Brexit Halts Home Sales Of Made-In-England Brooks Bicycle Saddles

Thanks to Brexit, British bicyclists’ bottoms will have longer than usual to wait for moulded comfort because Brooks England—which makes handcrafted leather bicycle saddles that require riders to “break” them in—has halted direct-to-consumer sales in the U.K.

“Ongoing changes in the Brexit situation have made it necessary to temporarily suspend all new orders to the UK,” says a statement on the Brooks England website.

“We appreciate your patience while we analyse this situation,” continues the statement, “and plan the proper administrative steps moving forward.”

Brooks England was founded in 1866 and has been producing bicycle saddles from its factory in Smethwick, West Midlands, since 1882. It has been owned by an Italian company since 2002 and the made-in-England saddles are shipped to Italy for worldwide distribution, including back into the U.K.

Brooks—once owned by Raleigh of Nottingham—was bought by Italian saddle manufacturer Selle Royal in 2002. (Selle is Italian for saddle.)

Selle Royal was founded in 1956 by Riccardo Bigolin and is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of bicycle saddles.

“Selle Royal has always thought on an international scale, offering products mainly to the European and American markets,” said a company statement in 2002.

Sales of Brooks saddles will continue in these markets. Except for the U.K., that is, where the saddles are made. The halt in sales may only be temporary but the hiatus is likely to be held up as one of a growing number of unforeseen disbenefits of the U.K. roping itself off from its largest trading partner with masses of red tape.

Red tape and additional costs, such as a new taxation regime for exporters to the U.K., as pointed out by a Dutch bicycle company which said that, because of Brexit, “we ship to every country in the world except the UK.”

Dutch Bike Bits complained that the U.K. government now requires “every company in the world in every country in the world outside the UK which exports to the UK to apply and collect British taxes on behalf of the British government.”

“If,” imagined the company, “every country decided to behave in the same way then we would have to pay 195 fees every year, keep up with the changes in taxation law for 195 different countries, keep accounts on behalf of 195 different countries and submit payments to 195 tax offices in 195 different countries, and jump through whatever hoops were required to prove that we were doing all of this honestly and without any error.”