Home

Reading Bike Kitchen is a not-for-profit community project run entirely by volunteers. Founded in 2014, our mission is to support the local community by ensuring that cycling is accessible to all. We achieve this by providing low-cost bike repairs, bike refurbishing & rehoming, bike donations to local causes and free bike maintenance courses.

OUR STORY

Reading Bike Kitchen was founded by a small group of people in 2014 who realised the many health, community and sustainability related benefits of cycling and wanted to make this available at a low cost to residents in the local area. We started our journey at Jackson’s Corner as a we-help-fix-your-bike workshop, and resided in several locations throughout the years.

In February 2021 we finally settled at our permanent residence:

Unit C10, Weldale Street, Reading, RG1 7BX

We are completely self-funded with the support of our year-round volunteers. Bike donations are at the heart of our operation - we fund ourselves on the refurbishing and rehoming of donated second-hand bikes and our bike repair services. Donated bikes that are not suitable for their purpose are skilfully salvaged by our experienced team for parts that can assist in our bike repairs.

Although we no longer offer the facilities for you to fix your own bike, we provide lots of services to help you with all your bike needs and more. This includes:

  • Low-cost while-you-wait bike repairs

  • Refurbishing & rehoming bikes

  • Receiving bike donations

  • Free bike maintenance courses

  • Jumble sales of bikes/ bike parts (for the cycling enthusiasts)

  • Donating bikes to local causes. We have also donated over 150 bikes to Ukrainian refugee women and children.

  • Recycling of bike parts

  • Annual donation of surplus funds to local and national charities. We gave £15,000 to charities in 2024.

Check out our What We Do page for more info and our Facebook page for upcoming events!


OPENING TIMES

We welcome our customers for bike repairs every Saturday 10AM to 2PM only. If you are looking to purchase or donate a second-hand bike (including bike parts and accessories), you can do so during our opening hours on Saturdays in addition to Wednesdays 10AM to 2PM and Thursdays 5PM to 8PM.

Our free bike maintenance sessions and Jumble Sales are held on the first Sunday of every month. Follow our Facebook page to stay up to date with all our events.


LOCATION

Unit C10, WELDALE STREET, READING RG1 7BX

The entrance is around the back in the car parking area of the small business centre (see map on the location page).


To learn more about our services please visit the what we do page. If you're keen to get involved with supporting us then the volunteer or donate sections are for you. You can keep up to date with our work by liking and following us on Facebook.