“A bike gives you control. It gives you independence,” Tash Ferguson tells me from outside the Bristol Bike Project.
She’s standing next to a line of bikes; sturdy mountain bikes crowd next to a colourful mullet gravel bike itself positioned alongside almost every variety of road bike, all refurbished and ready to be sold on, or donated to the community. People come from all over Bristol to pick up a bike from the project, some referred on from NHS mental health services, or by addiction recovery or homelessness support groups, or those awaiting refugee or asylum seeker status. Ferguson and I are talking about what a bike means when it’s no longer a luxury, but a tool.
