A RICHMOND couple has launched a company selling retro town bicycles made by their friend in Poland.

John and Alicja Poffley started selling bikes on eBay and when that was a success, set up their own business, AJP Trading, selling the bikes made by Kokkedal.

Mrs Poffley said: “The bicycles are made in Poland by our friend who created his own bike company a few years ago.

“He started by making individual projects for friends, then friends of friends and finally news of his bikes spread and demands grew, and he developed the Kokkedal brand.

“The company is growing fast and we decided to introduce the bikes to the UK.”

The couple, who both work for Glaxo Smith Kline, are the only distributers of the bikes in the UK and work from home in Richmond.

Mr Poffley said: “We have only been running for around a month and have had a lot of interest.

“We are selling across Europe and have sold one in France and one in Stockholm and have found that we get quite a high rate of buyers per visit to our website.

“When we go out into Richmond or Reeth on the bikes we get a lot of attention – at the weekend we left them in Richmond while we did some shopping then we came back to a crowd of people around them.”

Mrs Poffley said: “Kokkedal bicycles are simple but eye-catching.

“They have an original but retro-style, bright colour combinations and very comfortable seats.

“The seats, by Selle Royal Drifter and Brooks, are big and soft, and the high handlebars put you in a natural sitting position like you are sitting in an armchair.”

For more information, visit AJP Trading website www.kokkedal.co.uk or Facebook page Kokkedal Bicycles UK.