How Lime Bikes Modified the London Pub Scene

Lime bikes, all over the place. Stacked exterior south London establishment Skehans as 20-somethings guzzle Guinness indoors; crammed into tight rows beside Dalston’s Prince George, the solar setting behind the bikes’ unmistakable citrus hue. Within the final two years, the favored e-bike service has grow to be a core a part of the London panorama — and, in flip, its pub scene.

Simply a few years in the past, the phrase “Lime bike pub” would’ve been met with a clean look from most individuals. However say it in 2024 to anybody who repeatedly frequents the fashionable pubs in London’s inside suburbs, and they’ll immediately know what you’re speaking about. With Gen Z falling for the attraction of so-called “previous man pubs” en masse (assume: garish carpets, dingy corners, and devastatingly worn-out scarlet banquettes) and social media fueling drinks-based traits (take the splitting the G), the standard London boozer is now beneath the highlight. Whereas charming backstreet pubs might beforehand hold a reasonably low profile whereas quietly serving their group, this shift has led to the destination-ification of the native. As this yr’s nitro stout takeover demonstrates, persons are more and more completely satisfied to journey miles to go to hyped-up London pubs. There’s one other key facilitator of this improvement: the Lime bike.

“Social media makes locations extra discoverable, particularly in London,” says Hal Stevenson, Lime’s director of coverage for the U.Ok. and Eire. “Individuals discover these locations on-line however attending to them will be tough. Now, they’ve been made accessible by Lime as a result of you may cycle there very simply reasonably than having to work out a public transport route. [Lime bikes] have grow to be a part of London’s vital transport infrastructure, however I believe they’re additionally turning into a part of our cultural material.”

The Limes Roll In

The electrical bicycle rental service, which was based in San Francisco in 2017, first hit London in 2018. It took a while for its autos — which customers can unlock and journey in seconds utilizing a easy cellphone app — to grow to be a visual a part of the town’s panorama. However now, they’re inescapable. Final yr, an estimated 1.26 million cycle journeys passed off per day in London, and the corporate says that 97 % of the inhabitants isn’t greater than two minutes from a Lime bike. Stevenson insists that their widespread use is all the way down to reliability and comfort. “Individuals gained’t use our service in the event that they’re not assured that after they exit, there’s going to be a motorcycle close by that’s working, with full cost, and so they can get on and get began,” he says.

With the wind in your hair and beer on the horizon, it’s a particular form of journey that blends purse-pinching comfort with a spontaneous need to get to the bar and knock again just a few pints.

This sturdy presence is closely mirrored within the metropolis’s nightlife, evidenced by the handfuls of Lime bikes you’ll spot piled collectively throughout the road from native watering holes. Not any previous pub can grow to be a so-called Lime bike pub, although. There are just a few key standards that have to be met. Firstly, Lime bike pubs can’t be in central London, as there’s not sufficient out of doors area to accommodate the bikes themselves. Inside, they’ve acquired to really feel genuine and conventional sufficient to draw eager drinkers. In addition they have to be sufficient of a vacation spot — like Stoke Newington’s The Auld Shillelagh, famed for its creamy Guinness and cozy corners — to immediate drinkers to scoot over on a rental bike on a random Tuesday evening. And given how costly London is when it comes to hospitality and journey, these patrons additionally want a little bit of disposable revenue. Carry these components collectively, and also you’ve acquired a Lime bike pub.

The Lime Liberation

Will Cotton is a London-based hospitality employee who repeatedly makes use of Lime bikes to get to the pub, each for work and socializing. He lately moved again to the U.Ok. capital having spent many of the final two years dwelling in Canada and Somerset in southwest England. He instantly observed the shift that had taken place within the metropolis’s transport scene throughout that point.

“Lime bikes have completely exploded,” he tells me. “You used to see just a few folks using them, however now they’re all over the place.” Presently, Lime sells 30-minute passes for £3.99 and 60-minute passes for £6.99, permitting riders to take a number of journeys for a set worth in a specified time interval. Cotton sometimes will get by means of two 60-minute passes per week, touring to pubs for work and leisure. Why has the e-bike grow to be his go-to transport technique?

“As a result of they’re so low-cost!” he says. “Six 10-minute journeys on a Lime bike will prevent cash — in case you can journey them as an alternative of utilizing public transport, it’s not even a query.”

“It’s a double-edged sword, as a result of Lime bikes are extremely helpful and handy for the individuals who need to use them. However for individuals who don’t like them, they’re seen as a illness on our roads.”

This type of money-saving incentive helps clarify Lime’s stratospheric rise. However it doesn’t take into consideration one other issue that has contributed to this unapologetically London phenomenon: the sense of journey that can also be integral to the expertise of using a Lime bike to a pub. With the wind in your hair and beer on the horizon, it’s a particular form of journey that blends purse-pinching comfort with a spontaneous need to get to the bar and knock again just a few pints. A lot of the joy of this expertise is as a result of Lime bikes have allowed Londoners to go to pubs that wouldn’t usually be inside placing distance.

“Social media means extra hidden-away spots are being overrun now,” says Cotton. “If you realize you will get someplace that’s half an hour off the crushed observe however it’s cheaper, you then get a higher variety of folks occupying these types of locations, which are sometimes extra native, unbiased boozers. It’s a double-edged sword, as a result of Lime bikes are extremely helpful and handy for the individuals who need to use them. However for individuals who don’t like them, they’re seen as a illness on our roads.”

The Lime Haters

Cotton is referring to among the dangerous press Lime has acquired currently, just like the public elevating of security issues by Brent Council or the barely melodramatic declare that e-bikes are “a scourge on the capital’s streets” on account of poor parking. Some folks have additionally raised issues about drunk biking, which Lime goals to stop utilizing late-night response time exams and in-app reminders. When questioned about these complaints, Stevenson insists the corporate works very carefully with native authorities throughout the capital.

“Our London service relies on long-term partnerships with councils,” he says, including that they’re in search of to establish and assist develop parking areas throughout Brent and different boroughs. “We’ve operated actually efficiently in Brent for six years, we’ve acquired tens of 1000’s of native residents utilizing the service. We have to work with them, primarily based on the suggestions they’ve supplied, which is that they need to transfer from a extra versatile parking system to a compulsory parking system.”

If this coverage extends throughout London, the times of messy bike piles lining the pavements exterior hip pubs could also be over. However the surge to populate these areas isn’t slowing. Extra broadly, Lime is studying to deal with this astronomical progress.

“Up to now this yr, we’ve accomplished 11.5 million journeys throughout commuting hours solely,” Stevenson says. “We’d like to ensure we’re managing that demand.” If Lime can deal with this progress and tighten its grip on London’s e-bike panorama, the presence of the Lime bike pub could grow to be much more pronounced. So, in case you spot a flash of citrus inexperienced whizz by the window the subsequent time you’re propped up at a London bar, it’d simply imply the native is subsequent in line.