After 67 years Harry Hall Cycles in Manchester has closed. Many happy memories of having worked there during my time in the city. I joined the team when Freewheel in Manchester closed down and Nige and Big Matt who had given me a job as a mechanic moved across town to work for Simon and they put in a good word for me.
Initially at the Lever Street store off Piccadilly Gardens, then at the Whitworth Street West store just down the road the Hacienda, I worked with a great bunch of people over the years. I had several meetings with Harry (a world champion cyclist whose rainbow jersey was proudly displayed in the shop) and over the years did some great riding and racing with the lads I worked with – both on the road, at the Velodrome and on the trails. I have to say, I loved the demo days we used to run at Roman Lakes in Marple.
There was a great clientele who came from far and wide. Through Harry’s I was able to work as part of the service crew for the Commonwealth Games Triathlon event, I met Sir Chris Hoy and Bez from the Happy Mondays and many other well known figures from the Manchester scene.
I owned a couple of the original hand brazed Reynolds steel frames over the years from an era when Harry’s was well-known a frame builder internationally. They were made by the fabricators working in the basement workshops underneath the famous Corn Exchange – a location Harry’s had to move out of after the IRA bombing in 1996. When Eddy Merckx was setting up his frame building business, we came over to see Harry and take the measurements from the frame building jigs.
It’s sad to hear it’s no longer open for business.
R O T H A R . C O M 