Job losses coming as Raleigh set to leave headquarters in Eastwood

Reports on the BBC say Dutch parent company Accell has confirmed redundancies at the site on Church Street ahead of the company leaving the site.

The future of the site has been in doubt since last summer when plans resurfaced for the company headquarters building to be replaced by housing.

Accell have reportedly said Raleigh will remain ‘based in the Nottingham area’ but has not said where that will be.

Raleigh has been at it’s Eastwood home since the early 2000s, having previously been in Lenton.

The BBC reports that Accell expects the company to leave its current Church Street home ‘in due course’

So far, there have been no details about how many jobs are to be lost.

Accell has said Raleigh’s parts and accessories business would close and warehousing would be outsourced.

Raleigh is one of the oldest and most iconic bike makers in the world having started in Raleigh Street in Nottingham in 1885.

At its height, the company employed around 8,000 people in Nottingham and sold its bikes around the world.

Among it’s most famous products are the Raleigh Chopper and the Raleigh Burner BMX.

The company was bought by Accell in 2012, who later moved it from Lenton to Eastwood.

Last autumn Accell announced a review of the UK business to position it for growth.

At the time, Accell said the review was ‘to ensure Accell UK remains competitive in what is a challenging market’ and that that the company was concluding ‘a detailed review of the business, aimed at helping to position Accell for sustainable growth in the UK and internationally’.

However, Raleigh’s time in Eastwood now appears set to come to an end.

An Accell Group spokesperson said: “Following the launch of a business review and employee consultation, our proposed changes to Accell’s UK operations have been confirmed and will be implemented.

"These changes will better integrate Accell UK into the wider group business and position our UK operations for sustainable growth while retaining our HQ in the Nottingham area.

"This has been a very difficult decision and we are supporting those impacted by the changes, while maintaining our service to our bike shop partners and customers.”