Southbank Skatepark

For more than 40 years the undercroft beneath Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall has been considered the home of British skateboarding culture, and every day of the week you’ll find local skaters practicing their moves here.

The Queen Elizabeth Hall concert venue was added to the Southbank Centre site in 1967. Following its construction, the building’s distinctive undercroft, all concrete ledges pillars and stairs, was simply left open to the public. The space quickly became home to a burgeoning London skateboarding community who spotted the perfect all-weather and always-open concrete location to practice this rapidly growing urban sport.

In the late 2000s the space was closed with plans proposed for redevelopment. However, the global skating community swiftly mobilised and in 2013 the Long Live Southbank group successfully joined forces with the Southbank Centre to upgrade and expand the space and ensure that it remained a central London home for skateboarding.

Today the undercroft is considered to be the world’s longest continuously used skateboarding space. As the sport has become professionalised, the most famous skaters aren’t often found here anymore. However for amateurs looking to have some fun with fellow skate fanatics, there’s hardly a more iconic location than this one!