Village meet is back: Cassington Bike Night returns after three years

Thousands descended on the picturesque village of Cassington in Oxfordshire last week for the return of the popular bike night.

Covid forced the meet-up to take a hiatus and it’s been three years since the familiar sound and smell of motorcycle engines filled the air. But now it’s back and bigger than ever.

You’ve probably heard of Cassington Bike Night (it’s been running for almost half a century) but you might not know that it’s organised by the residents of the village themselves.

“The last Monday of June was the day when the BMRC Oxford members met up to renew their memberships,” explained Cassington Bike Night Chairman, Martin Ritchie. “Eventually got so big that the club couldn’t really run it.”

The villagers decided that the event was too good to let go – it raises lots of money for local charities and brings business to the village pubs – so in 2012 they took over the running.

These days, the event attracts thousands of bikers of all sorts and requires an official road closure and 200 hours of voluntary hours for marshals. Visitors can walk amongst the vintage and classic bikes on the village green, the droves of machines in the bike parks and even consider their next purchase from the likes of KTM and Royal Enfield.

Ritchie added: “We used to have loads of bike nights around us in Oxfordshire, some even bigger than ours, that have stopped. It feels like it’s our duty to keep this one going.”