Lock 7

They broke my bicycle because I didn’t want to pay them extra for work they already should have carried out.
I left my bicycle with them as they hadn’t completed the initial work properly. They told me that after 4 days it would be fixed at no extra cost.
4 days later I go to collect it — it wasn’t ready.
I got a call later that day telling me they wouldn’t fix the problem after all and that I’d need to pay extra for the work.
I declined and went to collect my bicycle only to find that the animal who served me was a vindictive scumbag who broke my bike — I assume because I didn’t agree to be ripped off.
The rudest member of staff is the Polish fella. Many of my friends confirmed a bad experience with him. Acts like your bothering him — then sabotaged your bike when things don’t go his way.
Do not take your bike here. They make their money serving people who don’t know much about bikes so they think they can rip people off. Many cyclists in that area. Middle class workers and hipsters alike. This place is popular for no darn reason.
They gave me a £35 «service» that I could have got for FREE and better elsewhere. Then return the bike more broken than when I gave it to them.
No thanks.

Yet another bicycle café. These places are ruining my dreams (I’ve wanted to open one for the longest time!)
Nestled on the canal opposite Broadway Market, this place is not my first choice but it’s great to come by and get a bike checkup, a flat fixed or a wheel trued and sip on an espresso in your yellow jersey and Brooklyn gum cap. Don’t worry, no one is judging you.
I haven’t eaten here but the coffee is great and there’s a free pump for you to use if you just need to come by, fix a flat yourself and inflate your tube. The coffee and cake can be your reward for all that hard work!
Lots of fakenger hipsters (fake bicycle messengers) and deep rims in these parts but that’s not Lock 7’s fault, it is Hackney after all :)

Fast, reliable, reasonably priced. Lately I’ve taken my 5 year old’s bike I found in a skip AND my own precious track bike that I wanted rebuilt to this shop. I’ve found helpful, knowledgeable and honest opinions and excellent work on each occasion. Stah, the chief mechanic, formerly of Brick Lane Bikes, is straight up & laconic. If you think he’s being rude (see earlier comments) maybe think about what you’re giving him. Be nice and he might even let you use his tools. Highly, highly recommended. 5 Stahs

Avoid. They couldn’t even complete a simple job properly, or on time or for the price agreed. Unhelpful and clearly not trustworthy or fit for purpose. Like so much in this area it’s all fashion over function. Please don’t call me dude, just do what was agreed on.

Avoid. They couldn’t even complete a simple job properly, or on time or for the price agreed. Unhelpful and clearly not trustworthy or fit for purpose. Like so much in this area it’s all fashion over function. Please don’t call me «dude», just do what was agreed on.

So Tinker II is a zippy little thing but unfortunately last weekend she got a flat and I had to sort her out with a new front shoe. I rolled here into Lock 7 bright and early on Sunday and within 5 minutes we established that it was not just going to be inner tubes but a whole front tyre that needed replacing. I left my number and they said they would call me when it was done.
less than 30 minutes later I have a little voicemail on my phone. Tinker II is ready for collection. I parted with my £26 and rolled out of there a happy cyclist. Since then I have popped in again when I needed a new rear light. £12 later I have just what I need after some friendly advice.
These guys are great. They run an efficient shop that can turn around repairs quickly. It’s not the cheapest but it won’t break the bank either. They also serve up food and drink and I’ve yet to try the coffee but I hear good things.

A bike shop with a twist.
Sip Good Coffee and nibble on something nice by the canal.
The staff here are brilliant!
They’re not out to rip you off, they want to help you out.
Be it for a puncture repair, or a rebuild.
Despite their limited range of certain products, I still prefer to spend my money here on stuff.
I think there might even be free wifi here.

