The top indoor skate parks are popular with some board riders year-round. In winter they can be the safest option for everyone. Where are the UK’s best indoor skate parks?
Skateboarding is not just massively enjoyable and a great way to socialise and keep fit. It’s also good for your mental health.
And who doesn’t need a boost in winter, when the dark nights and rubbish weather get you down?
You don’t need to hang your board up even during the worst of the British weather when you know the location of the UK’s top indoor skate parks.
They can be the perfect structure for bowl skating – with impressive walls, divots, nooks and crannies – so a good place to drop into a ramp or nail your first half pipe.
We’ve already given you a guide to the best outdoor skate parks. So, here are our eight great indoor skateboarding experiences, whether you are a newbie or a pro.
F51 – Folkestone
This had to top the guide to UK indoor skate parks, as it is where you can find the first suspended concrete bowl in the world!
It also has three stacked bowl, street and flow floors, to accommodate skateboarding and BMXing of all ability levels – including when riders prefer street or transition, concrete or timber.
As it aims to be universally welcoming, head to F51 for coaching sessions that include equipment and protective gear in the price.
RampWorld – Cardiff
This is the biggest and best indoor skateboarding park in Wales, and attracts riders from across the border too! Not least as it is an ideal beginners’ skate park, with a foam pit and a Resi ramp that helps to develop skills with less risk than doing rigid jumps.
For confident board riders, features include both traditional and new street-style indoor sections and two sections of ‘rhythm’ jump boxes.
Prevail Junior – Bournemouth
As the name suggests, this is an indoor flow park designed specifically for young skateboarders (under 18). It even has the world’s first flow track built to nurture the skills of under-13-year-olds. Older and more confident riders can use the 650ft long pump track and 60ft full pipe.
It does do adult sessions though, as well as time slots for girls only and toddler skateboard coaching.
Creation Skatepark – Birmingham
The biggest extreme sports venue in the Midlands houses 23,000 square feet of diversely shaped ramps that cater for skateboarding, as well as BMX and other wheeled sports equipment.
Features include a big vert ramp, an impressively smooth bowl, a sizable jump box and a step-up in its rhyme section. Its indoor Street boarding area includes a stair set, mini half pipe, roller, driveway and a lot of grind rails.
Ramp 1 – Warrington, Cheshire
One reason this had to be in our guide to the top 8 indoor skate parks in the UK is that it’s one of the largest. Ramp 1 is 50,000 square feet, and has nine separate zones offering different boarding experiences. This also helps newbies find an area to practise confidently, though note that the beginner section with micro ramps is for skateboarders under 10 years of age at weekends.
It’s an indoor skateboarding park with a great viewing area too.
Unit 23 Skatepark – Dumbarton
This is another of the large-scale indoor skateparks in the UK, at a truly impressive 56,000 square feet. This allows room to create three separate board riding halls. One is for traditional or freestyle skating. So expect rails and ramps. Hall Two is designed to feel like it is outdoor, street-style skating.
If you need added safety for practising risky tricks, Hall Three has a skateboarding foam pit.
This all makes Unit 23 skatepark a great venue for pros and anyone who wants coaching in the fundamentals of the sport.
BaySixty6 – London
Widely held to be a top-quality year-round skateboard park, BaySixty6 has benefitted from refurb with the support of Nike SB.
It has three separate sections to make it appealing to all ages, abilities and riding styles – including constantly updating places to practise street-style ledges, rails, flat banks, ski jumps and wallrides.
The large bowl is wood, for a smooth, fast surface.
Note this is not strictly indoors, but a gigantic cover shields you from the worst of the winter weather, and you need to register for membership to use it.
House of Vans – London
Created within five redundant tunnels underneath Waterloo Station, House of Vans is one of the top UK indoor skate parks as two of its zones (Tunnels 4 and 5) are world-class skate parks in their own right!
They feature impressive concrete bowls, a street course and mini ramps
It tends to draw a dynamic community of skateboarders, as well as representatives from relevant music and film cultures. Making it a great place to hang out, but also to learn new skills.
