Southbank

Southbank is London's OG skatespot.

Located beneath the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank has sheltered British skateboarding since the early 70's thanks to it's assortment of banks, stairs, walls and ledges. In actual fact, the Southbank is the common name given to the area of Thames riverside that houses various concert and art buildings, but today the public space is equally known for its skateboarding cultists.

Unless you live in London and skate Southbank regularly, there's a fair chance you don't like the place. It has all the characteristics of an inner city skatespot: It's dirty, dark, dodgy and doesn't do anyone any favours. Homeless people lived in cardboard boxes next to the main banks, and on several occasions local rudeboys would pass through to rob skaters and occasionally serve out a beating. The curators upstairs tried during the early 90's to expel skateboarding from the premises by erecting bars around the banks, ruining run up areas, cobbling kickers, switching off the lights, hiring over-zealous security guards and even boarding up 2/3 of the venue for a 'Blind experience' exhibition. Needless to say, the skaters stuck it out and adapted their approach to the spot. Scuffles were had and the exhibit got trashed.

Over the last few years, with skateboarding's notoriety gaining epic proportions within social circles, skateboarding has been embraced by authorities and skateable structures adorn the underpass despite a major part of the area being closed off for building works. The local scene is thriving again even if the future of Southbank remains uncertain.

My fondest memories of Southbank were during the darkest years of the early 90's- an era when skateboarders occupied the lowest echalon of the social ladder and couldn't care less. Southbank then was Ben Jobe (pictured c/o Wig Worland) killing it without a sponsor, Winstan Whitter and Big Clive Daley rocking bootleg rap tapes on the stereo, spontaneous sessions over the bar and skating the beam block caked in wax. No websites, artists, pro demos, photo ops or fashionistas in sight.