Evans Cycles opens new shop at Leeds railway station

Evans Cycles has opened a new shop at Leeds railway station, replacing a branch that closed last year on nearby New Station Street.

Covering more than 400 square meters over two floors, more than 70 bikes will be kept in stock for customers to test ride, and the store also has a fully equipped workshop.

The retailer also takes full control of the station’s secure cycle park - previously run in partnership with CyclePoint and where Evans had its second Leeds store - and which has 196 spaces, costing £1.50 per day.

Matthew Atkinson, the company’s head of retail, said: “We are hugely excited to announce the opening of our new store at Leeds Station and to be back home in the CyclePoint unit.

“Network Rail, Leeds City Council and Evans Cycles have all worked together to reopen this vital facility for Leeds cyclists.

“We have invested in a substantial refurbishment and the facility now offers secure bike parking and an excellent range of products from leading brands including Trek, Pinnacle and Brompton.

“Our expanded workshop, along with our 24 hour service guarantee will keep our customers riding throughout the year.”

He added: “We have an exciting pipeline of activity planned for 2020 and look forward to sharing more store openings later in the year.”

The store will be open from 7am-7pm Monday-Friday, 8am-7pm on Saturday and 10am-6pm on Sunday, while on bank holidays it will trade from 9am-5pm.

The new opening means that there are now 52 stores within the Evans Cycles estate.

Atkinson’s mention of future openings suggests that many of the feared wave of closures when Mike Ashley’s Sport’s Direct Group bought Evans out of administration in October 2018 will not happen.

The retailer traded from 62 stores at the time of the deal, with Ashley saying: “In order to save the business, we only believe we will be able to keep 50 per cent of stores open in the future.”

We reported earlier this month how, according to one of the company’s employees involved in the takeover of an Evans branch Instagram account renamed Make Evans Great Again, uncertainty over branch closures was one of the issues said to be affecting staff morale at the business.

> Make Evans Great Again: Evans Cycles investigating "re-purposed" Instagram account (plus exclusive Q+A)