Skegness X-Site SkatePark Tourist Information
X-Site Skate Park review updated Feb 2010 to take into account price changes.
All users must sign a consent form before using X-Site Skatepark.
X-Site SkatePark membership £24 per person, per year.
X-Site Skate Park Prices
Session – member: £5 non-member: £7
Day – member: £8 non-member: £12
X-Site Skate Park Hire Prices
Skateboard: £2 a session
Inline Skates: £2 a session
Helmets: £2 a session
X-Site Skate Park School Holiday Opening Hours
Monday: 12:30pm-4:00pm 4:00pm-8:45pm
Tuesday: 12:30pm-4:00pm 4:00pm-8:45pm
Wednesday: 12:30pm-4:00pm 4:00pm-8:45pm
Thursday: 12:30pm-4:00pm 4:00pm-8:45pm
Friday: 12:30pm-4:00pm 4:00pm-8:45pm
Saturday: 11:00pm-3:00pm 3:00pm-6:45pm
Sunday: 11:00pm-2:30pm 2:30pm-6:00pm
X-Site Skate Park Term Time Opening Hours
Monday: Closed
Tuesday: Closed
Wednesday: 3:00pm-8:45pm
Thursday: 3:00pm-8:45pm
Friday: 3:00pm-8:45pm
Saturday: 11:00pm-3:00pm 3:00pm-6:45pm
Sunday: 11:00pm-2:30pm 2:30pm-6:00pm
New X-Site Member Prices
Under 12’s Saturday morning “fun session”
9.00am – 10.45am, £3.00 including hire equipment.
After school session.
3.00pm – 6.00 pm on a Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. £3.50 including equipment hire.
Friday members session.
3:00pm – 8:45pm for £3.00 (I gave them a call to confirm the times as not clear on their website, just says night).
Check X-Sites website for latest tourist information www.xsiteskatepark.co.uk
Skegness X-Site SkatePark Review
Definitely not a Skegness family attraction, there are no facilities to keep accompanying adults entertained except to sit in there cafe. Think along the lines of a what it was like when your kids where younger at soft play area. There getting plenty of exercise and you just sit still cooped up trying to make that cup of expensive coffee last as long as possible hoping they get bored soon.
X-Site Skate Park is for kids, but I would say it’s mainly aimed at teenagers/early twenties, we’ve seen kids as young as 5 years old accompanied by an adult in the ramp room. Adults can go in the ramp room with just shoes on for £2.00, but be warned swearing is flown around by the teenagers freely and it does get rough with an every man for himself attitude on the skate ramps, there’s a lot of jostling and arguing as well as hazards like skate boards flying across your path.
My kids used to go early in the morning on a Saturday to avoid the boisterous teens who came in later in the day, but X-Site has changed opening times so you can not avoid the masses anymore. There is not a constant staff presence in the ramp room, staff just stick their heads in occasionally. If there is a problem my kids found the staff will sort it out, but you have to go to the reception at the front desk to tell staff members you need help. It also depends on which member of staff is on at the time, some are more pro active than others. There really should be a member of staff in the ramp room at all times in our opinion, you wouldn’t go to a swimming pool and find the pool isn’t supervised!
The X-Site toilets were clean, but the locker room was small and my kids found older kids smoking in them, again no staff presence. The no staff present is a big issue for me. When my oldest son 15 at the time went to X-Site for the first time, (the 1st time he had ever been to a skate park) there was no one to show him how to use the equipment in the entire building let alone in the ramp room. He came home with huge bruises on his thighs and couldn’t go skating for over a month because of the pain to his legs. I phoned X-Site to ask if they had lessons and was told they don’t give lessons because they didn’t have any qualified staff. I don’t know if this still is the case but that concerned me immensely.
Then the prices went up and my children could no longer afford to go on a regular basis. The price shot up from £4.50 to £7.00 a session which is a ridiculous amount of money to pay for your kids to go up a few plywood ramps or skate around a concrete block outside in the plaza.
I can only give X-Site a review from a parents perspective and my opinion is it’s a rip-off at a ridiculous price of £7.OO for a session. OK so sessions last a possible 4 hours, but my experience is your kids will only do a third of that time actually skating, the rest of the time they will spend it on the X-box 360 or get fed up and leave after an 1-2 hours.
I have 3 boys all teenagers so for me being a resident of Skegness that’s a possible £21.00 a week. “Well” I hear you say “become a member, then you can get in for just £5.00 a session”.
X-Site membership costs are expensive, except on Friday
Since writing the Skegness X-Site Skate Park Review there’s been a few additional prices added (originally I considered them discounts, but truth is two of them are far from discounts!).
New prices at X-Site.
Under 12’s Saturday morning “fun session”: 9.00am – 10.45am, £3.00 including hire equipment.
After school session: 3.00pm – 6.00 pm on a Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. £3.50 including equipment hire.
Friday night members session 3:00pm – 8:45pm for £3.00.
Xsite costs based on taking advantage of NO “discounts” beyond the normal discount
It cost £24.00 per person per year to become a member and that entitles you to get into XSite for £5.00 instead of £7.00 a session, that’s a cost of £72.00 up front for my three children to go skating.
