A quick video clip showed up in my socials tonight of a tunnel system, somewhere in London, I think, that has been repurposed into a skating rink with the walls and ceiling done up in bright murals.
Not everyone in the clip is on skates, some are in shoes.
Anyone know where this is? Links?
Sounds like the next step after turning elevated rails into a skinny greensward park!
It's called Hop Kingdom on Druid Street, Bermondsey. A few minutes walk from London Bridge Station.
Not the Hop Kingdom (roller) skatepark, but two Sundays ago, a large group of inline skaters (and some on two-in-front, two-in-back roller skates) came down a street en masse, accompanied by music coming from somewhere. This was on a street somewhere between Lincoln’s Inn Fields (the Sir John Soanes Museum) and Covent Garden. It appeared to be an organized event, as some in fluorescent safety vests were stationed at the front of the pack. One’s vest had “See you on Tuesday” on the back, so maybe there are regular, organized street skates on Tuesdays and the occasional Sunday, at least when the weather cooperates.
I wonder whether the Colinton Tunnel in Edinburgh was the inspiration.
I think Stuart is on the money. Interesting! I'm pretty sure there's been bars with skate ramps elsewhere before in London. Never such a professional setup though.
It's not what you would call in a "network of tunnels". It's in a couple of what we call "railway arches". The arch-shaped spaces underneath where trains run. They're common all over the UK, especially so in London. People use them for all sorts of businesses these days, but it would generally have been mechanic's shops etc traditionally.
We're talking about skateboarding (and BMX bike riding) here. Inline skates aren't as common as they were a decade or two ago.
A former colleague of mine was a member of a women's roller hockey team. She had (or has?) four wheels on her skates.
Re uhhzfvevqmanscxeqn’s post, he/she or it wisely noted Hop Kingdom, which is hip beer bar merged with a skate park right under the railway arches, as the OP inquired. I am very familiar with this area as my preferred neighborhood to stay while in London is the Bermondsey area, which features a lot of cool, artsy areas. The railway arches area have a lot of breweries/ beer bars and the Maltby Street Market is worth visiting as well.
you didn't see the embedded ad, Jay?
Jay's post was pretty interesting I thought, even though it was in response to spam.
I remember reading this thread a while back. I'd never heard of Hop Kingdom at the time. Since then, I saw a video in my recommended in Youtube featuring the chap who manages said establishment. I watch skate and BMX (and other "extreme sports") video clips quite a bit. I'd rather see some cool tricks than someone score a goal at football. Just how I grew up.
Anyway, yes, this video clip is from "Skate Nomad" when he visited London with Joshua Mayson, who manages Hop Kingdom. I definitely approve of the premise of Skate Nomad's channel in visiting cities to skate. Other videos may be of interest to some who have visited said cities.
you didn't see the embedded ad, Jay?
I did not. I typically do not click any links from anyone I don’t know for fear that the link will cause my phone or tablet to catch fire :). I agree that the ad goes against RS forum rules and likely warrants a report to the grand webmaster, which was done. However, aside for the link that was attached, I still feel his/her/its post added value.
To the OP, the Bermondsey area is a great area and doesn’t get the credit it deserves.
This week’s e-mail that I received from The Londonist included an article about places in London to ice skate at Christmas (and a link at the end for places to skate year-round, although Hop Kingdom isn’t mentioned), and for the first time, Leicester Square will have it this year … gliding around the Shakespeare statue: https://londonist.com/london/christmas-in-london/where-to-go-ice-skating-in-london-at-christmas
Hop Kingdom … that would seem to imply a place with rabbits, although IPA’s couldn’t be ruled out…
