Cycling in the UK is more popular than ever, with a 14 per cent increase in bike sales over the last five years causing the market to grow from £639m in 2008 to £754m in 2014, according to new research.

To commemorate yesterday’s (4 September) National Cycle to Work Day, market research firm Mintel has produced a raft of statistics spotlighting the spread of cycling across the UK.

In the year that saw Yorkshire host the start of the Tour de France, participation has grown across the country with 35 per cent of adults describing themselves as cyclists and a further 31 per cent say they would consider cycling in the future.

As has been evidenced in cities like Bristol, the number of people community on two wheels has also increased, with 28 per cent of current cyclists in the UK saying that they usually ride to their place of work, up from 25 per cent in 2013.

With its vast network of cycle lanes and hire bikes – and two new superhighways potentially on the way – London is unsurprisingly the UK’s busiest city for cycling, with 45 per cent of the Inner and Greater London population identifying themselves as frequent cyclists.

But it appears that safety concern is still the biggest barrier to wider participation. Nearly 40 per cent of the public believe cycling would be safer in towns and cities if cyclists were from separated other traffic, while 32 per cent of UK adults believe that it is too dangerous to ride a bike on the road, suggesting the 19,000 deaths or injuries from cycling on UK roads last year (Department for Transport figures) loom large in the mind of the public.