This would mean my children would have to go to XSite 12 times each just to pay off the membership (that’s break even point) and that’s not including the £5.00 I’ve been paying to get my kids through the door.
So that means in the 12 sessions paying off the membership I’ve also payed £60.00 each kid, with three children that’s a whopping £180.00 plus the £72.00 for the three memberships, that’s an astonishing £252.00 for just 12 sessions I’ve had to pay just so my kids can go skating for £5.00 a session in the equivalent of an empty factory building with concrete floors and plywood ramps!
And that’s just to break even, to make a membership worthwhile you really need to go more than once a month. If one child went weekly (52 sessions) the cost would be:
Membership: £24
Sessions: 52 x £5 = £260
Total: £284 a year for one child for a single session once a week.
In comparison Skegness Cadets that run every Thursday evening 6:30pm to 9:00pm costs 50p a week and for regular attendance a free uniform. Skegness LaserQuest costs £8 a year membership and there’s a members only night for £5 (6pm to 10pm) which is filled with fun activities run by the staff (they enjoy their jobs :)), you also get cheaper games for being a member (you make a saving almost from day one, as it should be).
I don’t know who the people are who came up with this stupid so called membership scheme, but who ever they are they don’t have a Maths GCSE between them.
Even the new prices don’t all make sense, the person who wrote the quote below really needs to buy a calculator.
“Members get discount entrance to the park and a £3 session every Friday night. If you are local or plan to skate the park more than once per year becoming a member SAVES YOU MONEY!”
“More than once per year becoming a member SAVES YOU MONEY!” means if you go twice a year being a member should save money.
Cheapest non-member price is £7 per session, so two sessions = £14.
It costs £24 membership (one session effectively free), cheapest session as a member is £3, 2 sessions plus membership = £27.
Even if you take a full day non member fee of £12 it’s still not cheaper to go twice as a non member than a member over all.
It costs £24 membership (one £12 session effectively free), cheapest session as a member is £3, 2 sessions plus membership = £27 which is still more expensive than £19 (£12 + £7) as a non-member.
Most people learn before they even go to school that 30 is bigger than 14 and 27 is bigger than 19.
If you work out the very best price as a member it’s a minimum 6 sessions to break even using the £3 Friday sessions (see later).
Seriously Xsite owners sort that out, it makes you look stupid.
Xsite costs based on taking FULL advantage of new prices
Lets first show how poorly thought out some of these new prices are:
“After school session: 3.00pm – 6.00pm on a Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. £3.50 including equipment hire.”
Sounds good yes?
Erm, no, whoever thought this up seriously needs to do a remedial Maths class! X-Site is open 3:00pm-8:45pm those days, so why limit the time to 6pm when the vast majority of kids are going to want to head home, change their school clothes, get a bite to eat (do homework :-)) etc… before heading out to skate?
St Clements School for example ends it’s day at 3:10pm, it’s a tad unrealistic to expect kids to rush straight to Xsite from school, but lets imagine they did and could get to Xsite by 3:30pm (maybe they took a change of clothes and their skates to school to save time).
For their £3:50 they realistically get 2 and half hours skating or £1.40 per hour (or £1.17 per hour if kids skip school and use the full 3 hours).
This is more expensive per hour than paying £5 for the full 5 hours 45 minute session at 87p per hour or as a non member paying £7 per session at £1.22 per hour!
The above prices do not take into account the £24 annual membership fee.
BTW there’s a better deal on Friday’s so the above offer is only for two days a week, since no one who can count to 10 is going to pay £3.50 on a Friday for 3 hours when you can cover the same time period plus 2 hours and 45 minutes MORE for 50p less!
The “Under 12’s Saturday morning “fun session”: 9.00am – 10.45am for £3.00″ is even worse at £2.07p per hour.
Some offer/discounts they are.
That just leaves the Friday night members session 3:00pm – 8:45pm for £3.00 to examine.
Now this price is much more like it, if you use the full 5 hours and 45 minute session it works out at around 55p an hour (before taking into account the £24 membership costs).
Lets take a single membership where the person wants to use Xsite once a week only on Friday (the other ‘lower’ prices are a rip off and shouldn’t be used).
Membership: £24
Sessions: 52 x £3 = £156
Total: £180 a year for one person for a 5 hour 45 minute session once a week.
Taking into account the year membership your cost per session is £3.46 compared to £7 for non-members.
That’s good value for a person who uses Xsite on a weekly basis and is happy only going on a Friday (for lowest cost). I would check if Friday’s are now busy?
Break even point (when a person should/shouldn’t buy a membership) is 6 sessions at £3 a session (£42 overall including membership at £24). If you don’t plan to do more than 6 Friday sessions a year, don’t buy a membership.
When we first reviewed X-Site the break even point was 12 sessions as there was no reasonable cost Friday session.
If X-Site had this price when we wrote the review we might have seriously considered a yearly membership for our kids, we’d have first checked how busy X-Site is on Fridays (they didn’t enjoy X-Site when really busy).
If they had a £3 a session multiple times through the week (you can’t guarantee they can go every Friday and the busy issue) for members it would have almost certainly been a yes to a membership for our kids and they’d have probably all gone once a fortnight.
So X-Site has lost out on around £300 from our family per year because of greed when we first wrote the review.