Let’s set the scene for our drama:
Our Protagonist: Mei, East London resident. Suffering from a flat tire on her beloved Brompton bicycle and an evil stepmother (or at least one of the above). Hoping to get across London this afternoon on her bicycle.
Enter Our Villain: Mainstream Bicycle Shop.
MEI: Hi, how much to fix a puncture on my Brompton?
VILLAIN: £5 for the parts, £10 for labour. Also, we probably won’t be able to do it until tomorrow.
MEI: Foiled!
Enter Our Fairy Godmother: Lock 7, handily located near everyone’s favourite Broadway Market.
FAIRY GODMOTHER: I’ll fix the whole thing for £10. And I’ll do it while you wait in 5 minutes. Plus I have coffee and snacks and free Wi-​Fi. And I give backrubs and glass slippers! (Some of the above are not quite true)
MEI: Success!
Hence our drama concludes with Mei riding off joyfully from Lock 7 with a brand-​spanking new inner tube. Lock 7 saves the day! Mei is sincerely hoping her new tire will not disappear at midnight along with her new animal friends that sing songs and the giant pumpkin.

Heleana’s spot on — waiting ages to have a simple problem fixed is a thorough bore, and being able to nip in, grab a delicious coffee, some cake or maybe even breakfast in a good location while having your tube replaced is a real luxury.
Staff here are brilliant — friendly, down-​to-​earth, knowledgeable and passionate about their work. I came in with a mate to get my puncture and his brakes fixed, and they kept the bike, fixed the brake and trued his warped wheel for under £15.
Wi-​fi too. So you can stay all day.

The urgent need for a particular bike part and the proximity of Lock 7 saw me giving them a second chance, this time as a cycle shop rather than a café. What a difference in service!
They didn’t have the exact part in stock (the bike section of Lock 7 is pretty small), but they did have a slightly-​inferior-​but-​adequate alternative to hand. I’d have been happy to make do, but they actually talked themselves out of a sale and phoned a competitor on my behalf to check if they had what I needed. (They did.) That’s above and beyond the call of duty — good job!

Bike repair shop that doubles as a coffee shop. Prices are a little high. But the coffee is good. The bikes are beautiful, but expensive. Employees seem to know what they’re doing. Overall a pretty cool place to hang out at the end of the Broadway Market area.

I love Lock 7, as others have said, its bright and a lovely place to stop for coffee whilst having your bike repaired.
Only drawbacks would be that its very limited in terms of new bikes or accessories to purchase, and that the food and drinks take about half an hour to show up, so dont go here if you’re in a mega rush.

Great little shop next to the canal. I’ve not actually bought a thing so far, but have popped in to browse on more than one occasion. They combine a café and a bike shop, with lovely friendly staff. The range of accessories available isn’t as huge as some places, but they also do a repair service (including drop-​in) that seems to be always buzzing. Apparently you can hire bikes too.
The most interesting section for me is the second hand bikes for sale. At another shop I asked if they had second hand racers, and they replied that ‘people tend to hang onto them’. Well, maybe they are all ending up here! You can find everything from vintage bikes, through basic bikes, racers, and even the latest trendy fixed-​wheel bikes for sale. Though the latter will cost you a few hundred even second hand!
This is the sort of shop you could feel comfortable coming to whether you are riding a sit-​up-​and-​beg with flowers painted on it or the latest model. Really must find the time for at least a coffee at some point

Pretty apt to find this one, right by the canal where you get loads of cycle through traffic. And what a good idea…
It’s a bike shop as well as a café. Marvellous. They have an amazing range of new and old bikes, and, like most bike places at the mo in ‘London’s East End’, they’re getting big on the fixie scene. So yeah, loads of bikes that made me salivate.
and I do not know why, but I like the idea of fixing a café onto a bike shop. Imagine, sitting with an organic fairtrade coffee ‘while you wait’ for your bike to get fixed. Brilliant.
So, they’ll do you food. Standard goats cheese and pine nuts fare. There might have been a soup when I went in, think there was. It was very nice, not particularly cheap or expensive. But a really nice crowd in there, good vibe. Yeah, it’s a good enterprise

The idea of Lock 7 is great, a bike shop and café in one. Its convenient, as you can sit and relax while you wait for the repairs to be done. The shop is well situated on Regents Canal, in the heart of a café and bike loving community.
I have only taken my bike in for minor surgery, but found it to be very reasonably priced. Its not often you can get any repairs done on your bike for 4 pounds, and considering I nearly threw my bike out the window attempting to fix the breaks myself, it was well worth it.
The interior of the shop, with its minimalist design, has more of a ‘fixing the bike in the garage’ feel than a cosy café feel. The vibe is still relaxing and the food is reasonably priced.

