Kennington Park’s historic skate park has been given a cash injection from Lambeth Council worth more than £500,000 to help bring it back to life and make it safer to use again.
The popular 1970s skatebowl, known to many as ‘Kenny’, had fallen into decline and had become dangerous to use. Lambeth Council said this was due to unevenness caused by foundation movement which was linked to the skatepark’s original construction on a tarmac court, as well as distortion from tree roots.
In September 2025, campaigners launched a petition which called on the council to fulfil its previous promise to restore the skatebowl. The petition already has more than 2,500 signatures and had been backed by Skateboard GB, the governing body for skateboarding in Britain.
A spokesperson for local group, Friends of Kennington Park (FoKP), which has led the campaign to restore it, said: “We, and the whole skateboarding community, are thrilled that the council has decided to honour their promise to restore Kennington Park’s iconic skatebowl.
“There’s still a long way to go, but we’re very much looking forward to working with the council to get the project back on track.”
They added: “We hope things will get moving again once the new financial year starts in April. The procurement process will need to reboot, and contractor negotiations completed. And we’re hopeful that work on the site will start this year.”
A Lambeth Council spokesperson previously told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) that capital projects including the skatepark had been paused due to its financial position at the time, but that it was reviewing all projects and hoped to have an update for resident groups soon.
The funding, worth £566,000, has now been included in next year’s Capital Investment and was agreed by Cabinet at a meeting earlier this month. The decision was officially endorsed as part of Lambeth Council’s annual budget meeting on March 4.
Cllr Donatus Anyanwu, Lambeth Council’s Cabinet Member for Stronger Communities, said: “Kennington Skatepark is highly valued by people in Lambeth and far beyond, and we’re delighted that we’ve been able to confirm this vital support.
“This funding underlines our long-term commitment to this skatepark as a valuable community asset for years to come. We’re determined that this investment will secure Kenny’s future as a skatepark that can be enjoyed by everyone.”
The works include screw-pile foundations, realigning concrete slabs and will be using specialist contractors who are skilled in skateboard-grade concrete fabrication and finishing.
Extensive work will also include asbestos remediation, essential concrete works, access-ramp design and construction as well as grinding and polishing.
The council is planning to appoint a specialist contractor to fix the skatebowl’s structural issues, with the intention of making it high-quality, safe and ready for the skateboarding community to use again. The skatepark opened in 1978 and is one of the oldest in the country and was designed by “grandfather of British skateboarding”, Lorne Edwards, who sadly passed away during Covid-19.
Dave the Chimp, a street artist who has been skateboarding since the age of 12, said the reason he moved to London was he saw his idol, Mark Gonzales, at Kennington Skatebowl.
Dave, who now lives in Germany, previously told the LDRS: “I used to love going there, it was my happy place, there used to be a bunch of skateparks that we would go to, but Kennington was always the happy place.
“It was different enough that it was also challenging and it was surrounded by trees, it was cool and a good place to hang out.”
He added: “There’s no other construction like that anywhere in the country, I think it’s unique and should be repaired for skateboarding.”
