Vans to create pop-up skate park on London's Strand in September

By

Nigel TAYLOR

Published
Aug 31, 2021

Get your skates on. As an added consumer incentive to visit London next month, US skate and streetwear brand Vans is launching a two-week (8-24 September) series of free skateboarding events called ‘Skate the Strand’.

In collaboration with Westminster City Council and Somerset House, the event will highlight a newly pedestrianised public space between Temple and Charing Cross in the heart of the capital. The highlight will be Vans’ purpose-built pop-up skate park erected on the Strand at Aldwych.

The event coincides with the local council’s ‘Inside Out Festival’ to bring art, entertainment and culture to the streets of Westminster, and Somerset House’s ‘No Comply: Skate Culture and Community’ exhibition.

The skate park will offer free lessons, professional demonstrations and open public sessions for skaters of any level.

Councillor Matthew Green said: “This month we saw a once busy and polluted stretch of the Strand transformed into a brand new pedestrianised area for Westminster’s communities and visitors.

“We have an exciting calendar of activity happening over the coming months as part of the Inside Out festival. This fits into our wider plans to encourage visitors back into Westminster as part of our vision for the safe and successful reopening of our city, as well as our longer-term vision for the Strand Aldwych area.”

The development comes as the council introduces plenty of features to try to tempt domestic and foreign visitors back to Central London after footfall was decimated by the pandemic. They include the much-maligned mound at Marble Arch.

A skate zone is likely to prove more popular. Skate locations are a big draw for both brands and retail with Selfridges opening an in-store skate bowl in 2018. The activity’s link with sneaker and streetwear culture means this is unlikely to be the last such launch.