IF YOU DO NOT USE THE FRIDAY SESSION X_SITE’S NOT VALUE FOR MONEY
A decent membership would be you get in for £5.00 a session plus every 3rd visit was free (that works out at £3.33 per session, similar to the new Friday session price). Also a discount should be available for big families, those of us who have more than 1 child.
Unfortunately X-Site has been set up yet again for the one off visitor and this is not a Skegness attraction for all children (unless limited to Friday sessions), it’s only for kids who can afford it and not fair on families who can’t.
The whole point of a skate park in Skegness is meant to be for young people to let of some steam, get some exercise and expel all that built up energy and aggression on something constructive. Skate parks are always deemed as one of the answer to anti-social behaviour, give the teenagers something to do and they wont cause any trouble.
I don’t see how that’s the case for Skegness’s youngsters, due to the high cost associated with using X-Site on a regular basis. As a Skegness family with three teenage boys and modest income, we could not afford X-Site’s fees to keep our children ‘off the streets’. This makes XSite realistically a one off attraction for tourists, not very charitable thing to do to Skegness families from a charity.
I assume the charity statue for X-Site was just put in place to get funding still if your going to call your self a charity you should at least act a little like one. It must have been terrible for the children and teenagers of Skegness when they there told there’s going to get a shiny new state of the art skate park to give them something to do and get them off the streets. They must have been so looking forward to it, skateparks are one of those attractions that’s usually on every kids wish list.
After it was built they got the rug pulled from under there feet and were told it’s not for you, it’s only for professionals and people who can afford it, then to add insult to injury the council builds a free out door skate park for the kids in Mablethorpe :-(
X-Site is poorly supervised!, which in a child dominated sports attraction is dangerous, X-Site should have qualified staff in the ramp room to assist and maintain order, if your paying £7.00 for your children to go to X-Site at the very least you expect a member of staff in the ramp room to show the kids how to use the equipment.
It’s a rip off! and we as a family have Boycotted X-Site skatepark.
Well, im personally glad you’ve boycotted the skatepark. The skatepark was not made to be a cheap day care center for you to drop your kids off. It was made to give skateboarders a place to go.
I don’t think you understand how most skateparks work, they are extremely expensive to run and don’t gain much income which explains the prices. To be fair their prices are very reasonable compared to most purpose built facilities. A good example of this is The works skatepark in Leeds were you will pay £16 per session.
Apparently we aren’t the only people to boycott Skegness X-Site Skate Park. Take a look behind the Embassy Theatre/Embassy Swimming Pool (car park area) on an early evening to see teenagers/young men on skateboards.
If the X-Site Skate Park is so reasonably priced why are about ten young lads hanging around behind the Embassy on an early evening skate boarding?
They don’t appear to be causing any trouble, so this is not a complaint at them, but why are they not using the purpose built facilities at Xsite?
David
Street skating tests your abilitys instead of grinding halfpipes or doing transfers, whilse street skating you can go around town and make your own little challenges for fun, were only children and cant afford to go evey day, whenever i go out i allways bring my skateboard even if im meeting someone and have a mess about on the way
where exactly did I say X-site was a “day care center for you to drop your kids off”, since it has no Adult facilities you have no choice, but to leave your kids, I do believe one of my points for X-site being a disappointing facility was that parents are not accommodated for to look after their children with a venue thwart with dangers and a lack of appropriate adult supervision on site.
You said “I don’t think you understand how most skateparks work”
How little you know, Yes I do Know how these places work and if X-site can’t make money from a popular activity then their doing something wrong. X-Site made a profit in 2009, so I think you don’t understand businesses taking advantage of a seaside holiday location.
You also said “To be fair their prices are very reasonable compared to most purpose built facilities”
Here’s an example for you why X-Site is so expensive compared to other skateparks around the country.
ukskatepark Stockport-Entrance fee
£3 for 1 hour
£4 for 2 hours
£5 for 3 hours
£2 for each extra Hour over 3hrs
£10 all day ticket
Non Members: additional £2.50 day membership, £1.50 if you stay 1 hour
IMPORTANT PART: Annual membership is £15
After Every 5th visit 1 FREE all day Session !!! (members Only)
—————————————————–
Skaterham Indoor Skatepark, South London
Enterance fee: £1 an hour
GOLD CARD MEMBERSHIP
THE CARD COSTS JUST £20 FOR A WHOLE YEAR AND GIVES YOU LOADS OF DISCOUNTS WITH US:
• 50P off every session you visit
• 10% off our in store shop prices
• 10% off private sessions
• and an exclusive SKATERHAM T SHIRT
look at that Google’s an amazing tool, first two I came across is better than X-Site, you can find out everything you need from the click of a button. The last example I gave is the type of price and membership you should be looking at when X-Site has charity status for children living in the PE25 postcode
Marie
Annoyance with other peoples comments
We travel from Nottinghamshire to allow our two boys to go to the x site skatepark. We find it reasonably priced with friendly staff and the food and drinks reasonably priced.
