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Manager of Birmingham skate store, Ideal.I started skating at the Library around 1985, before they built the shops on the ground floor. It was undercover so it was dry and it had a three-set of steps that was really grindy. You didn't get much hassle, the police left you alone, and, of course, there was no Sunday shopping, so it was just skateboarders and alcoholics and tramps. We had the place to ourselves. By the time skating had really taken off again, around '87 or '88, there could be sessions down there with up to 100 people. Kids doing slappy grinds and wearing silly hats. We'd drag benches around, sit there and smoke the £5 draw we bought at Cannon Hill park. Back then Birmingham city center was amazing for skateboarding. The 60s planning with a strong bias towards Brutalist architecture meant there were lots of subways and lots of stair-sets to skate, which, of course, were always dry. The whole city was a playground and Central Library was where you started your day because it was at the highest point. Then you'd just race through the city in a big gang, running lights because there wasn't any traffic, down to Aston University like a scene from The Warriors. I consider myself really privileged to have been around for that small amount of time when the city really was a public space.
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Store Manager, Supreme LondonI started skating at the Library around 1986 or '87. I'm from Wolverhampton, but I'd travel to Birmingham because Central Library was the spot. A bit like Southbank is to London. It was under cover and the ground level was completely empty, so we could build ramps without anyone bothering us. That was before Sunday shopping came [in 1994], when everything would be closed for that one day of the week. God, we really hated the introduction of Sunday shopping.I started skating in the first boom since the whole craze had died down in the 1970s. There weren't many skaters during the mid-80s, apart from a core group of older, gnarly guys who hadn't given up. We were all scared of them, but after a while they eventually took us in. Those guys did freestyle—intricate tricks on the little boards—and there was a famous guy called Eric who went to the world championships. I forget his surname now…
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