IN BRIEF
Temple Cycles, the Bristol brand known for its steel bikes, is closing its shop and ceasing bike manufacturing, twelve years after it was founded. Its founder, Matt Mears, blames Brexit, which made exporting to Europe more expensive, and margins eroded by discounting across the industry. Most of the staff have been made redundant. Matt Mears has told shareholders, who put in more than £1.3 million through crowdfunding in 2022, that they should not expect to get anything back; a new company, limited to parts and accessories sold online, is to take over.
The turnaround is swift: Temple Cycles had launched e-bikes in recent years and opened a new site in April in Clifton, a Bristol neighbourhood, with a shop, a repair workshop and an events space.
Why Temple Cycles is stopping
Matt Mears founded the business in 2014, while he was still studying engineering at the University of Bristol. Temple designed steel bikes, with frames made in Taiwan and Vietnam, carried out final assembly in Bristol, and ran shops in Bristol and London. The brand sold its bikes worldwide, in particular into Europe: for its founder, “Brexit created a lot of barriers and pushed up our costs to export our bikes in a big way.”
He describes “an exceptionally difficult time to run a bicycle business”, pointing to rising costs, widespread discounting and weak consumer spending. “The margins are constantly getting squeezed, especially with the amount of discounting happening across the industry. This makes the whole thing unsustainable in the long run,” he adds.
Staff and shareholders
The majority of staff have been made redundant. Matt Mears paid tribute to them:
“I’m deeply grateful to the people who have worked at Temple. Their skill, care and commitment shaped the business, and I’m very sorry that we haven’t been able to preserve those jobs.”
Matt Mears, founder and managing director of Temple Cycles
More than 1,200 investors had backed the brand during its crowdfunding campaign. In an email to them, the founder warns: “Unfortunately, I do not expect any funds to be returned to shareholders through the winding down of Temple Cycles Ltd.” He apologises:
“You put your money and trust into Temple, and I’m very sorry that the business hasn’t delivered the outcome we hoped for. I know this is disappointing news.”
Matt Mears, founder and managing director of Temple Cycles
A new company for parts and accessories
Existing shareholders are invited to take shares in a new company once Temple Cycles Ltd has been wound down. It will be limited to selling parts and accessories online. Matt Mears sets out its course:
To apply the lessons of the past twelve years to “a more sustainable business that preserves Temple’s ethos and continues to support the many Temple bikes already out there”.
Matt Mears, founder and managing director of Temple Cycles
As of 10 November, the templecycles.com homepage stated that new bike orders were closed “due to high demand”.
