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Seven years on, how the Junners name is coming back in Moray – but this time the emphasis is on bikes

Junners Cycles is returning in the form of a Hopeman cycle repairs business.

Alastair Mackenzie has brought the business back to life by establishing a new service and repair workshop in Hopeman. Image: Jason Hedges/DC Thomson
Alastair Mackenzie has brought the business back to life by establishing a new service and repair workshop in Hopeman. Image: Jason Hedges/DC Thomson

Back in 1899, long-standing family-owned business Junners Cycles was established.

For more than a century it served the people of Moray and surrounding areas with bicycle products and accessories.

Somewhere in the mix they started selling toys too. However, the business came to an end in 2016.

Now seven years on, Alastair Mackenzie – son of the last owner Graeme – has brought the business back to life by setting up a new bike service and repair workshop in Hopeman.

A passion for bicycles has been ingrained in him from a young age, having grown up in the family business.

Alastair Mackenzie has brought the business back to life by establishing a new service and repair workshop in Hopeman. Image: Jason Hedges/DC Thomson

For him, it was a no-brainer to revive his family’s legacy.

Alastair said: “I finished with the fire service after 14 years and wanted a change after Covid.

“The fact I have worked in the cycling industry before and growing up with bikes, it was a no-brainer.

“I’m forever fixing other people’s bikes and therefore it is a natural progress.

“When I was a student in Edinburgh, I worked in bike shops so I kept a hand with the trade.

His father pictured outside Junners Cycles when it was in Batchen Street in Elgin.

The former firefighter believes the iconic business name will help trade.

Junners has been well loved for years.

He said: “The Junners name will certainly not do any harm to the business.

“Customers are chuffed to see the name coming back and people have visited with Junners headstand still on their bikes.

“The one part which is different is I’m not selling toys.

“I had some friends bring their 40-year-old bikes they bought from Junners as a kid to get serviced and go out for a childhood memory cycle which was cool.”

He has ambitions for the business set up in a cabin which he built near his family home.

He added: “I managed to put up the cabin over a weekend.

“It is handy being next to my home and having flexibility as my partner and I have young children.

“I will focus on service and repairs just now and would like to look at selling bikes in the future.

“Maybe once I build the business up I will consider a bricks and mortar shop at some point.”

A quick history of Junners Cycles

Junners started life in Fochabers as a bicycle shop. It moved in 1930 to the East End of Elgin.

The business then went to Batchen Street in the 1940s.

Alastair’s father Graeme and grandfather Alex bought the business in 1972 and expanded its range by selling toys.

In 1981, the business moved to the former Proctor and Paterson garage in South Street.

Three years later it moved to its final home. The building currently sits empty and  is now owned by Mackay and Co.

See images of Junners Cycles over the years:

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