When I first saw Lock 7 I thought: ‘Darn! Why didn’t I think of that?’ Whoever came up with the idea of having bicycle pitstop and a café/​deli in the same location is a genius. Gone are the annoying conversations with bike shops that make you wait three weeks to solve a quick dérailleur problem; instead sit within a stone’s throw of Broadway Market and enjoy a Monmouth Coffee latte, raw salad and a calming view of the canal while someone fixes your bike on the spot. If you have a small issue that just needs a few minutes of attention from an expert; it’s definitely worth a detour.
It’s hard not to be drawn inside by their eye catching exterior: the huge floor-​to ceiling glass panes reveal the eclectic collection of vintage refurbs and retro-​looking single speeds hanging from the stone wall. There’s ‘bike art’ as well, consisting of brushed silver bike frame sculptures, cheeky and colourful illustrations; and black and white images of cyclists from decades past.
The prices are very impressive: at £4 for a brake tune, as low as £70 for a respray and a constant flow of very reasonably priced old frames, it may not be the first choice for Lycra louts and the touring brigade (stick to Condor), it has some great accessories for occasional cyclists and singlespeed/​fixie lovers.

Is it a bar? Is it a bike shop? It’s all a bit confusing from the outside, but once you walk in and get over the fact that there are bikes hanging from the walls where you sit and have your coffee, this place is actually pretty good. I have no complaints about the café’s food or coffee and enjoy sitting and have a drink in the tables.
I personally do not own a bike, but if I did I would definitely want to combine a dreary bike repair with a lovely warm coffee. I often see some young creative professionals doing work with a coffee and their laptops open here. They are friendly enough not to hurry you out, leaving you with a comfortable working space. Compared to the other cafés in the area, this one might appear to be a bit cold, but it is an interesting concept and it’s always fun to discover a café with an edge.

Bikes and coffee; coffee and bikes: its not the most traditional combination but Lock 7 does it well. The two ladies who recently set Lock 7 up are really nice people and I always make an effort to have a chat with them if they are not too busy. In the past I bought a vintage three-​wheeled ice cream bike from them and started selling and making gelato. That should tell you what the bikes they sell here are like: lots of refurbished. kooky boneshakers with character. Another reason I always say hello is that the owners quickly offered to trial my ice cream there, an offer that I regrettably didn’t take up before the ice cream market took its autumnal dive.
Having said that, I agree with another reviewer that the atmosphere of the place is closer to a bike repair shop than what you would expect in a café. It lacks warmth. But for a new and ambitious business, its still got a really good thing going on: a lovely position on the canal and a range of drinks and foods that go well beyond what you might expect from such a place.
As for the bike service, its excellent: cheap, fast, educative and delivered with a smile that is unfortunately rare in more self-​regarding London bike shops. They also hire out bikes, and have a specialist who can fix Dutch-​style reverse pedal brakes. I sincerely hope Lock 7 does goes onto better things than my ice cream venture did!

Lock 7 cycle café was opened in April 2008, on the 7^th lock of Regents canal, at the end of Broadway Market.
Catering for the increasing number of cyclists in the East End, Lock 7 does repairs, sells second hand cycles and hires out bikes.
When they first opened up, it was a very empty space, not particularly inviting when compared to the other choices in the area. Now, the shop is filled with bikes, and they’re always busy with coffee & repair orders.
I’m hoping they’re going to do something about the interior, it’s such a great space but doesn’t feel like the cosy café it has the potential to be.

Lock 7 is a great café come bike repair shop that is situated right be the canal near Broadway Market!
The coffee is really good and the service is alway outstanding.
I have brought my old vintage bike here a few times to get the chain or wheel fixed and it’s been such a plesent experience every time!
They sell really cool bike accessories as well, recently I bought some great jelly bike lights!