Hove Lagoon skate park has one of the coolest locations you could hope for in so far as it's…read moreliterally a stone's throw away from the beach. The layout is good too. Unlike many of the more public skate parks to be found in the UK the space between its features is not to vast as to have used up all your momentum before you reach whatever you were hooning towards. There is the usual jump box in the centre with a large flat bank at the lagoon end and both a quarter pipe and a flat bank flanking each end of the moderately sized half pipe at the east side of the park. The park is more family orientated than other public parks, so expect Groms. On the plus side this means that as a skater you are less likely to have to contend with agro BMXers and the usual pusher types. What's more if you hit it on a week day or later in the evening it should be relatively quiet. The surface is great too the whole park is marble smooth from the ground to the top of the ramps, but this does make it impossible to use if it's at all wet. On the whole due to it's great locating, relaxed vibe and great combination of features this is a sweet park to session regardless of what your chosen board, bike or style is.

With very little in the way of traffic and some of the most beautiful panoramic views of both the…read moresea and the downs this has to be one of my favourite skate spots. I discovered this road one "board" afternoon when I first moved to Sussex and was staying in Rottingdean. The road itself used to serve as access to and old water pumping station but is now nothing more than a residential road connecting two small farms and a house nestled away in the downs with the rest of the world. With the exception of a little gravel spilling out from a drive at the top and the odd pothole, midway down this run is something of a utopia for the retro short boarder. It's a three quarter mile straight run surrounded by soft grass verges and fields, that levels out for long enough to stop before becoming a kamikaze drop into a T junction. Remember to stop at the flat or you could get into some serious difficulties with gravity and automotive traffic. The only real draw backs to this place are that it's a little too narrow for long boarders to carve properly and if you get the wind behind you you're almost sure to carry too much speed for the short run off. Other than that it's a beautiful way to spend an adrenalin filled summers afternoon with plenty of time on the walk back up to the to to have a natter about how good the last run felt. Get pumped!!

For those familiar with the film 'Dogtown and Z-Boys' Bazehill Road will be a sight to behold: a…read morequarter-mile, straight, fairly smooth road with a gentle but effective gradient and safe run-off. It's really easy to find and it's pretty much unknown as a skate-spot. Fringed with fields and a sweeping panoramic of the coast it's one of the most beautiful spots there is. When the sky is blue and the wind is calm, Bazehill Road is always in my mind. I recommend you and your skater mates take a car, some short-boards and some tunes and head up to the most picturesque, easily accessible and perhaps safest run in Sussex. It doesn't reach white knuckle standards but it's massively satisfying.

Wonderful sheltered skatepark for beginners through to experienced skaters. This is a membership…read morepark with a low fee for enjoying this clean ad well looked after site which has the luxury of toilets and a skate shop. There are also classes for those that want to learn new skills, as well as timed sessions for beginners only, and special days for girls only or older people. Highly recommend it.

Great for kids everyone is friendly!! Visited while in…read moreLondon Fun place to visit Good for scooters and skateboard S

While there's quite a few bits and pieces hidden away in Victoria Park, with this one they go a bit…read morefurther: there's no paths leading to it at all. It's adjoining Grove Road where it goes through the park, and on the park side it's bounded by open grass. It's not massive, but contains a few lowish metal ramps and some railings for tricks. I don't actually do the sports myself so can't really comment, but it looks a little square and restricted to me. Still, the ramps do look in good condition, and it's not overly crowded. Incidentally this park is currently appearing on one of the little joke sponsor messages during the current series of Big Brother (other locations around Victoria Park also appear), so you if you watch that, look out for it!

If you're after a grittier take on urban sports without being arrested, then it's well worth a trip…read moreto the Level skate park. There are a selection of ramps and boxes for pretty much all abilities and styles here. In recent years this spot has been made a little more family friendly too though this is dependent on when you're there as with any public park. With the Brighton BMX centre close at hand this is the kind of spot that retains a good sense of community. The park does have certain drawbacks though, it's definitely a BMX heavy park, and while this is great for the super trendy multi coloured BMX bandits out there it can be a bit tricky for those of us on planks. What I will say for this place though is that for the skater with a tinge of insomnia it's a rad place for a three a.m. rampage, particularly if you skate old Skool and want to get a flow on whilst mastering your bertslides.

Like many kids of my generation, I watched Back to the Future when it was first released and…read moredecided that for my birthday I was going to ask for a skateboard. For the next number of years I chocked about with my friends bombing down steep hills and suchlike. back then there were no skate parks in Burgess Hill, so I never ended up getting any ramp experience or major trick skills (I did manage feeble ollies). Anyhow, that was kind of the end of my skating career, but I still retain a special spot in my heart for decks. Whilst I wouldn't embarrass myself with an epic crash at this skate park, I do regularly check out the talent when i am on the level. There are a number of drop in ramps, grinding rails and box jumps to allow riders to show their skills. usually though you don't see that many Tony hawk protege's. Also, like Josh mentions, there area lot of bikers down there. The park is decorated with the near cliche graffiti that seems to accompany urban sports and some of the work is not bad. As there is the children's play area right next door, you will likely get a spill over of young bikers and boarders onto the park in the summer or at weekends. Whilst I've only experienced the park as a spectator, there usually seems to be an amicable atmosphere for those using the ramps, but parents would want to be close by if you had younger children using the park. A nice area that adds a bit extra to the level without seeming out of place.

