Cycle Shop Looks Set To Be Converted Into Animal Hospital

Application made for change of use at Evans Cycles shop

CGI image of planned surgery from planning documents

The future of the Evans Cycles store on Chiswick High Road looks uncertain with plans being made to convert the premises into a veterinary surgery.

An application has been made for a change of use at 548-550 Chiswick High Road with accompanying plans showing a new facility including two operating theatres, an imaging room and a CT facility as well as three consulting rooms. There would also be a dedicated cat ward.

The application has been submitted on behalf of The West London Vet Clinic but CGI images included show it as being named ‘The Wolfe Clinic’.

It states that the animal hospital would require urgent care outside normal business hours for seven days a week with up to four appointments per night.

Evans Cycles was taken over by Sports Direct in 2018 and earlier this year they closed a number of branches including the ones in Brentford and Fulham. Sports Direct owner Mike Ashley had previously said that up to half of the 62 branches could close putting up to 600 jobs at risk but only eight were shut in the initial round of closures. A 'For Sale' sign had appeared outside the Chiswick branch this February but when we asked the store about its future they said they had no plans to close.

Evans Cycles was opened by a London cyclist, Frederick Evans, who won an award from Britain's largest cycling club for the best cycling invention of 1925. Evans opened a shop in Kennington Road in south east London, known as F.W. Evans Cycles. The business changed hands in the 1950s and developed franchised stores in the 1990s as well as launching a mail order catalogue.

Evans' own brands include the Pinnacle range of bikes and the FWE brand of basic accessories.

We asked Evans Cycles what the plans were for the store in Chiswick. They referred us to Sports Direct who did not respond to our request for comment.

The planning reference for the change of use application is P/2019/2403 and the deadline for responses is 30 July.

July 24, 2019