Cam Skate opens ‘best skateboarding venue in East of England’
Cambridge’s first indoor skate park, Cam Skate, opened with a massive thumbs-up from everyone who dropped in at The Warehouse on Sunday.
The grand opening of the 850 sq m space at 3 Coldham’s Lane delighted around 300 people who showed up throughout the afternoon. Events included a raffle with prizes donated by Vans and Volcom, with on-site pizza provided by Blue Moon and Portland Arms caterers Oscar’s Lockdown Pizza.
The new park will mean skaters won’t need to go to Corby, King’s Lynn and Norwich for their winter skateboarding hit, say the team from Skateboard Cambridge, the community interest company (CIC) behind the Cam Skate project.
Until now skateboarders have been active on outdoor ramps over the summer – including at Jesus Green – and then hibernated during the winter due to the lack of facilities, said James Moulang, one of Skateboard Cambridge’s three directors, with Paul Elbro and Joe Lewis, at The Warehouse.
“Today has exceeded my expectations in every possible way,” said James. “In terms of the facilities it’s about the quality of the ramps, the construction, plus the people here energising the space… I couldn’t be happier, it’s such a dream come true. It’s not happened ever that people are looking forward to the winter – just to see it open has put a smile on everyone’s faces, it’s been really special.”
Skateboard Cambridge secured £45,000 of funding from Cambridge City Council’s active lifestyle team, which covered initial construction. This included ramps built by carpenter Pete Higginson, of Carpintree, using a surface used for the first time in a skate park in the UK.
“It took 160 hours over two weeks,” says Cambridge born-and-bred Pete, who gained early experience building wooden yachts.
“We used two miles of two by four beams. The ramps are made of three different types of plywood, the top layer being Skatelite, which is basically compressed paper – similar to a composite.”
He added: “This facility will bring so much joy, and the design has so much impact. I realised if you can build a stage these guys will develop their mastery, so I’ve built the best facility I can for people to develop their mastery.”
Paul thanked contributors.
“The site is owned by Railpen,” Paul said. “When they said we could use the site we went through a very steep learning curve of ‘what does it mean to open an indoor skate park?’ in terms of insurance, the legal side and the grant. So thanks to Joe Nalry-Coler at the city council’s active lifestyle team, who supported us from the early days.”
Cllr Cameron Holloway, executive councillor for community safety, homelessness and wellbeing, said: “I’m so pleased to see the indoor skate park up and running, and that we were able to help secure funding for it, as I know the city’s skateboarding community has worked so hard for a long time to make their dream become a reality.
“Facilities like these make a real difference to the city – by supporting them we hope to help even more Cambridge residents keep active and healthy in fun and interesting ways.”
It costs just £5 a night to skate - with annual membership £250 or £500 for partners who want their name displayed on the promo material.
Themed nights are an option, with female-only, over-30s and corporate nights already lined up. Volunteers are welcome to help run the facility.
Email hello@cam-skate.co.uk for details. including for private hire. You can also enquire about private hires via Instagram (@cambridge_skate or @the_warehouse_skatepark).