We have had no problems with any other kids that attend. My boys are aged 6 and 12 the older children always look out for the younger children.We would reccomend it to anybody. where could you take your kids for £7 a session?????
i agree with Andy ,i take my grandchilren on a regular basis to
x-cite Dan 12yrs and Edd 6yrs,the facilities are spot on the staff are brilliant with the children helpful and friendly.the cost per session is no more than a smoker would pay for cigs each day,plus the exercise is a bonus.
Dennis from nottingham.
You take your grand kids there regularly, your from Nottingham 80 plus miles away, even if you have a caravan here it’s not regular.
Just for the record we have never smoked and still can’t afford to pay for 3 kids to skate weekly at X-site
We have found it more economic to take our kids to Mablethorpe where there is a free Skate Park.
Marie
I think they’re skating there because they enjoy street skating! Something that exsited a long time before purpose built facilities! Street Skating will always happen as there will always be streets with skateable obstacles!
I’m glad you’ve boycotted it…if you’re kids get bored of skating after 1-2 hours, then skateboarding isn’t the thing for them, stick to football!
My kids didn’t get bored, that’s the problem with X-Site, it’s elitist as I see it, catering for people with money as well as other problems as I stated in my review. All my kids are avid Skaters and have been left to skate on the street which is less than ideal particularly when there is a purpose built facility in town.
Marie
I can see that you have found cheaper facilities in the UK but they don’t offer the same as what X-site does. X- Site is one of the biggest and best built UK parks and is the only one that offers both an indoor and an outdoor facility. I compared x- sites prices to the works because they are similar in size (even though the works doesn’t have anything outdoor).
You complain that there isn’t sufficient adult supervision provided, this is where my “day care” comment comes in. If someone is hurt, it will get reported and a member of staff will deal with it. What other supervision do they need? Your children should be competent enough not to have there hand held all the time. Also, there isn’t anywhere for non skaters to go because it isn’t designed for non skaters (like yourself).
As for people skating the streets. That will always happen. I occasionally skate street myself. Not because of a lack of facilities, just because that’s how i started.
A commenter below Scooby Doo says the Works is 4x bigger than X-Site, so it’s not directly comparable in size to X-site as you state.
In my review I already commented that the X-Site staff will see to any problems that are brought to their attention, but this isn’t the same as adult supervision at what can be a quite dangerous sport.
Try to remember it’s not just teens with years of skating experience that are using X-Site, but little kids as well since there is no age limit. So your comment “Your children should be competent enough not to have there hand held all the time” is ridiculous, parents are going to want to be there while their children first learn to use the facilities, which can be dangerous for inexperienced skaters.
Don’t make assumptions about my kids, they are all teenagers now so can take care of themselves. However, remember when a review is written for an attraction sometimes you have to take into account other people like those with primary aged kids using X-Site in hope to introduce their children to skating.
You said “there isn’t anywhere for non skaters to go because it isn’t designed for non skaters (like yourself)”. First off I can and do skate as a leisure activity on X-Sites car park, never assume, it’s bad for an argument.
“there isn’t anywhere for non skaters to go because it isn’t designed for non skaters” this is interesting and is one of the reasons X-Site is not a good Skegness attraction, it definitely comes across as elitist with a comment like that!
How are the kids in Skegness going to learn to use X-Site if you already need to know how to use the equipment? We all start off as non-skaters, where are they to learn safely and legally?
Also you compared X-Site to the Works and they do have facilities for non/beginner skaters, I looked it up.
I don’t have a problem with street skating, I do it myself, I have a problem with a purpose built skateparks that should be available to all, not just a few with ample money to spare: three teenagers, add up the costs of regular use of X-site by a Skegness family! Please re-read my review, you will see my problems with X-Site is mainly ethical, it should be more important to have kids exercising than profit (they have charitable status).
Yes X-Site has indoor and outdoor facilities, but kids don’t care about state of the art, they just want a chance to skate and their parents NEED it to be affordable and right now it’s far from affordable.
Marie
Firstly I think that the comments made are a bit harsh, what you need to realise is that the skatepark has taken many years of hard work to develop, without the hard work of certain individuals the facility wouldnt even be there!!! Lincolnshire Extreme Sports Association has been recognised for its achievements and X-Site Skatepark has held many events including, 2 years running, the UKSA British Championships.
whether your opinion is good or bad, it has been proved that the facility is needed, just because a few photos show people street skating (to be honest David Law, you shouldnt be taking photos of people without there consent!!!,I could possibly be one of those skating that day.)
“if X-site can’t make money from a popular activity then their doing something wrong. X-Site made a profit in 2009, so I think you don’t understand businesses taking advantage of a seaside holiday location.”
The above quote also makes no sense, Xsite either makes no money or it does? You say that if they cany make money from a popular activity then you state they made profit in 2009?????
I also know that the profits dont pay for any big wig to go on holiday during winter months, it goes back into the park, they have just had new ramps and alterations made with some of that money, I was told that by someone who knows.
You also go on to mention the cost, first of all, the facility is not revenue funded by anyone, it has to be self sustainable and if it doesnt make money it closes! the same as any business, anywhere in the world.
