Radlands was a

skate park A skatepark, or skate park, is a purpose-built recreational environment made for skateboarding, BMX, scootering, wheelchairs, and aggressive inline skating. A skatepark may contain half-pipes, handrails, funboxes, vert ramps, stairsets, qua ...

situated in Northampton,

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. It was constructed in 1992 by the Ince family (Chris and his sons Dee and Stee) in a former warehouse and was the first ever indoor

built in

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

. The park was, before its closure, one of the largest in Britain. The owners claim that over 250,000 people used the park in its 12 years of operation. It was closed on 10 October 2004 due to being unprofitable, despite a campaign by local councillors on

Northampton Borough Council Northampton Borough Council was the borough council and non-metropolitan district responsible for local government in the large town of Northampton in England. In 2021 the council was abolished and succeeded by West Northamptonshire Council; a un ...

to save it. In 2009, the Liberal Democrat administration at Northampton Borough Council, working with Northampton Skate Park Action Group, started to investigate how a new skate park of national significance might be built in Northampton. In 2011, the Liberal Democrats pledged £250,000 towards the build costs. Despite the change of political leadership at the council in May 2011, the project was able to continue. Wheelscape were selected as the preferred contractor. and Northampton Radlands Plaza was opened at Midsummer Meadow, Bedford Road, Northampton on 21 July 2012. The park was referred to as one of the UK's best five skateparks by British skateboarder Lucy Adams in an interview with ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' in August 2014.

References

Skateparks in the United Kingdom Parks and open spaces in Northamptonshire {{skateboarding-stub