The Bristol Bike Project has bought its own home in Easton, we need your support to renovate the building & create a new community workshop!
by The Bristol Bike Project in Bristol, England, United Kingdom
The new community workshop is a larger space which will make it possible for us to welcome more people into the project. We would really love to be able to afford an additional 4 x new work stations fully equipped with stands, all the necessary tools and chest of draws to be able to increase the amount of people benefiting from the workshop. Raising an extra £10,000 would make this a reality!
The Bristol Bike Project has bought its own home in Easton, we need your support to raise £35,000 to renovate the building and create a new community workshop! Watch our video, check out the rewards, pledge your support and share far and wide. Thank you!
Bristol’s property market makes it incredibly difficult for independent community projects like ours to find secure and affordable premises. Our current home in Hamilton House is being redeveloped and we need to move out this Summer.
After a long search we’ve found the perfect place, right in the heart of our community. The building has incredible potential but we need your support to refurbish and kit out the space so it can become the community hub of our dreams. It's currently a shell!
We have completed the purchase of Tovey’s Seafood - 198-200 Stapleton Rd, Easton.
It has a large shop space big enough for our community shop to thrive, bringing affordable repairs and bike servicing to Stapleton Road, and a huge space in the back (formerly for preparing fish!) where we can recreate our bustling community workshop.
The space is considerably larger than our current workshop so, with your help, we'll be able to expand our oversubscribed community programmes getting more bikes to more people who really need access to affordable, healthy and sustainable transport!
Please note colours of T-shirts & caps are for illustrations purposes only, actual colour choices are available in the rewards section.
From humble beginnings, working out of a back garden, The Bristol Bike Project has grown into a dynamic community hub. We welcome hundreds of people through our doors each week, whether they’re taking part in our community programmes, volunteering, learning bike maintenance, or just having a cup of tea and a chat!
We are a comprehensive community bike project, repairing and rehoming unwanted bikes. We aim to help people from all walks of life get out on two wheels and for it to be an inclusive and empowering experience.
The Bristol Bike Project was born in 2008 when two friends returned from their first cycling tour with a new-found love of bikes and a desire to help their community. They had identified a need for affordable transport amongst Asylum Seekers in Bristol. We soon opened our doors to people from all walks of life, including people with mental health issues, recovering from substance addiction, as well as those in supported/sheltered housing. We now get referrals from over fifty organisations in and around Bristol.
We are proud to be a co-operative, valuing people over profit and putting our members at the heart of decision-making. What do our members want most? A secure and long term home! When we found out we had to move out of Hamilton House (our home of 11 years) we were pretty worried, we began searching for a place to buy, but Bristol's property market is tough especially for not-for-profit organisations.
Then Covid struck! Within 24 hours we’d redesigned all our workshops and completely overhauled shop operations. The passion and creativity of our staff and volunteers enabled us to manoeuvre quickly to find new ways to support our community. We focused our efforts on selling and repairing bikes for key workers, and continued to support people who relied on our community programmes through offering drop off bikes and repairs.
Through years rehoming bikes with people, we know just how important access to a bike can be for our mental and physical wellbeing – not to mention getting around in an affordable way. These needs don’t go away in a public health crisis; if anything, they become more acute.
Covid set us back financially and held up many elements of our move. But, after two long years of searching we are extremely proud to say that we’ve found the perfect place!
Tovey's Seafood closed it's doors Christmas 2019, the previous owners, who ran a fishmonger’s there since 1962, were happy to pass the shop on to another independent business.
It’s always been a dream to own our own building, for our own long term security and to safeguard space on our local high street for community use.
Earn-a-Bike: 1:1 workshop session working with marginalised people from within our community to overhaul and refurbish a donated bike, learning basic bicycle mechanics in the process. We also run specific Earn-a-Bike sessions for women and young people aged 8 - 18.
Fix-a-Bike: People who have earned a bike at the project can keep it running smoothly at one of our drop-in Fix-a-Bike sessions where volunteers can help with repairs, free of charge.
The Social Cycle: A workshop for adults experiencing social isolation. We fix bikes, we drink tea, we chat and have fun!
After School Bikes: A drop in session for young people aged 8 - 18 to maintain their bike and to learn bike mechanics.
Women’s Night: An open workshop run by women for women to share skills and knowledge in a friendly and informal setting. We welcome trans and non-binary people.
Bike Kitchen: An open DIY session for people to repair, maintain or build their own bikes.
Volunteer sessions: We welcome volunteer bike mechanics of all ages and abilities to come and help us prepare bikes for our programmes and develop skills on the job.
We’ve searched high and low for the perfect premises for over two years and worked really hard to raise the funds to purchase our own building.
We’ve purchased an amazing site in the heart of our community, but we can only transform it into a community bike workshop with your help!
Whatever form it takes, your support and contributions will be hugely appreciated. You can support us by:
Thank you for reading and for your support - spread the word and see you soon!
Love from The Bristol Bike Project
This project offers rewards in return for your donation. Please select a reward below.