“ukskatepark Stockport-Entrance fee
£3 for 1 hour
£4 for 2 hours
£5 for 3 hours
£2 for each extra Hour over 3hrs
£10 all day ticket
Non Members: additional £2.50 day membership, £1.50 if you stay 1 hour
IMPORTANT PART: Annual membership is £15
Have you really taken any notice of what you are saying here, Ukskatepark charges are no different, At the most Xsite charge £7.00 per session which on average last 4 hours, if you wanted to skate in Stockport it would cost for the same amount of time, £5 for 3 hours, £2 for each extra Hour over 3hrs = £7.00. Plus the day membership of £2.50 = £9.50 for your four hour session.
I think it is pretty obvious that you are just complaining because its not free. I agree that there are many skateparks in the country that are either free or cheaper but I can assure you that most of them, you wouldnt leave you son or daughter at them alone, that comes from over 20 years of skateboarding, baring in mind when I grew up in Skegness we had to travel everywhere which was far more expensive.
To finish for now because I could go on for the rest of the day, I also know that Xsite do discounted sessions after school for all school children, I think its about £3.50 including the equipment you need, i think thats pretty good!! I use the skatepark and I also street skate, that will continue regardless.
““if X-site can’t make money from a popular activity then their doing something wrong. X-Site made a profit in 2009, so I think you don’t understand businesses taking advantage of a seaside holiday location.”
The above quote also makes no sense, Xsite either makes no money or it does? You say that if they cany make money from a popular activity then you state they made profit in 2009?????”
You’ve completely misunderstood the point, another commenter said X-site (skate-parks) are expensive to run and so don’t make much money, hence the high prices. In the Skegness Standard there’s an article that X-site actually made bumper profits in 2009 and so that commenter was apparently wrong.
X-Site has charitable status and so should not be all about profits, the whole point of the tax payer funding charities is so they do charitable work, not only make a profit!
Don’t get me wrong, it’s OK for X-site to make reasonable profits, but with their current prices they appear to be making that profit by charging high prices not attracting more visitors to use the facilities (that should be their goal).
I never understand how some businesses (I run a business) don’t appreciate there’s a point where their prices are too high and the extra profits they make directly from the high prices is partially lost through chasing away potential customers. You have to get the prices just right to fill a facility. If X-site kept it’s prices at a reasonable level for regulars by offering attractive membership rates they’d have had three local teenagers almost every weekend, but they are too expensive for families to use on a regular basis.
Seriously how many families do you know that can afford to pay £852 a year so their 3 kids can skate for just 4 hours once a week?
For that sort of price local kids should have something like unlimited access to X-site, not one 4 hour session a week!
If we sent our kids to X-site they’d miss out on going to two or three other activities, since the membership prices are a rip off, we spend out money elsewhere in Skegness.
David
You Said “Have you really taken any notice of what you are saying here, Ukskatepark charges are no different”
If you read my comment again you will see I was only commenting that ukskatepark Stockport has a cheaper membership than X-Site hence the bold “IMPORTANT PART: Annual membership is £15”
Marie
Ok. I’m going to pick apart and destroy the first post by Andy on the 23rd of September, because the world needs a little less stupidity in it.
First about me.
I’m an 19 year old who likes skateboarding and the such. I’m not someone looking for ‘a cheap day care center for you to drop your kids off.’ (Protip: It’s easier and cheaper to write ‘Jackass’ on your forehead to get the point across). I’m the target audience, a skateboarder, the exact populous you stated the X-Site was created for.
1: They are extremely expensive to run
Were exactly are these costs coming from? You have rent/business rates….. which every other attraction, correction, every other cheaper attraction has. You have to build the stuff….. which you get funding by the Lotto, government etc etc. You have basic electric, water…. which is effectively a few lights, and a changing room, (This is a pittance if you look at the electricity used in other attractions, for instance Bottons). And you have staff…. 2 people you pay minimum wage (If it’s higher then minimum, not my fault they are hiring in the family). I’m failing to see the huge expenses, since the ramps there seem to be old, sturdy, built to last and never replaced.
2: Don’t gain much income
Rule 1 in business: The customer don’t give a **** about your failing business plan. Skateparks are universally a ‘cool’ thing that 99% of kids love to try. If you are not getting the business you require, its a problem on your end. Maybe one issue is….
3: It was made to give skateboarders a place to go.
There are two problems with this statement. Firstly, skateboarders are generally of the younger generation, which as a rule, generally have far less cash to spend due to lack of employment. If anything high prices hurts them more then someone looking for ‘a cheap day care center for you to drop your kids off.’ (Still says ‘Jackass’ when I read that.) Secondly, this kind of elitism hurts both business and skateboarders in the making and is evident when I first looked up the X-Site. I’ve been Inlining for around about 8 years, however had never tried things like ramps before. I was told a certain time was beginners session, and I assumed there would be a teacher of some kind. When I asked about training, I was told ‘We are still looking for someone who can come in every week’. AKA ‘We want a gullible teenager to do it for free.’. This and your above statement not only don’t help beginners, but deters all but the most dedicated (I eventually taught myself).
4: To be fair their prices are very reasonable compared to most purpose built facilities. A good example of this is The works skatepark in Leeds were you will pay £16 per session.
Firstly, your prices are wrong. It is £16 for an entire day (6 – 10 hours), not a 4 hour session like X-Site offer. This is an example of twisting the truth, more commonly referred to as a big fat lie.
