Funding deal ensures new future for Leigh’s oldest shop

A husband and wife team is rescuing and re-launching one of Leigh’s oldest and best loved shops, after a funding injection.

Andrew and Zoe Kerboas are using a £40,000 loan from GC Business Finance, the North West delivery partner of the Government’s national £310m Start Up Loans programme and a lending partner of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority.

They are launching Ratcliffe Sports in the same premises as the original Ratcliffe’s of Leigh, the oldest shop in Leigh that served generations of local families since it began trading in 1896.

When owner Tony Ratcliffe retired in 2016 he was unable to find a buyer for the business, but Andrew and Zoe will now be taking the bike shop into a third century of business.

The couple will now be using the GC Business Finance loan to buy fixtures, fittings and stock and to rebuild and rebrand the store as a cycle and sports retail business.

The new shop will offer specialist sportswear and equipment, a range of bicycles, and after sales services such as servicing and repair.

Future plans for the business include developing a programme of coaching and sports activities, developing an e-commerce platform, and becoming a supplier of the cycle to work scheme.

Andrew said: “Being able to get the funding we needed to buy this shop means an enormous amount to this community, not just because of the huge loyalty to Tony, but because there is a real need for a sports and cycle business in Leigh that people can come to for the advice, support and equipment they need to stay active and healthy.

“When we heard about the shop having to close down we began to think about how we might be able to step in, take a different direction ourselves and create a new family business.

“We’re enormously proud to be able to build on the three generations of shop owners that made the original store such a great resource for local people for so many years.”

Roger Seddon, head of lending at GC Business Finance, said: “Andrew and Zoe are following in the footsteps of legendary entrepreneur Victor Kiam – they loved it so much they bought the company.

“It’s great to see that businesses like this, that really do serve the community, aren’t simply allowed to vanish from our high streets.

“Ratcliffe Sports has invested their start up loan in expanding and diversifying a traditional business to ensure it is able to enter a new phase of prosperity in the store’s third century of trading.”

GC Business Finance will see £15m allocated to new start-ups across the North West over a two-year period, creating around 3,000 new businesses and more than 5,000 new jobs in the region.

GCBF is the finance arm of The Growth Company and supported by the GM Combined Authority and Greater Manchester Local Enterprise Partnership.

The organisation is a key alternative source of funding for businesses in Greater Manchester and has grown a comprehensive range of finance products from £500 through to £500,000, with support on raising early stage equity through the GM Co Investment Fund of up to £2m.

It currently manages more than £100m of publicly-backed small business investments across the UK.