BikeBiz Bicycle and cycling retail news
Hope’s managing director Ian Weatherill has been made an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list.
Weatherill has been recognised for his “services to business, innovation and the community in Lancashire”. He founded the company in 1989 alongside his late business partner Simon Sharp.
He said: “I’m thrilled to be receiving this honour in recognition of maintaining Hope’s UK manufacturing, especially in an industry so dominated by imports.”
Hope now employs 160 people manufacturing bicycle components, with all design and production still carried out in its Barnoldswick factory. Most of its staff live in and around the area, and in recent years Hope has moved into carbon fibre, keeping design and production in the same facility.
Weatherill is also the ‘driving force’ behind the Hope Academy, a bike rental scheme giving parents the opportunity to provide their children with quality bikes, enabling them to enjoy cycling from a young age. He’s also a supporter of the Hopetech Women initiative, encouraging more women to ride bikes.
