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London. And I also wanted to give catering a go as well. “Beverly and I had a vision for how we could incorporate doing an interesting cafe-bar with cycling retail, incorporating the two, but the location was going to be critical both in terms of the geographic location and the building.” Bristol was actually the last location Jerry and Beverly considered for their location, having already explored Brighton, Oxford, and Bath. Having never been to Bristol before, the couple immediately had a good feeling about the place. They quickly found a semi-derelict site, which still had six years left on the lease, meaning they couldn’t yet own the property, but using funds from the sale of their house in London, they got to work converting the old industrial site into a vibrant cafe and bike shop. “It was risky - we were putting money into a building we didn’t own, neither of us had any experience in retail, our experience in catering was very limited, everyone we spoke to said ‘do not set up a business down there,’ so everything conspired to suggest that it was going to fail miserably. “But it hasn’t, and I think that’s testimony to a sound vision in the first place, and to the quality of people we’ve employed in the last 30-or-so years.“
Keepsakes Over Mud Dock’s history, Arron has collected a scrapbook full of press clippings about the business, from early restaurant reviews, to fashion articles linked with cycling enthusiast and fashion designer Paul Smith, a one-time customer of Mud Dock. Scanning through the pages of the scrapbook, what’s clear is the wider appeal of the venue, which reaches
far beyond the cycling scene. From restaurant reviews in national publications to news articles in the local Bristol Post paper, and even a 1999 piece about refitting your bike shop in the pages of this very magazine, Mud Dock has long captured the imagination. With its museum of ‘90s mountain bikes suspended above the diners, and popular roof terrace overlooking the harbour, Mud Dock’s stylishness plays a huge role in its success. But of course Mud Dock is not just a restaurant, it’s also a
bike shop. Arron said he sees the business as a 50/50 split between
catering and retail. So how has the cycling business changed since its inception? “We had to change aspects of what we had put together in the first place very quickly, because the best way of finding out how things should be is opening the doors and seeing how people respond. “For example, more than 50% of the first floor area was given over to cycle retail, but very quickly we felt the pressure on the space in the cafe. We couldn’t satisfy that demand, so we had to condense all the bike retail stuff on the ground floor, and turn the whole of the first floor over to what subsequently became more of a restaurant.” Mud Dock started as a specialist in the latest mountain
bike technology, riding the wave of full suspension bikes and rapidly evolving design, but today the business has adapted to reach more everyday cyclists. “Now our biggest account is with Brompton. 30 years ago I
never would have set this business up on the basis of selling the number of Bromptons we sell.
20 | December 2022
www.bikebiz.com
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