Split Skates was a skateboard phenomenon for a while around this time. Their aim was to have the biggest range in stock and a glance at the wall of their Manchester shop suggested they’d hit the target. Despite the size of the Manchester scene, the city never got enough coverage: Warrington or Goshen always seemed more tempting. But I can certainly remember a guided tour escorted by Split, plus baseball bat and warnings about that it might be necessary in some of the spots.
When We Was Rad: Skateboard History from UK Vintage Magazine
History of Skateboarding (UK): Vintage R.a.D Magazine Official Archive
Split Skates Advert February 1990
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Adverts &Issue 84 February 1990 timlb 21 Jan 2006 30 Comments
chrisky responded on 02 Mar 2006 at 10:52 am #
The split days were some of the best of my life. I was 15/16 at the time and used to travel up to Manchester from North Wales every Saturday if I could. I can remember going to Split first to see who was around and maybe watch a video. I can remember Rodney Mullen being in the shop the first time I ever went there. Anyway, the days of skating crown courts and the BBC will always stay with me. I can remember Femi, Rick, Damien and all that lot being amazing. I can also remember a RAD with coverage of Manchester with Rick doing a backside tailslide and Femi doing a Noseblunt slide on the BBC blocks. Do you still have this mag? Also, I can remember buying second hand boards from American sports. My friend got one of those stripey Salman Agah Real boards for £12. Sick times.
I’ve been skating on and off since those days, and do skate now, but nothing can touch those early nineties time in Manchester and being accepted there because I wa a skateboarder.
chrisky responded on 02 Mar 2006 at 11:29 am #
Last piece of nostalgia…I can remember buying a second hand Henry Sanchez blind board one summer and then going skating at crown courts. There were so many people skating there and the atmosphere was amazing. I can remember kids passing drinks around and all the skaters being really friendly, it was fantastic to be part of that. You’re right though, Manchester definately deserved more coverage. Just remebered a mag article on that little skatepark in Redditch?? which had all the Manchester crew in, I’d love to see those photos again!
SgtPartridge responded on 02 Mar 2006 at 2:07 pm #
We only had one small independant sport shop with half a dozen decks and some grip tape down our way so a mate of mine’s mum drove us over to Manchester from Harrogate because my mate needed a new board. It was amazing in there with really high walls absolutely covered in new decks. You just chose it there and then, off the wall. I remember my mate chose an Alva Craig Johnston with the ‘El Loco Gringo’ graphic and I got some new Santa Cruz Teamriders and some Grind King sweatpants. You could even get a gnarly haircut in there. It was really buzzing, but then it was Saturday.
timlb responded on 03 Mar 2006 at 9:18 am #
Chrisky, I think (though I could be in for a rude shock) that I have all the magazines, so at some point during the next few years that one ought to appear. Not sure about a skatepark in Redditch: was that really in R.a.D, or was it one of the others? If it was R.a.D it should crop up sometime. There were so many places. I really miss all the travelling around we used to do (though of course we could never do enough to please everyone).
chrisky responded on 03 Mar 2006 at 9:29 am #
Maybe it was in one of the other mags at the time. I never went to this skatepark in Redditch, but I can remember it vividly being indoor and very, very narrow. Don’t think it was around for long. I can just remember being excited to see Rick (Cooper I think his surname was) and I think Damien was in the piece too, could be wrong… Anyway, I feel like I’m going on about that Rick a lot, but he was amazing at the time. I can remember Femi getting on Real and wondering why Rick wasn’t sponsored. Maybe he was….
Also, was there ever any coverage in R.a.d. when Jason Lee and the Gonz came to the UK? I can remember missing a Saturday going to Manchester and heard that they had been there, still don’t know to this day whether they had been there?
steve responded on 25 Mar 2006 at 12:17 am #
Redditch skatepark Old? and new
Hi My names Steve Rooke from the new Redditch Skatepark http://www.redditchskatepark.co.uk I have been reading with interest that there was once a skatepark in Redditch an indoor park? I may vagely remember something but not sure. I have been riding BMX for about 25 years. I may have visited just as it was closing it may have been in a factory unit when a local skaters dad who owned the company built some ramps but it was kept quiet, he then closed the building or business or something. Please tell me more about this place. What year was it open, who was involved, what went on. can anyone help
Steve
NOTE responded on 02 Oct 2007 at 8:31 am #
I think Chrisky means Reddish Rollers in Stockport. It was a rollerskating rink with a mini ramp in the corner that used to have a skate night with fly off ramps, girders and bits of fridges. I’m sure there was something in R.a.d. about it.
