Photography by Filadelfo Luke Kroon.
Interview by Filadelfo, Dee Collins and Tommy May.
Filadelfo Luke Kroon: So, George Batholomew.
What’s up?
Luke: How many toddlers could you take on in a cage fight?
(Laughing) I don’t know, I don’t know… Having a fight with a toddler is crazy, and I wouldn’t want to hit one (laughs). But I think it would take 50 to100 to take me down, although toddlers can be pretty reckless.
Luke: Your Instagram is @george.235s. Your first name is obviously George, so that makes sense, but what are those numbers about?
I think it was random. I was trying to figure out what Instagram name would work, because I was typing in a bunch of numbers after my name and they were all taken, so I went with ‘.235s’. Someone brought it up to me a little while ago, they were like, “I thought it was two three-fives”, as in weed, so I had to tell them, “nah, it’s just random numbers” (laughs).
Dee Collis: Luke, you’ve been shooting this interview with George. How’s that been?
Luke: He’s been handling business on a daily basis; he’s been a pain because he’s been making me come out with two camera setups, but he gets the job done. It all works out.
Luke’s been shooting the photos and filming when we’ve been in London; it’s a good exchange. We’ve been filming for Luke’s video, then shooting photos of anything that we film.
Dee: How did you two first meet?
I think it was at Stockwell.
Luke: I remember the exact day that we met. Rio (O’Byrne) showed up to the park with George, then about two months ago we went out filming, and he did some incredible tricks, and we’ve been on it ever since.
Dee: Did you grow up skating with Rio?
Yeah, so I used to see Rio at Bay (Sixty6) sometimes. On the weekends when I was younger, my mum would take me there, and I’d always see this kid with a green helmet, and I was like, “how’s he this good at transition?” Then we just started talking, and we’ve been friends for a while now.
Dee: Which area of London did you grow up in?
West London; I’m from Ealing. Ealing is an interesting place, with all types of personalities.
Dee: Who are the locals from Ealing that you would have seen around when you first got into skating?
When I was younger I used to skate a park called Gurnell, and I always used to see Dennis (Roberts), I used to see Leon (Wright), someone called Macgregor (Marshfield)… Macgregor was a savage.
Luke: McGregor? Conor?
Getting his clips, before the MMA (laughs). Nah, but those were the people who stood out the most, I would say.
One that was done multiple times for the various lenses of Filadelfo. Frontside 180 switch crook, Vauxhall.
Dee: What was it that got you into skating?
I first got a board when I was probably three. My sister was coming back from school and saw a board in a skip, so she brought it home and I tried it, but I probably started getting into skating when I was six or seven. From three to five I was always skating those Tesco skateboards called Zinc. My mum would get me those ones, but they never used to work well. My first proper board was a Speed Demons one, with the character on it, but it got stolen out of the front of my house. I went inside to get a drink or something, I came out five minutes later and the board was gone. I’d just got the board as well; I was stressed out about it.
Dee: I’d be stressed out about it too.
Luke: How did working at Bay come about?
I got back into skating when I was around 16, because I stopped between 14 and 16, and I used to know Gabby that worked there. He used to always let me in on a Saturday for free, then I met Paul (McDermott), the guy who runs Bay, and he was always chill with me. One day Gabby was just like, “why don’t we get you working in the shop?” I was down, Paul said he needed to teach me the ropes, and we went from there.
Dee: What were you doing between 14 and 16, when you stopped skating?
I was just hanging around with my friends, having a good time. We’d be on our bikes, doing wheelies and that… I can’t remember what else.
Dee: Why is it every kid can do wheelies?
Luke: It’s the scariest thing in the world. What’s the longest wheelie you’ve ever done?
I don’t know. I can wheelie for a good amount of time, though; I can say that.
Dee: Quarter of a mile?
(Laughing) That would be sick.
Luke: Who are your top 500 skateboarders?
500? (Laughing) That’s hard.
Luke: You can do top three.
That’s hard as well (laughs).
Dee: Who are your top three current skaters that you’d sit down to watch?
Tallys JR, Carlos Ribeiro and Tanner Burzinski.
Luke: If you could only watch two skaters for the rest of your life, who would it be?
I would probably choose Kyron (Davis-McGrath) and Wade (DesArmo). They just have the best styles and can do anything on a board.
Luke: In all of the time you’ve been working at Bay, what have been some of the standout tricks you’ve seen go down?
Just seeing (Andrew) Reynolds skate there, that’s one thing. Jamie Foy doing the fakie ollie switch crook over the rail; I saw him do that down the eight stair… Those are the main ones that I can think of. I’ve seen a lot of good stuff and a lot of good skaters come through there, for sure.
Luke isn’t the worst person in the world to stay with, but he will set the most obnoxious alarm sounds to go off at 6am...
