So what are your stats Jacob? Name, age, X-Box tag, etc?
– Hi my name is Jacob Bettinson, also known on the street as “Jimmy Beans”.
I’m 22 years old but look about 16, and I’m from a little town called Ilkeston.
I have a job and a girlfriend and I skate so I’m sure most people can agree with me that I don’t have time to play my X-box.

What’s it like skating in Ilkeston? Is there a scene or do you have to travel?
– I never skate in Ilkeston, as there are no skateable spots anymore, which is annoying because we used to have so many that were legit. I don’t have to travel too far though as Ilkeston is bang in the middle of Nottingham and Derby so I stay in Notts the most. There are so many places to skate and apart from the new byelaw stopping skating in the city centre, it’s all good.

Ilkeston used to play host to those long hubba ledges that got merked around the late 90’s by the likes of Baines, Dylan and Joel Curtis back when you were 8 years old. Are they still there? Did you ever get to skate them?
– Yeah the church wall is still there but as per usual the council decided to knob each side with two-inch spikes. Total downer, as they were probably the only triple set hubba in the UK that was perfectly skateable. I didn’t get the chance to put anything decent down it, just a prepubescent nose slide, as I was only a young pube when it got skate-stopped, which I am still bitter about. We were skating there one day and the Chocolate team turned up. They didn’t touch the hubba for some reason just hung about on the empty market stalls but all was not lost as Gaz Jenkins showed them how it was done and smashed a front tail to fakie down it.
I still remember how sick it looked!

Where do you skate mostly and who with?
– Well I do the usual try to explore different towns and cities for spots at the weekend but in the week I spend most of my time at Longeaton skatepark as it’s the best park in my area and it’s also flood lit perfectly for those clear winter nights. I usually skate with all the Longeaton boys, the Hooked crew and now that Australia has given us Phil Long back, I’m sure that I’m going to be going on a lot more trips with the Elite boys.

Do you get any free shit off anyone?
– Yeah, I’ve been getting sorted out with wheels and boards for the past couple of years from Martin at Enuff. Scott and the rest of the Forty Two skate shop guys sort me out as well and I also skate for a Derby scene company called Hooked who are amazing as we are always out getting footage and they sort the whole team out with travel costs, which is perfect.

So I guess you see most of the locals around the Midlands? Who’s killing it
at the moment? Who should we keep and eye open for?
– Yeah the Midlands have so much talent it’s unbelievable and all of them have good attitudes towards everything, unlike some scenes, which have their resident bellends. There are so many people killing it at the moment and most of them have been doing so since I can remember such as Mr. Craig Smedley, his apprentice Will Golding, Bambi, Phil Long, Reese and the most well known couple, Monsieur Nicholas Hanson and his P.I.C Alex Halford. As far as people to keep your eyes open for: Josh Price, Luke Humphries, Conor “Big Bird” Andrews and Matt Vardy. They are all amazing people who are RIPPERS!

You come across like a mild mannered fellow, what’s with the mad collection of tats? Are you a secret maniac?
– (Laughing), I really do try to be but sometimes I do find it hard although I reckon there are a few people who would disagree with term «mild mannered”. As for my tattoos, I’ve always been fascinated by tattoos and the day I turned 18 I decided it would be a good idea to go get my first one done on a skate trip in Skegness and I’ve been hooked since. The most annoying thing though is once I finished my sleeve I started to notice all these Geordie Shore looking knobheads started getting them too, so now I get asked advice about tats from people who look like they could snap me in half.