Rick (not Cooper!) responded on 05 Jul 2009 at 10:47 pm #
NOTE is right – it wasn t Redditch, it was Reddish. Small suburb south of Manchester. Monday nights were skate nights at the local roller rink – if I remember rightly it was the princely sum of £1.50 to skate for 3hrs on super smooth, dry surface. Compared to now the furniture was poor, but at the time it was cool. The mini was metal, lumpy, dangerous and fun – ask Animal who famously gashed his leg on it. Watching Simon (Robson), Damien, Stu, Rick and various others tear it up with speed and style was awesome and everyone who went always came back. Good times. Oh, and it did indeed make the mag, as I was lucky / cheeky enough to persuade TLB to let me write the article. I think it was around Feb1992, so if anyone has the edition with Rick on the cover Id love to get a scan of.
Ste responded on 23 Jul 2009 at 9:46 am #
I have that issue its the only issue of RAD i have. I’ll scan it when i dig it out from my folks. I actually made it into one of the pictures with a stylish push off!!!! My claim to fame and fortune!
Message me your email address and i’ll fix you up with the scan Rick.
chrisky responded on 27 Jul 2009 at 7:15 pm #
Ste, any chance of the scan as well?
Also. has anyone got the copy of RAD with the Manchester article in it? Think it had the BBC curbs, Femi, Rick etc??? Love to see that again.
Cheers
Rick (not Cooper!) responded on 05 Jan 2010 at 11:30 pm #
Ste
Sorry for the delay – only just looked back at this and seen your post. Very kind offer, but can’t work out how to message you! If you can mail me at richardDOTpeckATeisonDOTcoDOTuk (sorry, trying to avoid spambots!) I would love to sort it out. If you were around at the time at Reddish I’ve a feeling I know who you might be anyway!!
Chrisky – if you’re interested, I have quite a bit of home video footage of the New Deal team (Montessi, Armando Barajas, Danny Sargent) in Manchester – curbs, Oxford Rd banks etc etc from about September 1991 – if you’re interested, mail me at the above address as I’m sure I can sort out a digital copy of the footage.
Cheers all
Rick (not Cooper!)
rick cooper responded on 25 Mar 2010 at 1:50 pm #
shit guys.. after reading all the previous i feel like crying now.. nice words indeed..
rick peck – i remember you.. hope you’re well boss
it’s true though.. the manchester skate scene at that time was so rad.. split was a mecca.. i remember walking in for the first time and being blown away.. boards all over the place.. i purchased my Sims Pharoah board and that was it..
i was lucky to get a job at split. Paul Davidson (top man and still a good friend – now living in LA)got me the job and it was buzzing. All of us kids seeing the new gear seeing the new vids.. 100 plus skate rats in there any given saturday watching H-street vids before heading down crown courts or oxford road or mark addey banks.. so many rad spots it seemed. The liverpool boys turning up.. the ramp being built and meeting Natas and Jesse Martinez at little chef.. too many to mention.. i have some old vids i’m gonna try and format and i’ll get em posted somewhere..
some of the happiest days of my life..
roll forever boys.. Rick C
Ryan T responded on 28 Mar 2010 at 9:26 pm #
I was there too, awesome days. I remember dumpin school and goin to see Natas and Jesse, Sean Goff was there also I seem to remember. I used to watch Animal Chin n buy me a sticker then off to Crown Court banks. I hadn’t thought about Femi for 20 odd years but I now remember him rippin shit up on the banks and I remember Animal too skating with his arm in pot at Ardwick ramp. They surely were good times brothers! I used to hang out with some good friends my brother Jim T, Simon True, Scotty, Mosh.
I look back with very fond memories indeed. I just hooked up with the guys from M-A-S and skated Ramp City last night. I met a dude there who was also part of the Split scene.
I remember when it was called 50-Split-60 too mmmmm….aaaaahhhh.
chrisky responded on 05 May 2010 at 4:28 pm #
Good to see Rick up on this!
I managed to post some footage from the end of the Defunct Vid here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFj8Aktqubk
Also, the mags I was looking for with the Manchester stuff in weren’t actually RADs, they were SK8 action and Skateboard magazines.
If anybody wants some scans, let me know here: kriskoyle@yahoo.co.uk
Sick B/S tailslide pic of Rick at the Curbs in one of them.
