IBD FOCUS


Butternut bikes owner Gav Hudson and shop dog Sprocket Born of necessity


BikeBiz editor Alex Ballinger crosses the Thames to meet the team at Butternut Bikes, North London


“I


t’s pleasantly chaotic and energetic,” were the words used by Gav Hudson, the owner of Butternut Bikes, to describe his fledgling independent store in London’s


Crouch End. That was the exact atmosphere I found as I entered the long,


narrow store, greeted first by Hudson and then by his famous shop dog, Sprocket. Over a cup of tea in the Butternut workshop, flanked by stock of SRAM cassettes, Hudson explained the origins of the store he opened in July 2020: “I was working at a bike shop at the start of the pandemic, and it became apparent that there was a lot more demand for workshops and repair than could be met. “People were quite distressed that they couldn’t get their bikes fixed, so it really came about as a need.”


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After feeling that his current work place was only interested in bike sales, Hudson decided to branch out on his own in early 2020, initially offering servicing and repairs from a church car park a few days a week. Drumming up plenty of business Hudson was offered an indoor venue by the landlord of the nearby Railway Tavern in Crouch End, for use as a workshop while the pub was closed. “We were the talk of Crouch End when everything else was in


lockdown, as an essential business fixing an awful lot of bikes in a pub. “I then reinvested everything that I took back into the business and then the opportunity for a shop came along and before I knew it, I ended up with a bike shop.” Butternut now consists of four members of staff, including


March 2022 | 19


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