Welcome to CIVIC, a Leeds Skateboarding Resource

Equal parts publication, library and guidebook, CIVIC has been created to showcase Leeds skateboarding, provide a visual archive of its history and assist in bridging formal relationships with spaces and institutions to nurture an understanding of skateboarding’s local cultural value.

The website features an interactive spot map and spot guides aiming to make street skateboarding in Leeds more accessible, and a comprehensive video archive of skateboarding media produced by the Leeds skateboarding community, spanning from the late 1990s to today.

The name, “CIVIC” is derived from a bygone nickname for what is now known as Millennium Square but also proposes the idea that skateboarders can have a greater role in discussions of public space and their place within it.

Send
Contact
About
Instagram
Spot Map

Guided Skateable Tour of Public Artworks

Sunday 17 May 2026

Latest Feature:

Start: 2pm, Mandela Gardens
End: 3:30pm, Leeds Dock
(1.4 miles)


Bonus: 4pm, Playhouse Square (0.6 miles)

Tour locations and route are wheelchair accessible. Audio will be enhanced with portable PA system.


Location Details:

Both Arms, Kenneth Armitage, 2000

Mandela Gardens, Calverley St, LS1 3DA


7000 Oaks, Joseph Beuys, 1982–1987

Victoria Square, The Headrow, LS1 3AH


The Boules Player, Roger Burnett, 2000

Bond Court, LS1 2JZ


The Black Prince, Thomas Brock, 1902

City Square, LS1 2HA


Hibiscus Rising, Yinka Shonibare, 2023

Meadow Lane, LS11 5BJ


Steeped Vessels, Ian Randall, 2006

Brewery Place, LS10 1NE


Skateboarding in Leeds, Melody Murals, 2025

The Dockside, Leeds Dock, LS10 1LR


Ribbons, Pippa Hale, 2024

Playhouse Square, LS2 7UP

Civic Skateboarding was about forming better relationships between skateboarders and Leeds’ civic and cultural institutions in order to better protect one another. It paid particular attention to the growing number of female and minority gender skateboarders who are disproportionally affected by the lack of safety in public spaces and was co-created, co-curated, and co-skated by many members of the Leeds skateboard community. Read here.

Ruby McMullen, hippy jump over Ribbons by Pippa Hale. Photograph by Farran Golding.

You can join this tour on foot, wheels or skates. Free, and no need to book.


This guided tour of public artworks in Leeds City Centre explores the connections between these works and the skate spots they have come to inhabit. Led by artist and skateboarder Harry Meadley, the tour invites the skate community to learn more about artworks they already spend time with, while also inviting members of the public to spend time with skaters and their deep relationship to the city’s public spaces.

This project/event is part of Situation Leeds Festival, happening across May and June 2026, celebrating contemporary art in the public realm. Find out more at situationleeds.org/festival
Situation Leeds is supported by Yorkshire Visual Arts Network and Hyde Park Book Club.