why are the local bike shops closing down?

[Gunk]

^^^ This. There's nothing very complicated about how a bike works, and if I get stuck there's always YouTube. Over the years I've collected all the tools required to strip and rebuild any of my bikes. I learned partly through need, as my "local" bike shop is about 10 miles away. Far easier to DIY, and I like the feeling of knowing my bike runs like a sewing machine through my own effort.

But many of their customers don’t have any practical skills and a good LBS especially here in Oxford is a lifeline for owners of hard working commuter bikes.

I build my own bikes and would be stuffed without my local shop, I can nip down there and buy consumables for less than you can get on eBay, they have buckets of old second hand parts they’ll sell me for peanuts, so where possible I try and support them. I buy most of my other stuff from either Spa Cycles or Brilliant Bikes, both are consistently far cheaper than Amazon or eBay.