Bristol has today become the first UK location to run Fettle at Kwik Fit, a unique partnership designed to serve the nation’s cyclists.
The collaboration – which today saw the first cycle workshop open at an official launch event on Cheltenham Road in Bristol – brings together the UK’s leading automotive servicing and repair company and one of the country’s fastest-growing bike repair networks.
Fettle’s tech-led approach to bike repairs and servicing has grown across London, and is now expanding with this Kwik Fit partnership, which sees Fettle’s servicing and repair workshops and cycle specialists located within the Kwik Fit centre.
Speaking at the event, Jeyda Heselton, CEO and Founder of Fettle, told Zag Daily: “Kwik Fit has over 630 centres nationwide, making it much easier to serve customers from convenient locations, which would otherwise come at a huge premium.
“It’s brilliant to see those in the automotive world recognise the importance of supporting micromobility. I believe we all want to live in a world with cleaner air, less congestion and safer streets and using a bike for short journeys is a perfect route to that.”
The new workshop was opened with a ribbon cutting carried out by Cllr Donald Alexander, Bristol Council Cabinet Member for Transport, alongside Sofia Bonita, a 12-year-old Bristolian who races in road cycling and cyclocross.
South West drivers favour cycling switch
One of the reasons why Bristol was chosen as the first location for the partnership is the potential in the city. New research by Kwik Fit reveals that 31% of South West drivers who regularly use their car for short trips say they want to switch to other travel modes.
When asked about their travel over journeys of less than 1.5 miles, one in eight people in the South West (12%) said they want to cycle on more of these trips, while 10% want to make more use of an e-bike.
In addition to supporting pedal cycle owners, Fettle at Kwik Fit will serve the growing number of e-bikes and e-cargo bikes being used in the city.
Fettle is in talks with a number of bike retailers, manufacturers and cargo fleets to support their nationwide expansion and growing investment in the Bristol micromobility market, as companies increasingly look to replace cars and vans with e-bikes and cargo bikes for last mile deliveries.
Fettle’s origins
Heselton previously spent four years at JustPark, which started life by allowing homeowners to rent out their driveways.
From there, it was obvious to Heselton that there was plenty of under-utilised land so she set out to transform parking spaces into bicycle workshops.
“After that, landlords became interested in us filling empty or hard to let out real estate,” she said.
Beyond sharing space with Kwik Fit, the new partnership brings “enormous benefits”.
“There’s a lot behind the scenes to run a service network,” said Heselton. “It’s a people-heavy business that’s obviously reliant on technical skills and customer care. But, it wouldn’t function without its operational processes, logistics, stock management and the list goes on. Kwik Fit has been operating for over 50 years in the UK and the expertise and knowledge they can share as we scale is invaluable. And of course, it’s a household name which we’re hoping helps us get the word out to more customers.”
Fettle at Kwik Fit will provide a full roster of its services, including free bike assessments and quotes, as well as the company’s proprietary Bicycle MOT.
Mark Slade, Managing Director of Kwik Fit, said: “The immediate response from the city’s cyclists and organisations focused on micromobility has been incredibly positive. We want to support people with the most appropriate method of travel for their journey and as drivers and businesses look to shift to active travel modes for short trips we are here to help.”
