Time to re-tyre! Shrewsbury bike stallholder hangs up tools after near 50-year career
One of a market's most colourful characters is retiring after a career in the bicycle industry spanning nearly 50 years
Phil Roe, of Urban Bikes UK in Shrewsbury Market Hall, will finish at the end of this week alongside his wife Brenda who has been a partner in the business for the past 13 years.
Phil, a former second category road racing cyclist and champion, has built up a large following of customers to his popular bicycle sales and repair shop in the market, where he is also known for regaling entertaining stories.
From a family of cycling enthusiasts and racing champions, Phil took up competitive road racing at the age of 13 and continued for over 25 years. But his career in the bicycle industry began almost by accident, during the 1974 miners’ strike when electricity was restricted for businesses to three days a week.
The Yorkshireman recalls walking into Ken Ellerker Cycles, in his native Hull, with his mother-in-law’s rear bicycle wheel and asked if they could fix it.
“They said ‘No, but you can get a job here and do it yourself’, so I did. I remember working in the shop window for the best light because the electricity was off,” he said.
Here he learned his trade before moving onto the Coventry Eagle Cycle & Motor Company works, then based in Newtown, Powys, followed by St John’s Street Cycles in Somerset.
Phil set up his own bicycle shop, firstly in Newtown, before moving back to Brenda’s native Shropshire and setting up a stall in Shrewsbury Market Hall.
Here they sold all types of bikes, but were particularly well known for selling ladies’ Dutch bikes, becoming the sole UK supplier for Dutch bike company Popal.
“People came from as far as Edinburgh and all over the place to buy these bikes,” said Phil.
He also set up a bicycle hire service from the shop where tourists would set off armed with maps of cycle sight-seeing tours of Shrewsbury.
Phil coached scores of young riders over the years. He was heavily involved in Cycle Shrewsbury where he taught basic bicycle mechanics to young people and organised family invitation rides, raising thousands of pounds for charity.
“We will miss the market where we have made friends with lots of good people,” said Phil
Market Facilities Manager Kate Gittins said: “Phil and Brenda will be greatly missed. We join together in wishing them a long and happy retirement.”
The couple plan an active retirement, spending more time tending their allotment and travelling.
