The recession is proving good for global warming. The UK’s largest cycle retailer, Halfords, has announced that bike sales are booming for the second year in a row. Halfords, which sells a third of all new cycles in the UK, has reported bike sales of one million to the year ended 31st March 2009 for the second consecutive year.
Commuters have been driving cycle sales, helped by the government’s ‘cycle to work’ incentive scheme.
But the recession is not the only reason for the increase in cycling. It has also been receiving good publicity with the gold medal successes of the Team GB cycling team at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
David Wild, Halfords’ chief executive, also noted that concerns about health and the environment were also factors in the increasing popularity of cycling: “The first two reasons will be relevant whatever happens to the economy, although that is particularly important today.”