Chris
P.s. Love to see that footage Rick!
Fos responded on 09 May 2010 at 3:28 pm #
Its a Sunday afternoon I’m sitting at home wondering if anyone had any pics of the Split Shop up anywhere. I just googled Split Skate Manchester and this was one of the first links that came up.
Yeah Manchester back then was an incredible place to be, I tell kids about it nowadays and it seems like a dream or something, No security guards,No CCTV camera, in fact no video cameras, you can skate any spot you want all day long, Crown banks, Mark Addy, Oxford Road (Both the Medical Banks and the Red Brick banks next to the Academy), later on the BBC curbs. It was like the whole city was one big skatepark.
I remember meeting my good friend Simon True at Crown banks for the first time. I was lucky enough to see him out in Japan a couple of months ago and we still talk about how good those days were and about the Eric Dressen demo that happened at Castle Leisure centre in Bury (Pre Goshen days).
Animal deserves an honourable mention in my mind, he was a massive inspiration to me, trucks hanging off his board, feet poking out of some old Vans Madrids, Black Flag vest and some Alva shorts, everything at 100 mph. So inspiring.
rick cooper responded on 10 May 2010 at 3:55 pm #
eric dressen did a full speed 5.0 up grind along the long yellow gas pipe at that very Castle Leisure Centre demo Fos, i can still picture it.. i didn’t know control like that was even possible at the time.. still makes me buzz..
as for Animal, that man is incredible and 100% genuine.. always the same guy, always happy to see you, always keen for a session.. respect due
Henry Mullen responded on 23 May 2010 at 7:48 am #
Rick Cooper can you you remember that street comp in Bolton ,when Clanger me and a few others came across from York.Clanger had suitcase full of stickers and selling a few to some kids,then your boss from Split (I can’t remember his name)
sneaked up grabbed the stickers and chucked them everywhere all he’ll broke loose but what a laugh.Good memrories!
Henry
rick cooper responded on 25 May 2010 at 1:06 pm #
alreet henry
i remember, it was Granville that threw the stickers, it was fkin mayhem eh..
Henry Mullen responded on 26 May 2010 at 8:11 am #
Rick,
It’s Henry again i’d love to see video of that day.I’m sure someone must have some footage .I was speaking to my wife about video back then and other than looking at it for your own use, pre Youtube there wasn’t much you could do with it!
It’s like the day you came to York and TLB was there at Scoffs ramp and my old school surely there must be footage out there other than the half dozen pictures that apeared in that months issue of RAD.It would be fantastic if Mr TLB could put up ALL the sessions photos pain staking I know but what a gallery!
Henry
Cormac responded on 03 Jun 2010 at 2:48 pm #
Ahhh the Castle demo!!! Fond memories eh Fos man!
Cormac responded on 03 Jun 2010 at 2:51 pm #
Actually, are you still in touch with Truey Fos? I haven’t seen him since I finished my foundation at B’burn! We used to session waves banks at lunchtime. Truey had f*kin killer big ollies back then. *Whistfully remembers First twin kick deck (Blind)*
Cormac responded on 03 Jun 2010 at 2:59 pm #
BTW i swiped some pics of Goshen and started a group for Goshen on facebook to try and resurrect the memories. Do a search for Goshen on Fb and it’ll pop up. could really do with some more pics if you got em.
Scotty byrne responded on 15 Jul 2010 at 3:43 am #
Back to split, anyone remember the mini ramp upstairs!!!! Used to save like crazy and head up to Manchester from north Wales (a squad of us) buy our new boards etc, a fresh pair of airwalk prototypes and the latest Powell or vision video! Happy days!! Best day out was seeing the bones brigade tear up meanwhile 2 and latimer road!!!!! And then tear it up ourselves! Can’t anymore my knees are mashed!!!
jamie responded on 04 Dec 2010 at 1:45 pm #
I remember the split days well, owned by anne and granville with daryll and karina helping out on staurdays. we used to go every weekend, get the 90 express from bury into town and straight to the shop to see what was new, i remember it well, mountain bikes, surf kit etc when you went in, then the skate stuff through the back down the little ramp, they had it all, all the boards, trucks wheels etc, smith gloves rector padding, even the 720 arcade machine. when i first started going there they had a hairdressers in there called ‘eraserhead’ but if i remember rightly, that went and was turned into a video room to show the latest big films, animal chin, shackle me not, public enemy etc.
a couple of my good friends worked there, was nice to get a ‘staff’ discount, steve bailey and chris moran, who later made it big in the world of snowboarding, both being British freestyle champs in their time.
we made good times and good friends, who they still are to this day!
