The UK’s leading designer, manufacturer and installer of high quality cycle hubs, cycle parking systems, shelters and bike hangars celebrated its 30th anniversary this week!

The event took place at Falco’s UK office in Leekbrook where all staff members, including many long serving employees, celebrated an incredible 30 year anniversary and cut the Falco cake! Jeremy Green, Managing Director, added “Our parent company just celebrated 70 years and here we are with 30 years under our belt. It’s a fantastic testament to the strength of the business and commitment to cycling!”

Falco, previously known as Arunhithe Ltd, began trading back in February 1992 at Winkhill - a small rural village near Leek. The company began trading bike racks and had a small portfolio of products for the then, relatively new idea of ‘cycle parking systems'. The products were manufactured by the Dutch company Falco - an expert in cycling products as one would expect!

As the business developed, the demand for Falco products increased and canopies, shelters and eventually cycle hubs were added to the product range and by 2003 annual sales topped the £1m mark. In May of that year, to boost the expansion of the business, the company moved to new, much larger premises on Barnfields in Leek. This enabled more staff to be added to the team along with a bigger warehousing and office facility.

By 2004 with annual sales in excess of £1.6 million, the then owners (Richard and Yvonne Martin) decided to retire and Falco took this opportunity to invest in the company, to develop its demand for Falco products in the UK and providing important development capital to fuel future growth. In December 2005, the business officially became Falco UK Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of the Dutch company Falco BV.

Following this investment the company grew quickly and doubled its turnover in the following five years winning important contracts from local authorities across the UK as well as many large private developments such as the Francis Crick Institute, Network Rail stations at Euston, Glasgow and Leeds, plus Central Government contracts including the MoD’s headquarters in London.

Once again due to high demand for the company’s products and expansion of the business Falco had to move again to larger premises and in late 2008 the Barnfields premises were sold and the company moved premises on the Leekbrook Industrial Estate three times the size of Barnfields. The new premises provided a much larger warehousing facility, larger offices and secure storage for the growing volume of work.

Throughout these last thirty years Falco has grown steadily and securely, developing from a dining table in a front room, to the UK's leading cycle parking and shelter supplier. The business is now well-established with a secure financial footing and a constantly developing and innovative product range designed to meet the needs of the DfT’s cycling and walking plans going forward over the next 5-10 years.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our clients and customers over the years who have trusted their cycle parking project to our team here at Falco and we look forward to providing cycle parking solutions and partnering with existing and new clients as we move toward the next 30 years – thank you!