<\/p>\n But the Cinnamon Caf\u00e9’s owner, Ian Jones, tells a different story.<\/p>\n Latest Videos From You may like<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve been offering the discount for fifteen years,\u201d he tells Cycling Weekly, his baffled voice betraying the stress of the last 48 hours of unexpected media backlash. \u201cFifteen years and it\u2019s still controversial!\u201d<\/p>\n The lycra<\/a> discount is in fact one of a few that Jones and his team offer for their customer base: there\u2019s one for locals, one for morning coffee drinkers<\/a>, another for military personnel. And yet the ten percent deduction on coffees for cyclists has attracted backlash; the latest chapter in the bizarre culture war between cyclists and drivers<\/a>.<\/p>\n In 2023, the conflict grew new tendrils when ex-Prime Minister Rishi Sunak pledged to stop the \u201cwar on the motorist\u201d after launching a consultation on whether fining drivers for driving in cycle lanes was \u201cfair\u201d as part of a pre-election campaign. The Labour government later promised “unprecedented funding” for active travel <\/a>(though the \u00a3616 million deal was ultimately less than was invested in both 2021\/22 and 2022\/23).<\/p>\n The irony is that all road users should be after the same essential reality: roads that are safer for all<\/a>, healthier citizens, cleaner air and dedicated cycle lanes<\/a> that allow all users to operate safely.<\/p>\n So, where does this culture war come from? Cyclists are often also drivers. Slow road users can be, in the same way tractors or caravans are, occasional irritating delays to an otherwise speedy journey. But I see no vendetta against tractors on roads, or angry commentators red-faced about holiday makers. If you\u2019re stuck for a story idea, take aim at cyclists: clicks (somehow) guaranteed.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s always been a lot of cyclists around Windsor, and lots of people on the road,\u201d Ian continues. \u201cIf there\u2019s any congestion, it\u2019s with cars and other vehicles.\u201d<\/p>\n But there is another story buried beneath the supposed scandal of a coffee discount. It\u2019s about how one caf\u00e9 became the accidental architect of a cycling town.<\/p>\n What to read next<\/p>\n Jones first set up the Cinnamon Caf\u00e9 in 2001, and soon his friends at the triathlon shop, Swim, Bike, Run, sourced him a bike to get him “out and about.\u201d The two businesses banded together to equip the caf\u00e9 with everything a cyclist might need: a pump station, a puncture repair kit <\/a>and bike racks.<\/p>\n \u201cIt snowballed from there,\u201d Jones says, though the real bicycle boom came in 2013, when a couple of cycling influencers visited Cinnamon Caf\u00e9.<\/p>\n \u201cCycling is about 20% of our business,” Jones explains, still reluctant to be pigeon-holed, “so it is important but it is by no means purely a cycling caf\u00e9.\u201d<\/p>\n Positioned at the end of the \u2018Bun Run\u2019 (a 62-mile loop from Richmond Park), Jones says that on average, around 500 riders flock to the town each weekend. British Hill Climb champion, Harry Macfarlane <\/a>and a roster of cycling influencers are now counted among the cafe\u2019s Instagram followers.<\/p>\n \u201cCycling is a big part of what we are,\u201d Jones continues. \u201cIn 2017, we nearly lost the caf\u00e9 because the landlord was trying to put another chain there, and we got massive support from the cycling community who came out with placards and banners and supported us in a great way.\u201d<\/p>\n After reading about the coffee shop, its ten percent discount and associated influx of unwelcome cyclists, I search for it on Google Maps. Visitor numbers are, it reports, “unusually high”, a red line shooting high above the curving monochrome of “business as usual.”<\/p>\n \u201cThe cycling community is always welcome in Windsor.” For the caf\u00e9 and its community of cyclists, business is booming.<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/flexiimages\/4av7rcsjyn1645111080.svg\")
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