Well this is a timely post. I picked up a Pashley Guv,nor earlier this year. It wasn't cheap but it is beautifully made. It also rides so well and despite the weight (compared to my road bikes) it moves out quite well and carries speed easily. I mostly use mine for after dinner rides around the little town I live it. I've got a route of about 11 miles I do on it. Now I always do a "workout" ride of 25-30 miles on a road bike after to work. So a lot of my time spent on the Pashley is with sort of tired legs. I never feel like I'm struggling to make this one go and it's actually quite comfortable to be on after a ride on a racier bike. I've spent some time on gravel with it too and it manages that very well, stable and smooth. I've done several rides of over 20+ miles on it with no issues at all. The paint and wheels and such are very beautiful on the bike with a high gloss and some pinstriping on the wheels. All and all a great purchase. They shipped the bike in the biggest and heaviest duty bike box I have ever seen to include a bottom section on the box built up more like a pallet. Inner cardboard sections of the box served as both supports to prevent crushing and to lock in components. The bike arrived mostly assembled but not fully tuned out of the box. I did have to tune things in a bit but no big deal. Not a lot of communication from the distributor during the buy or the waiting period and shipment of the bike but things turned out just fine. This one is for fun cruising so the 3-speed IGH and drum brakes are just fine. I was tempted by the 5 speed IGH Morgan but the black and brown of the Guv'nor just tickled my fancy. The 3 speed works well for any of the hills I encounter on this one, even on the longer rides where I hit some short steep ones and a longer 2 mile upgrade.
Out of the box
As I've got it dialed in now. MKS Touring Next pedals with half clips added, top tube protector, bottle cage, and a decent leather bag.
Hard to catch the shine but the paint is really quite nice. Lugs are not a thing of beauty but this is based on a 1930's design
Pinstriping on painted rims is a nice touch.
By comparison yesterday I got in the Azor bike I had ordered a couple of months ago. The buying experience from Amsterdam Bicycle Company was soooooo much better than with the Pashley. Lot's of communication making sure I got the bike custom configured exactly as I wanted, lots of info on how the build would good, shipping, etc. Some changes to the shipping method due to Covid that worked up just fine. The new shipper's online tracking site was terrible in terms of accuracy but Steven at Amsterdam kept an eye on things for me and let know when the bike was actually out for delivery despite the tracking site showing it still across the country from me. The Azor was well packed also and damage free on arrival. But to be fair Pashley sent there bike in a stronger box. The Azor was shipped mostly assembled also but unlike the Pashley it was obvious Azor fully built up the bike and tuned it in before taking parts off to ship. The Azor powder coating does not have the sheen of the wet paint Pashley but I'm betting the Azor will be more durable over the years. Everything on the Azor speaks to quality and durability. I only got about a mile on it yesterday for a first test but all parts worked great and man was it a smooth ride. Kudo's also for Azor sending me digital copies of both the shop manuals and user manuals for various things like the roller brake, 8 speed IGH, etc. And they sent a nice vinyl zippered bag with basic tools needed for assembly and maintenance. This bike if for utility mainly so I spec'd up the heavy duty racks, fat tire, strong two legged kickstand, upgraded roller brakes, a dynamo hub running both lights, and then the nice Brooks saddle and grips to make things more pleasant. I got the "women's" step through frame because it just makes sense for a ease in getting on and off a loaded up bike.
No real pics of the Azor yet but here it is built up with my crate already on the front rack.
The actual bike in the garage this morning.
Side view of the bike from the website as I built it up.
Obviously it comes down to what you want the bike to do but I'd also look at the Azors. They have a lot of different bikes and tons of ordering options. They have a bike configurator you can use to fully customize a bike as you want and then send that build to a distributor to get it ordered. Pashley is much more of a take it as we build it type thing. The Azor took about 1/2 the time of the Pashley to be built and shipped.
Hope this helps a bit.