Got a bike? Want a coffee? Look Mum No Hands!

I hate bicycle shops. They always smell faintly of rubber and oil, and there’s never anything to do while you’re waiting for your bike to be repaired, except look at bikes, bits of bikes, and bike accessories – which if you use your bike for commuting, rather than competing in the Tour de France, is not particularly stimulating.

A sad bicycle wheel is missing its bike...

Well Look Mum No Hands has changed all that. It’s a bike workshop that’s also a café, so while you’re getting your Shimanos fixed you can get a cup of coffee. Or lunch. A huge plate of salad only costs £4.50 – that’s not going to break the bank, and it’s healthy stuff too.

Besides, they show films. And racing. I used to think bicycle racing was boring, but then this year I was in France while the Tour was going on, and what with one thing and another I got interested in it.  (Jens Voigt’s deadpan observation on smashing his bike – and himself – up that ‘I have had better days’ was a high point – but it was the Contador-Schleck rivalry, notably on the steep ascent of the Tourmalet, that really did it for me.)  Little did I know that a gang of keen cyclists in London were watching it on the big screen at Look Mum No Hands!

Plus, the bar has Vedett lager, which isn’t bad at all, and real ales from Bath Ales.  Though I warn you, London traffic is bad enough to bike in without having a few pints of beer first.

And oh yes – it’s got free Wi-fi. Brilliant!

Photo by Richard Masoner on flickr