair-plaster coating.

Don't worry we're still here and open as normal during both the re-building works to the street outside and while we carry out this face-lift.

Over the decades Ernie took great pride in re-inventing the front of the workshop, and below are some archive images of previous incarnations of Witcomb Cycles's home.

An early 1950s shop-front. Note the door on the opposite side. -It's original position.

Above and below, examples of our 1964-1970 Shop front.

The opening of the new extended workshop in the 1970s to include numbers 23 to 25 Tanners Hill.

Our first shop front further up the road in Tanners HIll, used alongside our unit in Woolwich, circa 1949.

Quick caption competition

We had this in our image archives and we know it is famous framebuilder Bill Hurlow. (Known for his curley rear stays on Hetchings bicycles.)

The best caption by 4pm on today -Saturday 18 Ocotber 2008 will win a Witcomb Workshop Apron worth £25

Our workshop assistants, Adam, Jack, Niamh, and Michael will choose the winner.

email to: office@witcombcycles.co.uk

Good luck.

We've all got headaches, but we don't mind.

On Monday work started on re-building the street outside of our collection of old buildings in Tanners Hill, new paving, trees and better accessibility and drainage will be the result of around 6 week of work undertook by Lewisham Council.

The site was designed by Shirley Broughton, who has spent many hours looking at the plans and discussing her ideas with all the residents and business of Tanners Hill. All of the shops are open as normal during the works, and if you need any help accessing or getting to our workshop or any of our neighbouring businesses the workmen are very friendly and will go out of their way to help you through the roadworks.

We are all looking forward to seeing the final result and welcoming you to the new look Tanners Hill this Christmas.

Keeping prices simple

As the website has been updated, we've also had another look at our price list. There are so many options when choosing a bespoke frame, we've tried to make our price lists simpler to use.

We've also changed our prices for the first time in five years (except, we added VAT to everything during 2007/08 for re-registering for VAT).

Thankfully, this time it is better news. We can now offer all our frames with a Witcomb Lilac colour finish included in the cost of a new frame. Our enameling costs have also come down further on new frame orders. We've achieved this by welcoming new suppliers to supplement our in-house enameling. All our enameling work is still carried out in the UK, and to our own strict standards on quality control and finish, with an even faster service.

You can view our new pricelist for custom built frames on our downloads page at:
www.witcombcycles.co.uk/downloads

Or ask in our workshop for more details.

New opening times

As from Tuesday the 14 October 2008, our opening hours are changing.

Tuesday to Friday, 10am to 6pm

Saturday, 9.30am to 5pm

Closed Sundays and Mondays.

We've made a slight alteration to our opening time, this allows more of our customers to visit the workshop after their work hours. -A much requested change.

We will continue to be closed on Mondays and Sundays.

Changes are coming!

In August we not only launch a new look website but we'll also be showing you a whole new range of Witcomb components, clothing and accessories.

Watch this space!

One Eye Grey - Bank Holiday Weekend

Disappearing ladies, off licences on the sites of ancient temples, birds who charge tolls and one?s that stalk with the pigeon hordes. All this and a couple of nasty trips underground. What more could you want from a Bank Holiday Weekend?

The fifth volume of One Eye Grey, the penny dreadful for the 21st century, Bank Holiday Weekend is now available and can be bought from our shop. Witcomb Cycles is continuing to support this thrilling London publication by sponsoring the cover of this latest issue.

The booklet features modern stories based on traditional London tales of the uncanny, paranormal and supernatural. One Eye Grey is a collaborative effort bringing together people who fancied creating something chilling and pocket sized to read on the tube.

Previous issues are also available.

Find out more here.

Frame Repairs

The beauty of a steel frame (apart from its aesthetic one, of course) is that, with the right skills, it can be repaired and given a new lease of life if by any chance it gets damaged. We are lucky to be able to offer those skills to members of the public as well as other bicycle shops.


The fact that we are one of the few shops in the country able to offer this service means that we are given a wide variety of jobs and sometimes on some pretty special bicycles. We can undertake any type of restoration or modification, from adding braze-ons, to changing drop-outs to turn a road frame into a track frame, replacing a piece of corroded tubing or simply respraying a much-loved frame.

For more details about what we offer and to view our price list, please click here.

Easter opening hours

We are open over the Easter Holidays on the following days:

Tuesday 18 March to Thursday 20 March: 9am to 5pm
Good Friday: Closed
Saturday 22nd March: Open 9am to 12 noon.
Sunday and Easter Monday: Closed.
Open from Tuesday 25 March as normal: 9am to 5pm

We wish all our customers a very happy Easter and look forward to welcoming you to our workshop afterwards.