Luke: What’s the best thing you’ve seen Dennis Roberts do?
There’s too much. I think my favourite all round – style wise and trick wise – it was at Mile, on the Toblerone. He done back 5-0 to switch front crook back in fakie. I was there when it happened; it was perfect. Dennis is too good.
Dee: What’s the most ridiculous statement you’ve heard Luke make?
Cooking chicken in Fanta Lemon; that has to be the top one.
Luke: Chicken in Fanta Lemon is banging.
Tell us about that one.
Luke: I was sitting there one night, cooking chicken, and I didn’t have any lemon juice, but I had a can of Fanta Lemon sitting besides me, and I thought, “it’s kind of the same thing”, so I put it in and it was banging. You put Guinness in a stew; it’s not much different. What would you rather eat - Guinness stew or my Fanta Lemon chicken?
Guinness stew, all the way. Is it hard to come up with questions for an interview?
Luke: Not really, you just need to pretend you’re on a shit first date (laughs). What biscuit would you liken yourself to?
I would probably say… does a fig roll count as a biscuit? That’s one of my favourites. Not many people like them, but if you like them, you know what’s good (laughs).
Exchanging London for Greater Manchester, Mr 235s delivers a newest deal for Stockport town centre.
Dee: What are you studying at uni?
I do Business Management. I just want to learn something new, and also have some free time to skate, and see what can happen.
Dee: Are there any projects in London that you’re working on, skate wise?
Yeah, I’m filming with Luke, and I should probably be skating with Grant (Dawson) over the next couple of months, filming with him for his London projects, then National stuff as well.
Dee: You had some stuff in the last couple of Grant’s videos – 3am and lesser. How did you first link up with Grant?
I was at Mile one day with Dennis, and I filmed a line, posted it on my story, then Grant started following me, and hit me up like, “let’s get out one day, get filming”. From then on, I’ve been getting out with them lot and getting clips here and there. Grant’s always been really safe to me, and always hooked me up.
Luke: And was it because of Grant that the Supreme hook up came about?
Yeah. Grant hooked me up with boards from Supreme. Even from the first day I met him, he was like, “if you ever need a board, just let me know”, and he’s plugged me from then. So shout out Grant for that!
Dee: Now you’ve got a New Balance hook up too. Tell us about that.
I was at Southbank, and I did nollie front heel switch manny and then switch flip over the barrier, and (Mark) Baines started following me after that.
Tommy May: You went straight for his heart with the nollie front heel switch manny.
(Laughing) It is his trick. The funny thing is, I was watching an old video and I saw him do it, and I thought, “that’s so sick. I need to learn that”. I’d practiced nollie front heels a bit before that, so I thought it could work. Then when I posted the nollie front heel switch crook a few weeks later, he hit me up saying, “that was sick. If you need shoes just let me know”. He’s been sorting me out shoes since then.
Luke: We’re in Manchester right now. Who’s your favourite Manchester band?
I don’t know too many if I’m honest. I’ll say Oasis. I think that’s the only band I know from Manchester.
Luke: What would your dream concert be?
Can I have anyone there I want? I’d say Future and Young Thug. Them two. They have some of the best songs in my opinion. They’re the best artists.
Dee: On a scale of one to ten, how bad is Luke as a roommate on a skate trip?
Luke isn’t the worst person in the world to stay with, but he will set the most obnoxious alarm sounds at like 6am, when we have to be up much later than that.
Luke: What’s the story with how you got on Venture?
That was from Grant’s video. Zach Kovacs hit me up.
Luke: Ducky.
Do you only call him Ducky? Zach is his real name!
Luke: Nah, Ducky.
OK, so Ducky hit me up and said my part in Grant’s video was sick; he must be clued up on skateboarding as a whole if he saw that, or maybe it was from the Grey Skate Mag Instagram post. He asked if I wanted to get some Ventures, I said I was down, and he also sent me a couple of sets of Spitfires as well. I was gassed on that.
Luke: And he sent you that white Venture hoody.
Nah, I bought that.
Luke: Oh, so you’re buying Venture to support your sponsor?
I’m not going to buy an Independent hoody if I ride for Venture, you know what I mean?
Luke: Nah, I get that. So George, any final words of wisdom for everyone? Anyone you’d like to thank?
Words of wisdom? Just do whatever you want to do, so long as it’s good (laughs). Shout out my family, all of you guys, Dennis, Leon, Grant, and all of the people who are going to be annoyed that I didn’t mention their name. Shout out everyone, even the haters.
Dee: There aren’t any haters, surely?
Luke: Oh, I hate him (laughs).
Shout out Luke as well (laughs). It’s a complicated relationship we’ve got.
Follow George - @george.235s
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