BikeBiz Bicycle and cycling retail news
Prime Minister David Cameron ysterday toured the Hope Technology factory in Barnoldswick, giving co-founder Ian Weatherill an opportunity to quiz the PM on the Get Britain Cycling report.
Though not commiting to the report as such, the PM did say that he had meetings planned to discuss the future of cycling in the UK, including one with Sir Chris Hoy.
Mr Cameron did say: “There is a huge clamour for cycling – it’s a growth industry – and I will be looking with an enthusiastic eye to see what we can do.”
“With more backing of the industry from the Government I can see it (cycling) quadrupling in the county,” he added.
While at Hope’s high tech facility, which employs almost 100 people, Weatherill was able to show Mr Cameron what was possible to achieve in UK manufacturing today. The former cotton mill which houses Hope’s fifty five CNC (computer numerically controlled) machines, produces thousands of parts daily and is perhaps closer to a Formula 1 facility than the usual vision of a manufacturing plant in the north of England.
Hope’s finished components are shipped directly from the factory to specialist shops in the UK and to over 40 other countries around the world with 50 per cent of production destined for export.
You’ll find more on Hope’s UK operation in the coming issue of BikeBiz, which carries a feature put together alongside ten domestic manufacturers.
