Wheels set in motion for Saffron Walden’s first ever cycling cafe

Bicicletta - Coffee con Velo will have a big screen for watching cycling, a cafe and a focus on cycling apparel. (Image: Archant)

Bicicletta - Coffee von Velo is to open in just a few weeks, offering a cycling shop and hang-out space at the former Evergreen florist site on Market Walk, Saffron Walden – just doors down from the popular Newdales, which has specialised in all things bicycles for the last 30 years.

“We are trying to target a different area of the market, with more of a focus on cycling apparel,” said founder Christopher Middleton, a cycling enthusiast who has lived in Widdington for 14 years.

“We hope very much it can be a place where people can hang out, have a coffee, watch a bit of the cycling on the big screen,” added Mr Middleton, 48, who also works as a stock broker in London.

The site was hotly contested last year, when pizza chain Domino’s was refused planning permission.

“I followed that with interest, then when it fell through I thought it [Bicicletta] would be a very good fit for the town,” said the father-of-three, who has worked with business consultant Niall Fitzgerald on the project, and hopes to expand the venture to Cambridge in the future.

The café/shop will offer “very good coffee” and a range of snacks for cyclists reaching their destination, as well as visitors to the town who are after a different kind of atmosphere with their cuppa.

“A group cycling from Lands End to John O’Groats has already been in touch to say they would stop by, and we want to do more with Walden Velo – a club which I’m a member of,” added Mr Middleton, who has concentrated on using local companies for his new project, with Saffron Insurance, Saffron Security and Tees Law among the firms used.

Bicicletta - Coffee con Velo is due to open on April 1. For more information, go to info@biciclettavelo.co.uk