How to make a Roller rink last!?
November 11th 2022. The day we got the PALACE!
We’re on the approach to the two year anniversary of Flipper’s London,
what was said to be …
“A new home to for roller skaters in London”
- Liberty Ross
And what a two years it has been! As a regular at the palace (honestly, I’m there too much), I can say a few words about the Boogie Palace, and I can only HOPE we make it past the two year “tradition”.
Did you know the original Flipper’s was only open for 2 years? Something like the place burned down and they sat outside drinking Moet… Sounds like a wild night. Now, Anyone with a little bit of business know-how can tell you, the No.1 law to abide by, if you want a rink to stay open, is to support it!
Even a non-profit needs money to function.
So it surprises me that in an expensive area like Westfield, White City, West London, our rink has managed to survive this long. Bet that rent is sky high!
So when people ask
Why is the rink so expensive?
I imagine it like this…
White City is expensive, therefore everything in it is expensive.
End.
No but really, Next time we get a new rink, the best way to keep it open, is to have it in a cheaper area! then we can bring all the prices down. {if there’s any investors reading; hi, I’d love to help you build and operate a new rink~}
Flipper’s Roller Boogie Palace has had quite a few memorable nights, so we can’t deny it gave SOMETHING to the skate community!
The Good
So many celebrities have graced the imported wooden floors.
We all know about Usher- he was there on launch night, and he can actually SKATE!
Mary J. blige, Michael Ward, Isla Fisher, Floyd Mayweather, FLO, …
Honestly, it was fun coming to skate on a Sunday morning and seeing random celebrities pop in with their families or, the Friday night booths filled with “someone” and their entourage, but of course I was too busy skating to take note of everyone.
The Great
Now if you were LUCKY, and by ‘Lucky’, I mean you had to either
Know the right people (big up all the skaters who worked in Flipper’s and would share good news and invites around)
Be in the right place at the right time (Some skaters got invited by just being at the rink)
Be “notable” in the skate scene (I’ll have to talk about this in another blog post, but for now I’ll sumarise it further down)
There were some amazing and exclusive nights held at the Palace ~
The Adidas Night
The retro games night (where downstairs was more lit than the rink… oop)
That celebration of Hip Hop’s 50th Anniversary
Netflix launch party for ‘The Kitchen’
EA Sports tornament was allegedly held there too
Then last week there was a Barbie x Stanley takeover
Omg, The Gin&Juice night!…
And i can’t even remember most of 2023. But that was just some of the brilliant nights held outside the skate community. But we held a few wicked nights of our own too!
Skate of Minds takeover
Skate With Sis
Jamm Society had us in a headlock nearly every month!
Roll On London
Soca on Skates
I hope we get more big skate events, like the anniversary night in 2023!
The Ugly
Now it’s not been all sunshine and roses, there were a couple of thorn bushes along the way.
The fact that they were having non-skate nights really bugged me… but i get it. They needed to make money.
But the cost of these nights is the rink floor! only lawd knows how it’s going to survive if it’s continuously transformed into a tech and house club.
Does anyone else remember skating around a traffic cone? no?
There was a time when there was severe damage to the rink floor, to the point where there was a marshal stationed there [Side note: it’s surprising how many people actually skated into the obviously marked danger zone… I felt the phrase “common sense ain’t common” strongly that week].
Surrounded by large traffic cones, it was hard to miss.
So, I asked what happened, and apparently something was dropped as they changed over from the club night to normal operations.
No, we’re not at risk of random things falling on us (I think~)Now, you can’t even notice it!
But that was a BIG reminder as to how precious that floor is… I dread to think what would happen if they couldn’t fix it.
I hope they charge these event companies damage compensation.
Will Flipper’s last?
The question that many will answer with a “I hope!”, but we can never be too sure. Rinks and skate businesses close their doors all the time, especially as the "hype” of skating circles round and hasn’t fully stuck yet.
When it reaches the level of skateboarding, then we’ll feel it.
But as of right now, we have way too many entitled skaters who only turn up if the event is free, and then never spend a spare second to help promote. Then we have the strong haters who never have anything positive to say…
Even with wealthy investors, if they don’t see it as profitable, they WILL close the doors to the palace!
TL;DR
I don’t think it’ll be forever… but It’ll be here for a while at least
[hoping and praying]
