Skatepark gets ‘heritage listing’ in push to go mainstream

A London skatepark is to become the first in Europe to get a heritage listing, a positive step in the push for the sport to become more mainstream.

An estimated 30 million people skateboard every week across the globe. (BBC)

For almost 40 years kids have been riding, jumping and spinning through the air at the Rom skatepark in Essex.

With a four-leaf clover, an ‘egg-box’ and a snake, the Rom has it all, including now ‘heritage building’ protection.

Built in the late 1970s in the American style, Rom is one of the few skateparks in England that has escaped demolition and is described as the one of the ‘finest example of youth culture’ in Britain.

It’s the first in the UK, and only the second internationally, to get heritage listing. 

Although there are an estimated 30 million people boarding every week across the globe, skateboarding is still considered an underground sport.

In the UK the sport has no governing body, which means no government funding. The sport needs to move from the underground, as BMX did for the 2008 Olympics.

There are an estimated 30 million people boarding every week across the globe, but skateboarding is still considered an underground sport.

The International Skateboarding Federation has applied to the International Olympic Committee to be officially recognised. And the message seems to be getting through - skateboarding was an exhibition sport in this year’s Youth Olympics.

BMX became an Olympics sport in 2008. (SBS)

While it may be one of the oldest skateparks in the UK, Rom doesn’t make the top-ranked skateparks in the world, neither do any skateparks in Australia.