Robert Peck, 66, owner of Ipswich Motorcycle Accessories, has retired and has closed his shop in Upper Orwell Street, ending a family association with the street going back more than 100 years.
Peck has been in the business for 40 years, but his grandmother and father ran a different shop in the same street which opened in 1908 and closed in 1990.
He said he became interested in motorcycles when he was 16 years old, and he had worked since leaving school at the same age. “It was my hobby and it’s nice to work on something you love,” he said.
“When I first started there were an awful lot of youngsters on bikes. You used to get young people a lot more. People were more likely to use motorcycles to get to work. They are not coming into the shop as much. Now we get more older people who have come back to bikes.
“We had lots of regular customers. Some had been coming in since I started. They have said they are really sorry to see us go, and I will miss the customers. No-one in town does exactly as I do at a mid-price range”.
Peck said he had decided to retire and had not tried to sell the shop as going concern. “I wanted to do my own thing. I’m really looking forward to it,” he said.
Peck is planning to attend this year’s Isle of Man TT and will remain involved in the Triangle Motorcycle Club in Ipswich, which he joined 48 years ago.
TIMELINE
Robert Peck’s grandmother opened a store called Mabel Peck’s, a few doors up from his shop, in 1908 selling second-hand clothes. His father Dennis took it over in 1951 and gradually it began to sell work/industrial clothing. It closed in 1990, so there was a 10-year overlap when father and son had shops in the same street – Robert having opened the Ipswich Motorcycle Accessories shop in 1980.
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