Cycling is going through a ‘cool’ phase at the moment. There’s a new breed of repair workshops that also have great cafés too, and often show live sport events, they’re focal points for the cycling community. Frequented by Lycra-clad racers and trendy fashionistas alike, bike-friendly bars are popping up all over the British capital, providing refreshment, repairs and places to meet fellow members of a burgeoning two-wheeled community. Even without the Tour, cycle fever is on show all around London this summer, a testament as much to the unexpectedly good weather as to a long-running effort by the city to get people out of their cars and onto a bike. The number of cycle journeys has doubled since 2000 and the mayor’s office wants it to double again by 2025, a target that will be helped by the introduction of a London-wide bike rental scheme later this month. Similar projects are already up and running in Shanghai, Paris and Washington, D.C., and Mayor Boris Johnson, himself a keen cyclist, along with Prime Minister David Cameron said he expected the scheme to convert “legions of people” to traveling by bike in the British capital. About 6,000 bikes will be available at 400 locations across central London, while local authorities are also offering free classes for beginners and new cycle “superhighways” to give cyclists a safer route in from the suburbs. But if that all sounds a little tiring, London’s cyclists are not short of a place to take their wheels and grab a drink. Here below we present you CONTAINER CAFÉ; CYCLELAB and LOOK MUM NO HANDS! in London, just to inspire you to promote this business idea in your places too. We are sure that this innovative cafe bars can be the right solution for your next business.
CONTAINER CAFÉ The View Tube, The Greenway, Marshgate Lane, E15 2PJ London
The View Tube building in the middle of the Olympic construction site contains not only this friendly little café but an outpost of community cycle project Bikeworks. You can hire bikes from here and head off to explore the rapidly changing Lea Valley and the whole of east London. Time Out says If you wanted contemporary east London packed up in a box, this would be it – and what a brightly coloured metal box it is. Made out of recycled shipping containers painted a vivid yellow-green, the View Tube (as the building is called) might remind you of Container City at nearby Trinity Buoy Wharf: not surprising, as regeneration organisation Urban Space Management is involved in both. If you wanted contemporary east London packed up in a box, this would be it – and what a brightly coloured metal box it is. Made out of recycled shipping containers painted a vivid yellow-green, the View Tube (as the building is called) might remind you of Container City at nearby Trinity Buoy Wharf: not surprising, as regeneration organisation Urban Space Management is involved in both projects.
The Container Café is at the far end of View Tube, with all of new East End life within. A charming, lightly bearded Antipodean barista, 2012 Olympic merchandisers, ad exec on his Nokia, psycho geographical couple with books and, nose to the French windows, daily visitor David Doyle, who is an illustrator patiently developing pencil sketches of the Olympic Site. The view could hardly be bettered. Almost within touching distance is the Sir Peter Cook/Populous Olympic Stadium, on your right Zaha Hadid’s surprisingly low-slung Aquatics Centre, and between them a copse – nay, forest – of busy cranes with a foreground of trucks, work vests and apparently aimless pointing fingers.
View Tube combines this amazing setting with a commitment to social enterprise (cycle hire from Bikeworks, ‘Classroom with a View’ for school trips) and local producers (Beetroot & Culture veg, H Forman smoked salmon in the cream cheese bagels). The café is already in full operation. A short blackboard list of hot eats (bacon baguette and relish, pie, soup of the day) and coffees from long black to mochaccino (Square Mile beans, La Marzocco machine) are supplemented by fresh orange juice and hot chocolate. Further temptations rest on the counter: moist, perhaps overly sugary chocolate brownies, cookies, appealingly overstuffed savoury croissants. The goodies come from the people behind Fish Island’s excellent Counter Café – a big hit despite its where-the-hell-is-it location – and they’ve done a great job again. The same chilled-but-helpful service, the same on-the-button décor: changing art, mixed furniture in arrangements to suit different groups, underplayed design features. Blue stools echo the angular Olympic motif, there’s a pair of cute globe ceiling lights and, dividing the single room, a pot plant trellis with a hard hat hung off it.
