Mosquito Bikes to re-open as a Velorution store after acquisition

Thursday, 12 May 2016 Mark Sutton

Islington’s Moquito Bikes has been acquired at auction by Velorution – a competing business in London.

Having gone up for sale in April, Mosquito has been part of London’s cycling fabric since 1984, but will now be absorbed into the Velorution portfolio, re-opening after a refit later this month.

In 1998 Mosquito moved to Essex Road in Islington, where owners Gill, Roger and Phil ran an active store, as well as an active bike fitting business, something for which the store became renowned.

Velorution has for some time been looking at expanding the business and has at the time of writing raised £618,156 in crowdfunded shares, £118,156 over its target with three days to run.

Jonathan Cole (pictured) Velorution’s managing director said: “As part of our expansion plans we are about to Velorutionize Islington with our acquisition of the assets of this 30 year old iconic bike store. The blend of Velorution’s Urban lifestyle with Mosquito’s famed specialist bespoke bike building and fitting skills will make a compelling offering to our customers as we expand our stores around the Capital. The Islington Essex Road store is a stones throw from the City and perfectly positioned for us to service our north London customer with our unique range of products. The store is currently being refitted to match the Velorution look and feel and will reopen later this month.”

The flagship store is located at 75 Great Portland Street, in amongst the BBC and Oxford Street’s high footfall.

Velorution’s non-executive board members include Sebastian Conran acclaimed British designer and Managing Director of Sebastian Conran Associates and formerly Head of Design at Conran & Partners, as well as Tony Schulp. ex-CEO of Haymarket Publishing, and Commercial Director at Aston Martin.

The purchase is the latest in a series of retail buyouts, with triathlon giant Royles purchased by Trek back in March, among others.