I've only been here to ice skate though the whole leisure complex is much larger, comprising tenpin…read morebowling and swimming among other leisure activities available I came to the Friday night Extreme Ice Disco with a friend. It cost £5.30 for two and a half hours skating with a resident DJ playing tunes. The hire skates were in reasonable condition and using my usual trick of studding handkerchiefs down the side of the skates to stabilise my ankles, they fit quite well The rink is Olympic sized but was still busy on Friday evening. It was mainly a young crowd here but the behaviour was quite good, probably as alcohol wasn't available. Although not the best or most experienced ice skater, I still had fun and was even able to have a few forays into the middle of the rink with the aid and support of my friend. By the end of the evening, there was quite a lot of melted slush on the surface but for the number of skaters, the ice held up well.

So this is another of our summer holidays leisure pool options. Train to Guildford then bus to the…read moreSpectrum which is outside of town. Fairly easy trek and you pass a lido close by which I keep meaning to visit when the suns out. So Spectrum is an ice skating, multi leisure pool and ten pin bowling experience - we normally get a combi ticket for ten pin bowling and swimming. Pools first - in fact 4 pools to cater for everyone's needs. The main pool is strictly leisure plus a diving pool with springboard, 3m, 5m and 10m boards, a 25m lane pool, and a kids shallow pool. Good selection of slides for all ages but none of them contenders, The kids enjoy the three lane race slide best. This is geared for family fun - the slides are all pretty slow and short - they snake around the pool within the building which means they are never going to be long enough for any speed. Shower jets, wave machine, bubble jets,inflatable ring slide. various little kids slides. Main pool is simply too small and is always uncomfortably busy - pretty poor wave machine. Sessions are 90mins (we always mange to overstay) - not really long enough but good value at £15 for an adult and two under 10's. Unless your kids are in swimming clubs its pretty hard to find a pool where they can dive in London any more. Over the last 10 years practically all of them have brought in diving bans for health an safety reasons. Pools we used to dive at wont let us now. But Spectrum is like no other for diving. So kids can dive in the 25m lane pool - a great start - perfect for my 9 year old to practice her racing dives. But the diving pool is the wildest of all - 3 boards in action at the same time - you can somersault, run, jump, dive, spin - yes actually have some fun - all the other diving pools we know are really strict about one at a time and what you can do. Awesome - worth the four stars alone. You get lots of people just watching and the queue that snakes around the pool show how much the kids love it.. Grim Wimpy burger bar (yes they still exist) - this is really, really awful - and a Costa upstairs - they do pizzas in the basement bowling area. Loads of green space outside for picnics - which is what we normally do. We probably visit a couple of times a year - the main pool looks good but kind of flatters to deceive - but the diving is just the best. Skating rink ls large and we will use one time we visit . Its great having the bowling as it makes for a proper day out. Recommended - despite the main leisure pool probably being best suited for under 10s with not much thrill factor.

Strolling down the South Bank, we came across a really cool part of the South Bank Centre, the…read moreskate park. Just when you think you've seen the most of South Bank, this impressed me. On the lower level they had a skateboard park that had quite a few young kids/adults skating around. I really appreciated the use of space and thought this was a cool way to integrate activities for locals into this area which is known for being touristy. We stopped and watched for a bit, when I got home and looked into it - I read up that this skate park has been around since the early 70's! I knew I had to write a review about it and share my photos. "The space is unique as it grew organically into what is now widely recognized as the home of British skateboarding. As an import from California, skateboarding in Britain was difficult due to the weather. The Undercroft space provided the perfect environment for skating as it was covered from the rain, smooth, flat with unusual architectural features resembling the ramps Californians skated, but most importantly disused." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Live_Southbank

I'm not a skater, but wow - what an interesting place to people watch!…read more Skateboarders and occasionally a few rollerbladers, this skate park is a nice place to get some shade along the South Bank. What make this place for me? The unique graffiti expressions on the wall. Artistic!

St John's park used to have the town leisure centre at the end of it before it moved to another…read morepart of town. For the park, this was actually a good thing as the space was reused to put in three tennis courts, a skate park and a basket ball net plus practise area. Alongside this, there is a children's playground and the local cricket team class this as their home turf. There is a cricket pavilion here and you can also watch a cheeky free game of local cricket on the weekend. The park is well placed for amenities and is fairly pleasant. Sadly, it is not much more than a big rectangle and it would have been nice to have a wooded area to go on a walk. You will find yourself doing laps or running out of space fast if you want to use it for jogging or an afternoon stroll. Still, as a place to bring your kids for a knock about with a ball or other activities (I actually learnt to ride my first bike at this park) you could do worse.