UK Indoor Skatepark: Spot Check 5 – Broom, Leicester

The space in which Broom Skatepark currently sits has got a long history that is intertwined with Leicester’s constantly hyperactive skate scene. The original park to occupy the space – The Edge – first opened its doors at the turn of the century, providing much needed shelter to the local BMX and skate communities. The original layout of the park was geared more towards BMXers, so a few years down the line, Dave King opened Leicester’s second indoor skatepark, The Boardroom, at a first floor location elsewhere in the city.

In the years that followed, The Edge closed its doors so Dave King took over the building, taking with him the Boardroom name, where he remained in business up until Easter 2013. With The Boardroom once again faced with the prospect of closing down, the local pairing of long-time skatepark regulars Sam North and Chris Straw stepped in and gave the place a new lease of skater-owned life.

With a revamped layout making better use of the space available, Sam and Chris renamed the park Broom (or ‘The Old Broom Tavern Skatepark’ if you’re after its full name) and have run the park themselves ever since, miraculously each holding down day jobs at the same time.

Broom holds a skate school for beginners every Sunday morning at 11am, along with mid-week skate school sessions on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Keep an eye on their Facebook page for event info as the year rolls on, and do your best to attend any of the Get Lesta or Baghead video premieres – or any other video premiere held at the park for that matter – as they are guaranteed to go off.

Wednesday night is the unofficial ‘skate night’ at Broom, which usually sees a healthy turnout of locals and visiting heads getting stuck into the always enjoyable set up.

In terms of what the park has to offer – take a look over the following photos and the accompanying video and see for yourself. The layout has obviously being designed for skateboarders first and foremost, so nothing could really be described as ‘towering’, though if you do fancy going all Daan Van Der Linden on your next visit to Leicester, you could do a lot worse than to attack the back quarter section. The rest of the park is comprised of quarters, ledges, a rail, a fun hip and two different size mini-ramps, none of which you need to be Daan to enjoy yourself on.

All praise to Sam North and Chris Straw for keeping Broom’s doors open and offering dry terrain to the skateboarders of Leicester and beyond – be sure to round up a crew of your mates and make the pilgrimage to Broom at your nearest convenience, you shan’t be disappointed.

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/broomskatepark/
Website – http://www.broomskatepark.com/

All photography by CJ.