Following the opening of stores in Leeds, Gateshead, Kendal, Nottingham and various other places, ever-expanding cycle retailer Evans Cycles is to extend yet another pseudopod out from its South-East heartland. This one's heading west to Bristol, a city well-known for a healthy bike culture. As well as the very active MTB scene, surveys indicate that over 8,000 journeys a day are made by bike there.

A natural place to put a bike shop, then. The new 4,500sq ft (or, in everyday terms, "large") Evans branch will be in central Bristol in Lewins Mead, stocking over 300 bikes and the usual sizeable range of accessories and clothing. Evans is pushing the commuter/utility angle hard - the Bristol store will have commuter-friendly extended opening hours of 8am to 8pm during the week, will be open seven days a week and of course will have all the usual workshop facilities.

"We're really excited about having a presence in Bristol and providing a service to a growing cycling population" said Michael Rice, Managing Director, Evans Cycles. "It's a great location and is going to be key in terms of encouraging companies in the area to enrol onto Evans Cycles Ride2Work programme."

Of course, there are already a substantial number of bike shops in Bristol, so Evans is moving into a competitive marketplace. Bike shops are a bit like bikes themselves, though - you can never really have too many... The Bristol Evans branch will open on 25 July.