Secondly. Check ‘The Works’ facilities. you could fit X-site 4 times into that. Their higher price is due to the fact that their park is 4 times as big and includes FAR more facilities added into the price. If their park was a Porsche, X-Site barely counts as a banged up mini.
All in all, the park is over priced for what you get. The old pricing was pushing it. Now it isn’t value for money.
Also, since I always give references: http://www.theworksskatepark.co.uk/
The above comment has been debunked courtesy of Scooby Doo, debunking idiots since 1990.
1. It is a very large building with high powered lights which will make it expensive on its own without looking into other costs.
2. You make comparisons to Bottons. Skateparks appeal to a lot smaller market than what Bottons do. Im sure they can easilly afford there expenses with millions to spare. Comparing the two is idiotic.
3. As for your complaint about tuition. Rollerblading is a dying sport and there are not many decent rollerbladers in our local area. On a busy day at the park you may only see a handful of rollerbladers, non of which I would put in charge of beginners.
4 I do admit I got the wrong price, a four hour session will cost £12 not £16 (because you HAVE to be a member). Which to be fair is still £5 more than X- Site. Also you are forgetting that X- Site has an outdoor plaza which doubles the size of the park. The works has recently changed and has had a lot of the park taken out. The parks are now very similar in size.
Oh and a little about myself, I’m 22 working a minimum wage job and I can still afford to go several times a week.
“Oh and a little about myself, I’m 22 working a minimum wage job and I can still afford to go several times a week. ”
If you are single and work 40 hours a week at minimum wage (£5.80 an hour) your take home pay will be ~£10,000 a year, of that £852 or ~8.5% of your income goes to X-site (reading several times to X-site a week as three sessions at £5 a sessions plus your membership cost).
You can’t argue that’s quite a high percentage of your income for skating.
Do you have a mortgage/significant rent to pay or do you still live with your parents?
Do you have any children?
Do you have other important costs that means you can’t spend lots of money on a facility like X-site?
We wrote this review (I did the membership costs section) from the perspective of a Skegness family wanting our three children to use X-site on a regular basis, (weekly would be nice) but the poorly thought out membership costs (that are supposed to benefit regular visitors like you**) make it unaffordable for Skegness families.
For the price you pay every year you should have unlimited access to X-site and that would make them more money as you’d still be buying soft drinks, food (I understand they make a nice pizza) etc… on the premises. I assume you’d love the option to call in any time you like for what you are paying now? Think about how that would improve your experience, others like you would go more often and generate more interest from non members wanting to be part of the skating community.
If our children wanted to go to X-site three times a week it would cost us a whopping £2,412 a year!!!
Yes you read it correctly, £2,412 a year!!!
If you had children on minimum wage (there are many families on low pay) could you afford to say take yourself and two children to X-site three times a week as you do now (about 1/4 of your income) and still be able to buy food, keep the heating on, keep your kids well clothed etc…?
As the review made it clear, it’s fine for Skegness holiday makers, they expect to have to pay high prices when on holiday for a one off visit and people like yourself (as my wife put it elite skaters) with few responsibilities (feel free to correct me on this one).
If skating is your thing, (good on you BTW, cool sport, wish I had the opportunity as a kid) what you get up for every morning and trudge of to your minimum wage job so three times a week you can afford to skate at X-site, then yes £852 a year (what you pay a year right now Andy) isn’t too bad. You are an adult, for something I love I’d pay that amount as well, but what about the children who can not afford it?
Remember this was meant to be a place built to give Skegness kids somewhere to skate, some would say “get them off the streets and out of trouble”, well at £852 a year for three 4 hour sessions a week it’s not going to get many poor teenagers off the streets and out of trouble!!!
David
I’m finished with this now. If you don’t like it don’t go. End of.
Looks like X-Site do listen as they have changed their prices since we wrote this review back in 2008 (18+ months ago).
When I get some spare time I’ll update the prices and see if it changes my mind on the membership costs etc…
I hope the new prices make it affordable for Skegness families with more than one child.
David
I feel compelled to write the opinion from the source, so am making an official response to this thread from myself on behalf of the management committee of XSite Skatepark.
I would like to address some of the points raised in this thread, and hopefully make some things clear to all parties.
XSite is a registered charity, which has not been set up to make any kind of profit. Every penny we raise goes back into the business. We do have an amount of cash set aside, which is there purely as a contingency. Above this figure all money goes into park improvements and pushing the facility forward. As with all of Skegness we do struggle through the winter months with visitor numbers, purely down to the number of people who can access the facility locally. As we all know Skegness does not have the same catchment area as a larger city, and the area does not have the best access via any form of transport.
Our yearly accounts available for you all to view so you can witness first hand our bumper profits with your own eyes.
We are competitive on price with all major UK skate parks, and pride ourselves on a higher level of cleanliness of the building than many. We do not have staff in the toilet area as mentioned by one, but name me any facility that does? We are purpose built; where as many of the parks are located on industrial estates in the seedier areas of town. We have one of the largest and well respected facilities in the country. We offer an indoor course and an outdoor plaza to our users, and we are the only facility in the whole of the UK to do this. If you look at our overall facilities there are not many in the UK with more skateable area than XSite.