Lee responded on 27 Feb 2011 at 4:52 pm #
Best days of my life those days, during the summer holidays jumpin on the old 192 and goin spending the day at the shop watchin vidieos like Animal Chin and Wheels of fire then goin out round Manchester in the carparks and on the courts for a skate!
Got my first Deck there to Santa Cruze Salba!!
Remember the fun ramp they had there to that was pretty cool!
Great days and great people, fond memories i will have forever.
stompin stu responded on 02 Mar 2011 at 10:53 pm #
Anyone remember castle leisure centre when split sk8s sponsored the ramps for the place .best days ever does anyone have any pics of the era .split sk8s had a mag go there one time they had a spread inside the main thing is I’m on the cover would love to see it again anyone help
timlb responded on 03 Mar 2011 at 10:43 am #
I wonder which magazine that was? Not R.a.D as far as I can recall.
Does anyone else know which one it was, please?
jamie responded on 05 Mar 2011 at 3:56 pm #
I remember castle leisure centre well, i lived in brandlesholme so it was just a quick roll down the road, through the subways and we were there, the 1/4 pipes were MASSIVE or maybe i was just smaller, the guys i remember there often were (who i regularly skated with) ste bailey, paul allen, stuart morris, damian maclean, rob jamil. then there was steve jones and occasionally mark ‘mad snozz’ snowball. sure there were others but cant recall all the names.
i still have some old photos from the goshen mini before it was reduced to make room for the 1/2 pipe, makes for interesting viewing, not least the decks back then.
rob responded on 01 Apr 2011 at 2:24 am #
i remember the split days, i was taken there by my good friend chris rimmer who used to to skate in the carparks in stockport,and i bought a second hand H-street art godoy with venture trucks and teamrider wheels. After that amazing trip at 12 years old we went into manchester city centre and sessioned the crown courts, mark addy banks, and the banks on oxford road, truly amazing times and i met some amazing people along the way. Skateboarding in stockport was in its height with sometimes up to 30 skaters all sessioning the multistorey carparks, building fly offs, sessioning the benches, and ripping up the town centre as well as getting chased by numerous security guards and towneys(basically a twat in a shell suit)There were some amazing skaters as well Rick cooper,chris rimmer,Jabba,femi,julian crumblish,Neil Armitage, Brian Smith,Si,Stu,all the boys from Bredbury Danny, Urmy,Binsey,the old school rippers tim stamp, chris stamp, Andy preston, Marc Carver, Animal, The Ramp skaters Andy(rent boy)williams,Andy scott, Wingy, And then the later mcr Skaters Mot, Julian damian,Karl,and my younger brother Dave(doozer). Happy memories of skating stockport, mondays at reddish,the curbs in town,vernon park hill skating, town hall and all over mcr skating fast and not looking back Rob
Chris Rimmer responded on 28 Nov 2011 at 9:38 pm #
Well, well, well what fun we had i have to say the best days of my life all of us would agree that skating was all we needed and wanted to do from the first day me and Brian got our first real skateboards Brian a Tony Hawk (classic) and me a Mike McGill board. Animal chin was set and the streets of Manchester were alive!!! skating then locally had really just kicked off although Brian and I had this real passion and was now well and truely in our blood. As the days went by the crouds and the skaters followed the streets of Stockport were buzzing and Manchester became the Mecca and the real Place to be. I meet so many people and wonderful friends and skaters from all around the North west. They i’m sure know who they are and I thank them all for the happy times we all once shared. Rick C was a true friend and was class all the way, Paul D was fucking good and a style icon (esso garage in Prestwich doing smith grinds on cerbs till late with you Rick Harry on his Bike) Julian was cool, Liam was fearless and a nutter, Damien became the one to watch and surpassed the very best of us sad to amitt but was true became a real good skater and the lads from Denton were fab, John Jabba (THE GONZ) was great all the boys from Bolton were on fire and became good friends and for little Brian what can i say he was a brilliant friend and in my eyes was where it all began him and me on the Cresent trying to slide and flib till late at night. Everytime time i think of every time i got on my board with everyone of you it brings a massive smile to my face. Thank you all it was amazing!!!!
And Rob your a top mate too and your friendship was ace and the fun we all had was something i will treasure forever.
Cheers all
Chris Rimmer