Creation Skatepark. (Birmingham) — Attraction in Birmingham

This review is from the perspective of a rollerblader. First off, I only came here for an hour as I was passing through Birmingham and had some free time. I was told I had to pay £8 for a full session even though I was only staying for an hour. They also said a day membership fee of a quid was chargeable. So 9 quid for an hours skate. Don't think so. I told them to forget it as I know Oakland's was close and wanted to check that out anyway. They then said they would only charge me a fiver for an hour, still had to pay the day membership fee, so £6 for an hours rolling. Still expensive but I coughed up. The place seems a lot bigger than it actually is, split into 3 main areas - beginner, rhythm and bowl but I suppose you could class the foam pit and rail run as separate sections too. The foam pit is perfection, really nice roll in that you can hit fast or slow, the jump quarter into the pit is the perfect size and transition to get big height, nice large soft pit so there's no worries of hitting anything no matter how bad your attempts go. It's a bit of a chew getting out the pit as the ledge to climb out is a few foot above the foam, they should cut some small foot holes into the board under the ledge. The bowl is a ton of fun, nice and big with various slopes, various angles and various coping heights but not too much going on to make it awkward to use and the coping allways flows with no steps so you can continue grinding around the changes of slopes and kinked angles. The spine mini is a little too small in both width and height but still decent, great for beginners. The grind box near the foam pit is nice, a little too low but still totally useable. Good to see round coping used over square here. Could do with having a longer grind box somewhere for more advanced skaters. The rail is so damn good, nice flat top section to practice getting onto tricks first but the sloped section is a perfect length and perfect slope, not too steep not too shallow. Even though I liked the rail and grind box section, I think this layout could be done a lot better, get rid of the mini quarter to big quarter spine and put in a big grind box, or, keep it but still add grinding furniture in the middle or either side to use on it. I didn't touch the beginner section, nothing took my interest and I left it to a boarder to use in peace. The rhythm section looks ok but not the best layout and ramps I've seen. This time I didn't use it, not enough time and other areas deserved my interest much more. The vert looks awesome but I didn't try it out, again no time and no interest this time.

Some negatives. The whole park, grinding rails and coping, it's like skating treacle. Everything is so slow and sticky to grind, which is actually dangerous as I lost count of the times I stopped dead grinding on the metal while going at speed and getting flung off, smashing my hips, shins and coccyx. There's signs saying no wax, why? There's no fun box anywhere, I've never seen a skate park without one!

If you're in the area or live local, I recommend you check it out there's definitely some fun to be had here. I live around 2 hours away, I wouldn't make that trip just to come here but would drop in if in...

I found this really disappointing and unfriendly as a parent when I took my 7 year old recently, compared to the much more parent friendly Unit 360 in Stourbridge. There is nowhere to sit inside the ramp park itself so parents have to sit in the cafe out of sight of your children, which I found really boring, but also frustrating as I couldn't keep an eye on my young son should he have an accident, or to enjoy watching him on his scooter, and he couldn't see me. The first time there was a side bench in the ramp park I precariously perched on, but this was gone next time. When I asked staff about it, and where else I could sit, they just shrugged unhelpfully. I'll be returning to the cheaper and friendlier Unit 360 again with its great cafe and mezzanine area where you can enjoy watching the action and feel like you are participating more as a parent. Creation is more suited to...

Don't use the facility for active pursuits but my son loves it. As a taxi dad its good for the long wait with a decent seating area aside from the skate and climbing areas. There's a TV and decent free wifi. The cafe menu is really good and reasonably priced. I can fully recommend the full English breakfast. The cups/mugs of tea and coffee help ease the wait. Be warned it can get quite busy on school holidays, especially if the weather is likely to be bad. All in all I'd recommend for both beginner and experienced skater/scooters. Not too far from the town centre for those wanting retail therapy instead of a long wait. (I'd say it's a fairly safe place to leave youths unattended. However, I'd recommend that you inform the staff, so they can take contact details, and keep an eye out for you in case of...