Remodeling the Shop

Work on the workshop and shop is progressing apace. After clearing the space of the old carpet and other unwanted stuff, the new flooring is now almost finished and new walls will soon be coming up.

Our office space is also operational and the workshop is ready for expansion.

Most importantly we have a new coffee machine in and a nice sofa in. Feel free to come and see the progress of the work and have a coffee or a tea with us.

You can view pictures of the works in progress by clicking here or on the picture above.

Do You Love Witcomb Cycles?

The Lewisham Council 2008 Business Awards aim to celebrate the contribution local businesses make to the economy and the communities they serve.

This year, for the Who do you love? category, residents are invited to nominate their favourite "independent shop" (shops with no more than nine in their chain). The independent shop with the most nominations will win.

To vote, contact Deborah Efemini on 020 8297 5635 or email shoplocal@lewisham.gov.uk. Voting runs from 1 till 29 February 2008.

For more information about the awards, click here.

Christmas and New Year closing

Over the festive period, the workshop will be closed from
4pm Saturday 22nd December 2007
until
10am Tuesday 8th January 2008
We will still be available via email for sales, trade and general enquiries. We would like to thank our customers over the last year and look forward to welcoming you to our workshop in 2008!

Everyone at Witcomb Cycles would like to wish you a very happy festive season and a prosperous new year.

Witcomb and the THT

On this, the 1st of December, World AIDS Day, Witcomb Cycles is very proud to be able to announce its support to one of the UK's most prominent charities.

The Terrence Higgins Trust (THT) has been fighting HIV and AIDS, doing prevention work and providing support to people living with the disease for 25 years this year. For the past 10 years, the Trust has organised prestigious gala auctions at Sotheby's and this year, on 10 March, about 400 supporters of the charity will be able to bid for one of our exclusive bicycles worth between £3,500 and £4,500. One lucky bidder will be able to work alongside our designers to create their very own custom livery for a bicycle handmade to their measurements.

We are also hoping to develop a more lasting relationship with the THT. More information on this soon.

Be safe.

One Eye Grey

The third volume of One Eye Grey, the penny dreadful for the 21st century, is now available and can be bought from our shop.

The booklet features modern stories based on traditional London tales of the uncanny, paranormal and supernatural. One Eye Grey is a collaborative effort bringing together people who fancied creating something chilling and pocket sized to read on the tube.

The full 2007 trilogy is also available from us. The first section (Transpontine drift) came out in February and part two (A goose in Southwark) came out for July. The final episode (Out of orbital) of these interlinked tales of folklore has just been released.

One Eye Grey
Volume 3 - Out of orbital: £2.50
2007 trilogy: £6.50 (save £1)
Ask for your copy at the counter.

Find out more here.

Update

We have made a start on clearing up the shop, re-arranging customers' bikes to make more space, removing part of the carpet and the clutter that used to block the windows. The front part of the shop now only displays Witcomb bicycles. A new wooden flooring will be added in the next few weeks.

Southwark Cyclists, The Witcomb Afterworker

We are working with Southwark Cyclists together with Greenwich and Lewisham Cyclists to organise a visit our workshop with a chat with Barrie Witcomb about his craft. We will be offering tea and cakes to our visitors.

Witcomb Afterworker
Wednesday 24 October - 6.30pm
meet at the Southwark Needle (corner of London Bridge and Tooley Street)

A slow riverside ride to Witcomb Cycles, 25 Tanners Hill, SE8. Including a guided tour of their historic home before modernisation starts, an in-depth introduction to hand-made steel frame making and a fascinating slice of local bike culture. Optional pub after.

Contact: Barry Mason on 07905 889 005 for more information.
www.southwarkcyclists.org.uk

Come and Collect your Bicycle

We are getting ready to implement exciting plans to renovate our shop and workshop in Deptford. In addition to providing a more welcoming show-room area, new office space, this will also increase our workshop space, allowing for an extension of team of frame-builders. In the long term, we are planning a Witcomb Cycling Heritage Centre hopefully ready for the 2012 Olympics.

Those of you who have visited us at the shop will know that it is currently housing many bicycles never collected after being left by costumers for repairs. We need to clear the space to carry on the renovation work.

If you think that you may have left your bicycle with us over two months ago, we would be very grateful if you could call in to the workshop to collect it. If a bicycle remains uncollected by 10 October, it will be disposed of by clearance sale and online auction.

Our workshop is open to the public on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday between 10am and 5pm. Please bring either your receipt or the exact details of your bicycle if the repair dates back to over a year.