Legal dispute
This project aims to raise funds to resolve a claim, or other type of dispute.
Save Wivenhoe Bike Kitchen
Colchester, Essex, United Kingdom
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Aim
Help keep Wivenhoe Bike Kitchen rolling as we defend our right to a fair lease in court.
Save Wivenhoe Bike Kitchen: Help Us Stay in Our Home
Wivenhoe Bike Kitchen (WBK) is a non-profit, volunteer run, community ‘Do-it-together’ bike workshop. We teach practical skills and support people to fix and ride their bikes. Since 2014 we’ve helped thousands of families and individuals of all ages and backgrounds through free, year round twice weekly drop-in sessions and additional courses. Every year WBK volunteers contribute over a thousand hours to the community.
The Challenge
For over a decade, Wivenhoe Bike Kitchen has been a reliable tenant and a staple of our community. Throughout the past year we’ve unfortunately had to resist repeated attempts by our landlord, Wivenhoe Town Council, to remove the basic legal protections of our lease and impose a no-fault eviction / forced relocation to unworkable premises. To protect the project, we served a standard Section 26 notice on the Council to try and negotiate a fair lease renewal.
Despite an independent Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) accredited valuation confirming the Bike Kitchen already pays a fair market rent, the Council retaliated by demanding a 300% rent increase as a condition of renewal - a demand made without evidence or justification.
Why We’re Fighting
The Bike Kitchen belongs in the heart of our community. We are committed to staying, but the deadlocked legal process for lease renewal left us with a binary choice: close the project for no good reason or defend our right to a fair lease in court. In March this year we issued court proceedings against our landlord.
The process to date has already exhausted our project reserves and we’ve had to take out a loan to help cover £11,000 in legal costs and professional fees. Our solicitor advises us that to reach the finish line, we may face a realistic worst case scenario of additional costs of up to £25,000. Though we hope the final figure will be lower.
How You Can Help
We are confident in our legal position, but as a tiny non-profit, we cannot match the resources of a local authority on our own. We are asking the people who use, love, and value this community workshop to help us bridge the gap.
Every pound raised goes toward the legal defence of our workshop. Help us get WBK over the finish line so we can get back to what we do best: teaching skills, fixing bikes and supporting Wivenhoe.
Funding method
Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made by 27th July 2026 at 9:43am