We had a couple of quibbles. The scrambled eggs and bacon were so slow in coming that we’d started to nibble our brownie. The courgettes didn’t seem at all ‘caramelised’, and the toast was a little soggy. But we’re happy to wait when food’s prepared from scratch. And the combination of flavours and textures was brunch perfect, filling and a little indulgent, especially with the addition of the concentrated sweet-bitter tomato relish we’ve also enjoyed at Counter. Getting here is easier than it seems, but you’ll need the courage of your convictions to weave through construction hoardings that are only discreetly marked as a pedestrian walkway. Do so: this place is a lot of fun.
CYCLELAB 18° Pitfield Street-London
When Krisz was 7 years old because of his parent’s enthusiasm he started to race BMX in Hungary and the rest of Europe. In 1994 his father was looking for more challenges and based on his bicycling experience opened a bicycle shop, which became one of the leading shops in the region. In 1997 he joined his father’s team as a mechanic and after three years of hard work he was the manager of the shop. After leaving university, Krisz decided to start his own business opening an online second-hand bike shop. It was the only one at that time in Hungary where you could buy decent road bikes. At the beginning of 2006 Krisz moved to London, looking for a challenge, and was keen to learn as much as possible about bikes and the bike industry. He attended the ATG training program gaining a NVQ Cytech Bicycle Mechanic Course, Level 2.
These courses cover mechanical service and maintenance, frame repairs, wheel building, shop organization, sales and management. Krisz has 14 years of experience in bicycle retail during which he spent three years at CycleSurgery, one of the biggest cycle retailers in the UK, as Head Mechanic and a year England’s leading road and triathlon retailer Sigma Sport as a Pro Mechanic. “Inspired by Brazilian juices & smoothies we’ve put together a few classic combinations such as pineapple & mint and coconut & strawberry but you can choose how you want to get your ‘five-a-day’.
We use avocados to give you silky smoothies (top tip!) and import amazonian Acai, Guarana, Macca, Acerola and Goji Berrie superfoods so you get healthy drinks rich in antioxidants, vitamin C, stimulation and energy. The perfect pick-me-up during work, pre & post exercise kick, boost to your sex life or just have a healthy breakfast smoothie of bananas, granola & honey to power you through the morning. We also serve indulgent classic North American shakes; Chocolate, Strawberry, Vanilla and Malt, all of which can be mixed with Whey Protein or Creatine to help with muscle building & recovery”.
LOOK MUM NO HANDS ! 49 Old St, EC1V 9HX London
Opened in April 2010, this cafe, repair shop and events space caters for the cool new breed of London cyclist. The cafe itself serves Square Mile coffee, cakes and pastries and charcuterie plates, and in the evening you can get a beer or a glass of wine. Cycling events are shown on the big screen.” We like riding our bikes and drinking coffee. We had an idea about combining stuff we like to make something special. We found a great space in a great location, cleaned it up and called it ‘look mum no hands! We show films and cycle sport on our big projector screen. We have a workshop and two great mechanics who fix bikes. We have people who are really into making good food and coffee. We sell BEER! Fresh fruit and veg is delivered every morning and we turn it into tasty salads and hot dishes.
The cooking team keep the menu seasonal and interesting by varying the salad mixes and specials daily. Our pies are really popular and available all day. Cakes are homemade by two local bakers – try Liz’s ginger cake and Jessica’s banana, chocolate & walnut loaf, both are delicious. Our top barista is a total geek (in a good way) and works obsessively to ensure that every cup of coffee that we serve is truly special. We use Square Mile coffee because they’re dedicated to quality, they’re down the road and we like them.
We’ve recently upgraded our Faema to a 2 group Marzocco Linea and we use a modified Anfim grinder. We have smoothies, fresh juices, wine and BEER. Our house beer is called Slag. We chose it because of the name but it tastes great too. The fridge is also stocked with Bath Ales, Suffolk Cider and Belgian beers”. “People come here to sit around, have some coffees, hang out with friends and while they are doing that we fix their bikes,” said Nicole Hamilton, a mechanic at the “Look Mum No Hands” cafe-bar.
This is one of the few public places showing the gruelling cycling competition live on television in London, and many in the packed crowd have come here to watch it on the big screen. The room is adorned with vintage bicycles, wheels hanging from the ceiling and in honour of the Tour, the yellow jerseys awarded to the race leaders and photos of top racers.