Job cuts and restructuring to take place at Raleigh Bikes as it deals with a "challenging market"

British bicycle manufacturer Raleigh Bikes has announced a series of job cuts and major restructuring plans, which include completely shutting down its Parts and Accessories department and contracting out its warehousing and logistics to third-party, with the company saying that the move is reflecting a "challenging market".

There are also reports that the company, which currently operates out of its Eastwood headquarters, is looking to move to a different location.

Raleigh's parent company Accell told ITV that formal consultations for the restructuring, redundancies and move, were now underway. 

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A spokesperson from the company said: "To ensure Accell UK remains competitive in what is a challenging market, we have recently concluded a detailed review of the business, aimed at helping to position Accell for sustainable growth in the UK and internationally.

"Following the outcome of this review, we have developed a proposal to better integrate Accell UK into the wider Accell Group business so it can benefit from existing resources, functions and expertise, while retaining the Accell UK HQ in the Nottingham area.

"This will better position our operations for sustainable growth. Formal consultations on the proposal will begin immediately and we welcome input from all parties involved as we work closely with them during this process.

"We remain committed to supporting our staff should this proposal be adopted and keeping them informed throughout the consultation process, as well as maintaining our service to our bike shop partners and customers."

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Accell has reasserted the brand would still be based in Nottinghamshire, where it has been based ever since the Frenchman Paul Eugene Louis Angois set up a small bicycle workshop in Raleigh Street, Nottingham in 1885.

It caught on the name Raleigh Cycle Company three years later, when Frank Bowden acquired it, and to this day is still operating under the same name, making it one of the oldest bike companies in the world.

However, it has not disclosed where its new HQ will be set up. It's also not clear as to how many members of its staff will be laid off, but as of 2019, the firm employed 100 employees at the Eastwood assembly centre.

Raleigh Chopper 70's

The company had moved to the Eastwood facility in the early 2000s, however a few years ago had labelled the base as "outdated and inflexible" in the face of changing customer needs.

The business had moved to Eastwood from its Triumph Road factory in Lenton, which later became the University of Nottingham's Jubilee Campus. In the 1970s, Raleigh employed 13,000-plus people nationwide, including about 8,000 staff based on numerous sites on Triumph Road.

> Back to the future: Raleigh relaunches iconic Chopper (again)

In 2018, its former head office in Nottingham became the 400,000th site to be entered into Historic England’s National Heritage List.

In June this year, the historic company relaunched its iconic Raleigh Chopper, based on the Mk2 Chopper launched in 1972, and now arguably one of the most famous British bicycles of all time.

The new Chopper, a 'limited edition' and the product of four years of research by the bike brand, marked the first time Raleigh has relaunched its most celebrated bike — since 2014. However, the company says that, unlike that model, they have tried to stay as close to the original Chopper this time as possible.

road.cc has requested Raleigh for a comment.