Claud Butler
Claud Butler is located in the historic steel town of Scunthorpe in North Lincolnshire and the company can trace its history and experience in Cycles back over 135 years.
The story began in 1880 when Fred Hopper established a cycle repair business in a former blacksmith’s shop in Barton-on-Humber, no more than 12 miles from our current location. Bicycle repairs soon gave way to manufacture and the business flourished. By 1906 F. Hopper & Co. was employing over 400 people, and by 1912 the company had developed export markets in Japan, India, South Africa and Australia. Shortly afterwards the company acquired the Elswick Cycle Company located near Newcastle, and in 1913 its name was changed to Elswick Hopper Cycle and Motor Company. In 1974 Elswick Hopper purchased Wearwell Cycles, a company so long established that reference to it could be found in the Bicycle Yearbook of 1872. In 1978 the Falcon Cycle Company was also acquired, and for some time it was operated as a subsidiary company….. more