Text taken from The Skateboarder's Companion issue 9 - Jan-March 2023.
Tram Line Fever.
It was December 2009 when Nottingham City Council tore down the Broadmarsh banks, an act that still undoubtedly boils the blood of the city’s many generations of skateboarding inhabitants. The grouping of brick moguls had been constructed to the rear of the Broadmarsh Shopping Centre in 1972, predating skateboarding’s arrival in the East Midlands by a mere handful of years, and when the original skateboard boom crossed the Atlantic towards the end of the decade, Broadmarsh banks’ unique mound-like formations - coupled with their convenient city centre location - naturally saw the area become something of an incubator for Nottingham’s primordial skate scene.
From the late 1970s onwards, skateboardings popularity in Nottingham experienced the peaks and troughs that were felt by every other scene throughout the country, but for upwards of 30 years, Broadmarsh was a staple stop-off for any city centre session. As such, the amount of media coverage the spot was awarded is as about as immeasurable as the list of U.K. skateboarding dignitaries who graced the venerable mounds with their presence.
Historically speaking, skateboarding could expect to receive a frosty reception from town planners and councillors alike, so it stands to reason that the desires and needs of skateboarders have been largely ignored - if heard at all - when the regeneration of public space sporadically raised its head. All too often, an area that was full of life and character - owing in no small part to skateboarding - would find itself flattened and replaced with effectively…well, nothing. We saw it with St Anne’s in Belfast, Bristo Square in Edinburgh, and in 2009, the same sorry fate befell the banks of Broadmarsh. Granted, the whole area had changed significantly over the years, as space had become increasingly limited and features had gradually been ebbed away, but even after three decades of near constant use, what remained of the banks was still held in the highest regard, with skateboarders and BMX riders haunting the infamous walkway up until the bitter end. Needless to say, once the fences went up and the diggers moved in, the outpouring of sadness and frustration was not confined to the city walls of Nottingham. The demolition of the banks was noted and commented upon nationwide.
As I write this, it’s been over 13 years since the banks were demolished, and across that time, public opinion about skateboarding has shifted drastically. There are a lot of well documented latter day factors that have contributed towards this positive turning of the tide, but in Nottingham, the vast majority of the praise needs to be delivered directly to Skate Nottingham. Since the organisation launched in 2017, Chris Lawton, Tom Quigley and the rest of the team have been on an unrelenting mission, liaising with local councils to ensure that skateboarding has a voice, is visible and accessible to the community, and to guarantee that the needs of the city’s skateboarders are being taken into consideration, taken seriously, and ultimately, being met.
Having helped obtain at least one new skatepark a year for Nottinghamshire since 2017, in 2022, Skate Nottingham broke new ground when they managed to secure a skate friendly space in an area of the city centre that was due for regeneration. Thanks to some serious crowdfunding and a handful of substantial donations, just before Christmas, the innovative Tram Line Spot was unveiled to the awaiting public. As you’ll be able to tell by quickly glancing at the photo of Tommy May located on this very page, Tram Line Spot is not intended to serve as a traditional skatepark; it has been designed to naturally blend into the surrounding cityscape, and provide the local scene with a sheltered facility unlike anything it has legitimately had access to before. And in one almost serendipitous final Nottingham twist, Tram Line Spot is situated on the corner of Cliff Road and Sussex Street, within spitting distance of the site of the old Broadmarsh banks.
In little over a decade, Nottingham City Council has gone from tearing down historically significant spots without so much as sparing a second thought for the needs of the resident skateboarding community, to directly working with local skateboarders and delivering one of the most forward thinking skate inclusive initiatives found anywhere in the U.K. For those who were lucky enough to skate them, it’s a shame that the Broadmarsh banks weren’t able to stand the test of time, but the journey that has led to the construction of Tram Line Spot certainly needs to be acknowledged and applauded. So hats off to all involved; it goes without saying that you’ve done yourselves and your city proud.
It’s worth also mentioning that Tram Line Spot even gets the Tommy May seal of approval, and that accolade is not handed out lightly.
Tommy May, kickflip fakie. Photo: Tom Quigley.
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