When We Was Rad:
Skateboard History from UK Vintage Magazine

Category: Issue 81 November 1989

  • Skate shop adverts from international shop, hard-core shop and roller skate…

    Historians of skateboard advertising may find this an interesting page. This is how things were before so much moved on line. Rodolfo’s in Amsterdam advertised in a UK Skateboard magazine partly to reach an international market, but also (I think) to reach their domestic market at a time when there was no local magazine available…

  • Two classic UK skateboard shops: Billys and Off Beat

    This Billy’s Boards advert announces the move of their shop to Chesterton Road in Cambridge. Townsends still have that shop (in 2006) but seem to be only selling bikes there. The Billy’s skate shop is now elsewhere, but seems to be going strong. Off Beat Sportz are another of those shops who have been going…

  • Skate Attack and Middlemore’s BMX Adverts November 1989

    What a nightmare page: two not-really-core skateboard shops and a subscription advert. I wonder what Middlemore’s thought they were getting into with this BMX advert? Skate Attack in London’s Kentish Town were very serious about rollerskates but I don’t think skateboards were so much their thing. As to the subscription advert — Like it says:…

  • Parkland Walk Skateboard Competition (Part 3)

    This report even ended with the details of how to add your voice to the campaign to save the Walk. I wonder whether anyone did. The good news is that it’s still there. There’s a good section on the Parkland Walkway on the Derelict London website. Straight after this came the A group with the…

  • Crouch End Skateboard Competition

    This is an example of skateboarders getting involved with the local community to try to prevent the destruction of a public space. The competition was staged as one of many events to draw attention to the threat the build a road along the line of the green walkway: The ramp’s in a disused railway cutting…

  • Crouch End Skateboard Ramp – A Green Issue in 1989

    This article about the ramp in Crouch End speaks of it being under threat of demolition back in 1989. I walked past it a few months ago at the end of 2005 and it was still there and as damp as ever in the winter. “Jay Podesta” is credited as the writer as well as…

  • Local Skateboard Shop Adverts November 1989

    There’s bigger selection of small UK skateboard shops here than normal. November 1989 would have been a peak month for the skateboard business in Britain. Muddy Fox and Matchrite jokes are the odd ones out, sitting alongside Wheels Unlimited from Weymouth, Transition Skates from Grimsby, Dave Friar Surf Shop in Swansea, Freebird from Bideford, Round…

  • Where to skateboard in Britain, 1989 style

    The Where? guide is an example of something which seemed emphemeral at the time (a list of skateboard street spots, for Heaven’s sake) and likely to fade away forever apart from a lingering life in a few fading copies of an old magazine. The content had been built up over many years of involvement in…

  • Where? (to skateboard in the UK)

    This excerpt from the guide to skate spots in Britain makes a feature of the Pioneer Club in St Albans, which was to become one of our favourite haunts for a while. The issue of whether or not to name certain street spots comes uo, with Neasden Pool outed (now that it had been filled…

  • Dundee Factory Skatepark Competition 1989 (Part 5)

    Reporting on skateboard competitions is never easy. There’s a feeling that you ought to be writing about the skating, because it’s a competition, when so often the stuff going on around the event seems more interesting. I suspect we were always happier about trying to share the experience, rather than list the tricks and dish…