Hope For Cycling Cafe After Council Seeks To Restrict Use By Riders

Councillor leader could save popular Velolife

A cycling cafe in Berkshire that has been threatened with an injunction that could lead to its closure could yet be saved after the intervention of the council’s elected leader.

Last month planning officials at the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead served a draft injunction on Velolife preventing it hosting any organised cycling groups.

The threat of action comes after a planning issue arose when the cafe opened in 2016 and, Cycling Weekly understands, a small number of complaints were received from local residents saying they were disturbed by gathering cyclists.

Along with the draft injunction’s draconian conditions, local cycling clubs have been warned off in two letters. The first suggested they could be subject to criminal prosecution for any rides that stop at the cafe this year.

In the second letter and a statement to CW, the borough apologised for the first, adding that clubs will not be subject to action, but how continued attendance at Velolife would threaten its existence.

Lee Goodwin, who runs the cafe between Maidenhead and Henley-on-Thames, is not sure his business can survive if the letter of the injunction is applied, but was hopeful after a visit from councillor Simon Dudley, leader of the Royal Borough, over the weekend.