Viking Cycle Company

Alfred Victor Davies went into bicycle repair in 1908 to supplement his wages as a railwayman, and continued with it full-time when ordered to stop because rules forbade second jobs.

Around 1935, after twice moving and acquiring an additional building for the works, the company started manufacturing frames rather than simply assembling bicycles.

After the war production rose from about 800 cycles a year in the late 1940s to more than 20,000 in 1963, making Viking the city's largest-ever bicycle manufacturer.

[3] This encountered financial problems and in 1981 Merseyside County Council considered buying the brand and opening a company to be headed by the bicycle racer and designer Frank Clements.

[5] In August 2015, Hero Cycles, an Indian company owned by Pankaj M Munjal, bought a majority stake in Avocet.