The cost we totally understand where you are coming from. But we do need to keep the business running, and to do this we need to charge the rates we do. Member’s rates do reduce it by £2 per session, so even if you come once per month it makes financial sense, if they use it every week it would save you £92 per year. Almost every member we have uses the facility much more than that, so gains from it. We have members rates on all competitions etc. held including the major UK title events, so there are more benefits than you have mentioned, also the first whole day is free, which saves you £12 off your membership straight away. If you asked a member of staff, they would have gladly pointed out and explained all benefits to membership to you.
We have beginner’s sessions on Saturdays, where younger users have the chance to try the sport and practice without fear of a large number of older users.
The photo of young people skating on the street. They do, I do and I was one of the campaigners who set this project up. It is a fact that people will continue to do it as this is where the grass routes of skateboarding lies. You see football pitches all over town, yet have you not ever seen a group of kids playing on the street, or on an area which is not a football pitch. As you said they caused no harm, and in many cases have been welcomed, as their presence keeps the more undesirable types away.
To put this all in perspective. We charge £7 to non members for four hours of skating. Local football clubs charge £5 per session for 2 hours per week. Martial arts clubs charge similar for up to 2 hours per week, and their overheads are significantly lower than our own. Go to the arcades, Funfair, in fact anywhere else in Skegness which is not a council run facility and try to make £5 last longer (£7 for non members) in this town.
Lastly I do not think we need to launch attacks on our staff, their wages (which are above minimum wage, and are not “in the family” as you say Scooby Doo. We pay them a wage in line with their responsibilities. They don’t just take cash off people, there is a lot more than that to running a business as I am sure you know Scooby (Hope you don’t mind me dropping the Doo). You also mention we are not a great park in your eyes. That is fine Scooby, I am sorry we do not cater to your personal needs, but we are all different. We have the UK Vans Shoes manager choosing this facility to host events, The DC team manager help design the plaza, The Volcom clothing manager run Wild in the Parks. (A completely free day to all people of the area who practice extreme sports) here. You could also ask the United Kingdom Skateboard Association, who views our facilities as some of the best in the country, or the thousands of people who use the facility every year. This hopefully proves Scooby that your view is not shared by everyone.
Also just to let you know our educational background, we have a Pharmacist, Teacher and a Graphic Designer who helped get this park here and still reside on committees, and both staff have a degree level education, so our theories are thought out, and make financial sense as I hope I have pointed out.
If you would like to converse with me further over this matter, please feel free to write to me care of the park, and I will make arrangements to answer any of your concerns.
Regards
Carl Spring
Management Committee Chairman
XSite Skatepark
XSite Skatepark said
“We charge £7 to non members for four hours of skating. Local football clubs charge £5 per session for 2 hours per week. Martial arts clubs charge similar for up to 2 hours per week, and their overheads are significantly lower than our own. Go to the arcades, Funfair, in fact anywhere else in Skegness which is not a council run facility and try to make £5 last longer (£7 for non members) in this town”.
There is no comparison between X-Site and martial arts, kids for their £5 for two hours are getting one to one professional teaching, their dan (martial arts teacher) would have spent years of their life training and got official certification to teach.
I think you will find the rates for fields and halls can be quite steep to higher weekly in different town for a handful of students (if your lucky).
I should know in my last town I ran a disco for local kids and have also been a member of a marching band in that same town, so I am fully aware of the costs for equipment and costs for halls etc…, not to mention some martial arts groups can run there own dojo which have much higher costs, so for your £5 you’re getting a lot.
I’ve also found most trainer’s either football or martial arts give a discount for more than one child attending.
To mention arcades or a funfair proves you have no understanding.
X-Site should not be competing in price with Fun fairs and arcades.
Fun fairs and arcades are not things families or kids do on a regular basis they are one off treats, and there over heads are far more than yours short and long term.
These attractions are one offs and have to charge accordingly, X-Site should be affordable weekly.
X-Site should have a higher purpose than profit, the health of the kid’s should be your main priority.
As a charity you should know that!
Marie
Hi, I just thought i’d contribute, i’m 14 and my sport of choice is BMX…
Please please please stop complaining about the price of indoor skateparks. This is a price needed to be paid, I have spoken owners of indoor skateparks and I was shocked to discover the only skatepark that actually runs at a decent profit is Adrenaline Alley (Corby) , the owner of Leeds skatepark (The works) told me that in the previous year, the skatepark ran at a loss of £500, and prices are still £10+ per session, the adults on here are complaining that it costs too much to go OFTEN, and yes, i can’t afford it myself, but i do other things, go to free outdoor skateparks, ride street etc, you see your children and think, WOW THEY ARE REALLY GOOD, but chances are all they do is go up and down ramps and get in anyone who actually rides/skates way !
That offer extends to any of you on this forum, esp yourself David as you own the website and it would be nice to give readers the up to date information.
I do not understand why people are critiquing the skatepark! At the end of the day it is in place as an aid to the community. It is easy to place these criticisms on here but what do you want? would you rather have nothing, or it seems as though people want it all for free. There is no pleasing some people, in fact i think that the skate park should send everyone in the local area a £1,000 check through the post once a month. Then u may be happy! fk it knock it down and build some more charity shops!
No one wants X-Site to be free or knocked down!
