When We Was Rad:
Skateboard History from UK Vintage Magazine

Muswell Hills Finest Skateshop


Hills Skates Advert 1988Hills Skates in Muswell Hill were a long time advertiser in R.a.D. but I can’t remember a great deal about them. The Bauer Turbo Roller skate which features so prominently here encourages my notion that their background was in eight wheels, not four.

I’ve just noticed one point of interest here:

Mapled Blank Deck with Concave, Blue Stained and Varnished 30″ x 10″ £14.95

Blanks in 1988? That would have been a very early example of a phenomenon which I normally think of as coming along later.

Or have I got that wrong?


3 responses to “Muswell Hills Finest Skateshop”

  1. Hills were a bike shop predominantly, but they also sold skateboards and rollerskates. I remember buying my first deck there, a Santa Cruz Rob Roskopp mini.

    I’m fairly sure they sold blanks too.

  2. Do you remember the earliest blanks were large rough cut rectangles with truckbolt holes and concave/tails. The idea was to get your blank half the price of another pro deck and get the guy at the shop to draw round your favourite shaped board then take it home and get the jig saw out! These were called ‘cut yer own ‘ decks and they always had them at Southsea skatepark’s shop but John Thurston would do the cutting for you for free!

  3. Hills.. Wow people still remember those!!

    I did work experience there once.

    Wasn’t the greatest place really hhhmmmmm, but hey they did sell some boards etc and of course bikes were their mean selling. Their small amount of bmx stuff wasn’t that great either. The old man, his son Mark and I’m not completely sure but I think other taller older more ignorant cocky one was called Nick. They used to sell really dodgy or dangerous crap bikes to mums and dads and rip them off badly really.. I know cos I worked there and past by there a good few times near my school etc so I saw quit a lot.. They never really had many good un-dodgy boards though but yeah I remember some of those square cutting ones! They left from Muswell Hill a good few years ago now. I saw the son Mark in a bike shop some ware in London working in an Evans bike shop a couple of years ago but I didn’t say much.. Rememberable hill cycles, yeah I remember them! Crouch Hill was Vert Ramp was much better thought..

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