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Monday, 2 December 2013
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| Beauty in culture. Image from: covanaut.com |
If you haven’t already heard, one of the most culturally and
historically important areas of London is in danger. Undercroft has been a home
for skaters since 1973, and is the oldest-surviving skate spot in the world.
Generation after generation of skaters and BMXers alike have used Undercroft
for social and recreational activities, and most importantly as a free
(perfect) spot to ride/skate. All year round it attracts crowds of people, as
well as professional skaters, artists and the likes. It is a hub for ageless
activity, and unites generations under one mutual love – my dad skated it as a teen,
and now it’s my turn. It buzzes with culture and history, and has symbolic
meaning to both the skate industry and skateboarding in Britain as a whole.
And yet, the Southbank centre (that sits above Undercroft) is
trying to get rid of it. They wish to replace it with shops similar to those
that can be seen either side of Undercroft:
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| Image from: www.walklondon.com |
They have offered to build a new skatepark further down
Southbank as a replacement and as an attempt to ‘appease’ the skaters, and
claim that the new shops will increase the cultural wealth of the area; that
they are not ‘disregarding their skaters’.
BS, rubbish, tripe, whatever you want to call it, it’s
shocking, and I shall attempt to explain why.
Firstly, the new shops - they are not going to increase the
cultural wealth of the area, and Southbank centre knows this. More shops will
simply add slightly more to the already bulging pockets of the Southbank Centre
and its management, while wholly extinguishing the real culture that literally
lies beneath them. We live in a multicultural society full of differences, and
yet big business constantly tries to make everything monotonous, simple and
faceless – and this is just another example of it. It’s as if Southbank is
succumbing to the robotic, cultureless businessmen who care more about the
amount of money in their bank account than their own lives, when Southbank is
supposed to be a pinnacle of culture and expression in London. Southbank (and
London as a whole) is full of shops and cafes, and you’re spoiled for choice of
them just a few meters away from Undercroft, why would we need anymore? Have we
really become so consumerist in our society that we need more food options than
just the Southbank Centre restaurant, Giraffe, Eat, Wagamama, Strada, YO!
Sushi, Wahaca, Las Iguanas, Le Pain Quotidien, Caffè Vergnano 1882, Feng Sushi,
Ping Pong, the Cafe in the Queen Elizabeth Hall Foyer, Skylon, Riverside
Terrace Café, Central Bar, Canteen and Concrete – to name a few? All of which
are within the same small section of the Southbank? The Southbank Centre
website says it itself:
"If you're looking for a place to stop for refreshment while visiting Southbank Centre, you're spoilt for choice." - www.southbankcentre.co.uk
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| Image from: www.standard.co.uk |
Looks great, doesn’t it? But a message to the Southbank
Centre: no one who has loved and cared for Undercroft will use it. The vast
majority of skaters and BMXers who actually care about the cause won’t even
touch it. Little kids who know no better, and those who have nowhere better to
go might use it every so often, but a 70,000 strong petition of people will not
be using it. What the new skatepark would represent is the death of culture,
the death of values and most importantly is a complete insult to everything
Undercroft represents. It would represent the disregarding of thousands of
people’s views to make way for more moneymaking rubbish that no one will share
a relationship with and will mean nothing to anyone, other than ‘just another
coffee shop’ or ‘just another stationary store’. The Southbank Centre is not
dangling a carrot in front of a donkey, it’s dangling faeces sprayed with
deodorant. By the creation of this new skatepark, you will royally anger
thousands of people, and probably lose thousands of potential customers.
Moving Undercroft is like moving Britain’s traditional beverage
from tea to coffee – it’s just not supposed to happen, and if it did, people would
refuse coffee out of spite.
But the changes don’t just affect the skatepark. They will
affect the music halls, the art halls and the other areas of Southbank that are
of upmost importance to people. Even parkour will be affected. It just appears
that the Southbank Centre is suggesting that the gargantuan number of people
who actually use the centre for its cultural worth are wrong, and are clearly
not as intellectual/enlightened as the centre management which obviously knows
best when it comes to culture.
As a final major point, in recent years there has been
apathy and disillusionment amongst young people when it comes to politics. Nick
Clegg failed us, David Cameron pretends to care about us, and party politics
has seen a decline in real interest. However, now a movement turns up in which
thousands of young people become politically active, lobbying local MPs, Boris
Johnson and other decision makers, and yet it’s being shunned into the ground
by the Southbank Centre and its unwilling-to-cooperate-in-the-slightest
management. If the Southbank Centre gets a new face, it will be yet another
reason for political apathy and hatred by young people, as clearly nothing we
actually care about matters to those in positions of power. I would suggest
that the Long Live Southbank campaign goes further than just Southbank, it is a
beacon of hope for young people and a symbol of political activism. The centre
gets changed, and a whole load of young people lose their interest in the
system that has once again failed them.
Today Southbank closed Undercroft for ‘maintenance’, despite
LLSB bringing in experts and structural engineers who have suggested nothing
needs maintaining, the lights just need fixing. Undercroft is clearly in peril,
and needs saving ASAP.
"Southbank Centre passionately believes the arts have the power to transform lives. We also believe that the arts must be available to all of us – and this lies at the heart of all we do." - www.southbankcentre.co.uk
Here's a great video from the LLSB YouTube channel, explaining the dire situation:
(For the iPhone/iPad users that can't see this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFaKN98Xg3E)
You can find LLSB at: http://www.llsb.com/
"Construction WITHOUT destruction." - Long Live Southbank
Fantastic article! Sharing far and wide! :)
ReplyDeleteThank's so much, appreciate it :)
DeleteI work for the company that is involved with the redesign and so I have mixed views on the matter. Although it seems from the outside to be a single-fold reasoned move to make a load of money, the reality is that the design will also create rehearsal area for musicians, educational areas and importantly the rent charged at those prime spots will provide income for many more development programs that the southbank provide that invigorate and develop the imaginations of thousands of kids every year.
ReplyDeleteThe skaters will still have a place to skate. It may not be exactly how or where they want it but once it's built it will be bigger than the original and would be able to draw even more people to enjoy, on top of that potentially thousands of kids, families, musicians and artists will also benefit from the refurb.
In balance I don't think they should develop the area as I think other spaces near the southbank could serve to do this job in the same way but I think the move they're making should be viewed from a more balance perspective.
^^Its the oldest skate spot remaining in the world, for that reason it shouldnt be developed on
ReplyDelete
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