Halfords UK Car Centre

Established in Birmingham as a wholesale ironmongers in1892 by Frederick William Rushbrooke. He was an avid penny farthing bike rider. Ten years later in 1902 he opened a shop on Halford Street in Leicester. Frederick called it the Halford Cycle Shop adopting the street name for the business. By 1931 they had 200 cycle stores selling bikes and cycling goods. Halfords also purchased the Birmingham Bicycle Company in the mid 1940’s. The 60’s brought changes for Halfords with the 300th bike shop opening in 1968. They were also acquired by the Burmah Oil Company in 1965. This was the start of further takeovers in 1980’s the Ward White Group who predominately owned DIY stores acquired Halfords. Only for the Ward Group to be acquired by Boots Group. This turned out to be a mistake by Boots, there was a downturn in the housing market in fact it went into a depression for five years. The DIY section of the group failed while Halfords continued to be successful. It was then over by a European private equity firm CVC Capital Partners in 2002 from the Boots Group. Halfords as since purchased several bicycle companies including Tredz the bike shop that sells a brilliant range of bikes and cycling accessories for women, men and children. They also bought Boardman Bikes Ltd. This is a British bike manufacturer set up by Chris Boardman the professional cyclist. Wheelies the insurance company for cyclist was also added to the Halfords portfolio of acquisitions. Halfords the UK’s biggest seller of automotive and cycling products is still motoring on with 460 stores in the UK. They are making big strides into the car repair and MOT testing business with 300 Halfords Auto centres nationwide. Life’s a journey and Halfords specialise in making journeys enjoyable.