The prices they had before of £4 for 4 hours was a perfect price, but X-site expanded to fast (within 3 years of first opening), building the outdoor plaza and pushed the costs onto the kids to a ridiculous £7 for 4 hours.
That Skate park was meant to be for the kids in the community mainly, not competing with other attractions for tourists as a selling point to make money
Then to discover X-Site is a registered charity adds insult to injury at that price per child!
What’s the point in having a Skate Park when you can’t afford to use it regularly, every penny counts for families!
There you go summed up all nice and simple for you.
Marie
XSite Skatepark received £250,000 in funding from the East Lindsey District Council and the Lincolnshire County Council, because they are a charity and the skatepark was built to get Skegness kids off the streets and out of trouble.
The owner of this forum has shown the price to send local kids to this skatepark is not cheap.
I’m a single Skegness Mum and my two teenage boys are street skaters who use XSite once a week. My boys want to go more often but I cannt afford more. My kids are forced to skate the streets when theres the purpose built skatepark they would visit every day if I had the money.
XSite has let local kids down.
Interesting I’ll have to look up about the funding in more detail.
Marie
At the end of the day, regardless of the price, the price is set and hasnt changed for many years. I am not sure if anyone has actually bothered to realise but the staff and various things have been reduced due to not making bumper profits I believe. Yes they are a charity but that doesnt mean they are given funding each year to keep open, they have to survive like any other business. The way I see it is that, yes it would be amazing to keep it really cheap but if the doors closed due to not generating enough money, it would be a huge loss to the local community. There are a few that moan and groan but generally if the skatepark wasnt there for me and my mates to use what else would there be in this generally 20 years behind town.
As an example to think about, when I did kickboxing it cost me £5 for 1.5 hours, once a week. I wanted to go at least twice a week but I couldnt afford it. Its the same everywhere you go. £3 something for 1 game of bowls which can be over easily within the hour. I personally think you get your monies worth.
FANTASTIC ATTRACTION FOR SKEGNESS – I do not understand the Skegness community who are complaining about this fantastic attraction. Your main income is provided by all who come during the peak-season months. We have been visiting Skegness during the holidays for some years, but since we found Xsite our visits are more enjoyable. Our boys aged 11 (a bmx-er) and our youngest, just 6, learning to skateboard, have found Xcite a great place to learn from others who use the facility. They use both the indoor ramp room & outdoor Plaza, whilst we enjoy watching our sons progress in their chosen activities, and yes we use the cafe (which I might add compared to other attractions in Skegness is clean, extremely reasonable & good quality). I take a book with me & read in between enjoying watching the kids have fun.
A comparison on value for money is – a day without a visit to Xsite cost us £110 and all we got for that was a plastic soldier on a key-ring (including £4 for our boys to have 10mins on a trampoline!!) – a day at Xsite cost us £50. Yes you may say we have money, but you would be wrong, we are two self-employed people who in the present climate cannot afford a holiday abroad and accept the loan of a caravan. You are very lucky to have such a facility, and yes it may cost what you think is alot of money, but most, if not all, indoor skateparks, in the UK, can only survive if they are charity funded as there are not many people out there with the spare 100,000s which are needed to start up such a venture (how much would the ramp room alone cost?)
At our last visit our youngest child was taught by three 19 year olds to drop-in on his skateboard and they did nothing but give him encouragement :) It was a lovely sight to see them tap their boards on the ramps when he finally did it!
Maybe somebody could tell me how much it costs to go in a horse-drawn carriage from the clock tower to the carpark & likewise how much it costs for the kids to take a donkey ride?
Yes it is a shame that locals have to pay to use such a facility, and I am not aware whether Xsite are exempt from paying business rates/rent/utilities/maintenance/salaries, I expect not & they probably do not get regular annual funding either. I am aware that Adrenaline Alley in Corby actually receive funding purely to pay some of their staff, you cannot expect people to work for nothing – would you?
We admire those both young & old for the time and dedication they show to their chosen sport.
All this said and done everybody is entitled to view.
If I told you Mablethorpe has a Free skate park would you still go to x-site, Mablethorpe is only 15 minutes away via car, it has lovely golden sands that stretches for miles and the beach fancy huts
You have to see Jabba the Hut :)
The kids there are lovely and it’s attached to a park with open spaces, great place to be.
Mablethorpes Skate Park is listed as one of Mablethorpes official attractions.
Marie
I go to the park most weeks about 2-3 times a week and I am not a member but i can afford to go week after week. I dont know what all of the fuss is about!!! Its a skatepark made out of plywood (which is expensive) and it has some big lights to light the park it needs to pay for itself and the wood dosent last forever. If you dont like it leave it, if you like skating and dont think it is expensive go to it, its as simple as that!!! End Of.
this place is meant for professionals. it says ride at your own risk. you are so stupid. its a skatepark, for ‘extreme’ sports. reading all these comments are making me so angry. like someone said before, the staff aren’t there to babysit your children, you ride at your own risk
it is extremely cheap. I went to a skatepark in Nottingham and it was £24 for 6 hours. I would like to say that you obviously don’t know how a skatepark is run. the ramp room? really? you are really getting your money worth here, plus the café is separate from the skatepark, different owners.