London Skate Centre — Local services in London

Mis-sold an ill fitting pair of figure skates at the start of this year. Unfortunately, I thought I would write this review so that other novice skaters do not experience a costly mistake both in terms of cash and more importantly time spent learning to skate. I 'googled' skate shops and this one came up as it was local and on the surface had very good reviews so i thought great, I'll go there get advice and buy my first pair of skates which in hindsight I regret to this day.

I called ahead for advice and went in-store one weekend with the view to buying my first pair of skates. The young gentleman seemed pleasant enough and the store was literally empty with probably one other customer. He knew i was a beginner skater and said i should simply try on a few pairs of to get the correct fit (which is precisely what they should NOT BE DOING as these are not a pair of trainers!). Being a novice i choose a pair of skates bigger than my trainer size assuming that comfort was meant to be the main factor when purchasing my first proper pair of skates. At no stage did the shop assistant measure up my feet. I later learned to my expense that this should have been done as a bare minimum.

It turned out that after several months (6+ months) of learning to skate and my hockey skate pals noticed that there was a massive amount of space/wiggle room that i had been sold a pair of rather expensive skates that were 2.5 SIZES TOO BIG!!.

I assumed that this shop was run by experts but I have had a very poor experience and based on my experience strongly would suggest YOU AVOID THIS SHOP if you want to get skates that fit.

On a suggestion from a hockey skating friend he told me to go to Streatham Ice Rink and check out their specialist store for advice. This was probably the best skating advice anyone has give me regarding skating. I went there and got my skates checked out. He (Harry Streatham Ice Rink Skate Store) professionally measured my feet and the skates I had purchased from London Skate Centre were 2.5 sizes too big even the skate blades were not correctly sharpened!!!.

I ended up selling the expensive skates I purchased from London Skate Centre for a fraction of the cost of what i had paid. The ABSOLUTE WORST thing about my whole experience was that I had learned to skate on incorrectly sized boots for several months and had to re-learn to skate on properly fitting skate boots.

In a nutshell, I would give this store zero stars if i could to be totally honest and would avoid London Skate Centre AT ALL COSTS and make the effort to go to Streatham Ice Rink for any skating related products for a professional experience/accurate experience and avoid a costly mistake. I ended up purchasing a perfectly fitted skate boots from Streatham Ice Rink which are the 'correct' size and always go here for skate sharpening etc... as this in my opinion is the best place in London for skating. My biggest regret was not going to Streatham in the first place to avoid all...

I'll cut to the chase -- this past summer I purchased a pair of Edea Overtures from this shop. My feet were measured and I was given two brands to try, Edeas and Risport. The guys who work there, Alex and Luke, are generally quite nice, as evidenced by the majority of positive reviews here. I am a beginner adult skater so I didn't really know what to expect -- the Edeas felt OK to me so I got them (size 255). I wasn't even told anything about blades and was just given the ones that came with the boots (Edea Balance). As a total novice, I didn't think to question any of this at the time and was happy with the service. I paid about GBP300 for the boots and blades (plus some guards). I even left a 5 star review here.

Fast forward to several months into my skating journey with a private coach, I could just feel something was off with my skates. I kept chucking it down to my own (in)ability -- I am a beginner after all so I thought I just need more time/it's me, not the skates. I did go into the shop several times when sharpening my skates and asked about the pain I was feeling/the odd feeling of not being able to get on edges, and was told it's very likely just me and the skates are fine. I was told I just need to practice more.

Stubbornly, I decided to visit Everglides, to drive 2.5 hours from London, to just check if they can help with some custom insoles at least because I couldn't shake the feeling something was wrong. I found them online and thought I'd try my luck. The people there measured my feet in a way that was not done in this shop -- width as well as length -- and had special equipment that assessed my arches. Lo and behold -- I am actually a size 245 in Edea — a full two sizes DOWN from what I was sold at London Skate Shop. They were really surprised at how I was told a size 255. I was also told the Edea Balance blades, while an OK beginner blade, are not exactly appropriate for an adult skater. I had to buy WHOLE NEW BOOTS AND BLADES, shelling out another GBP350+.

While I appreciate that Alex and Luke are nice guys, I wanted to share my experience just to encourage people to be vigilant. I had been learning to skate in the wrong size for 5 months. When I took the insole of my old (incorrectly sized) Edeas out, it was so obvious how wrong the size was -- the top 2cm of the insoles were stark white -- my feet never touched them. Maybe this shop can improve their feet measuring process. At least they could have checked SOMETHING when I reached out to them for advice, rather than insisting the issue was my skills.

For me, buying skates here resulted in GBP300 down the drain. As the owners of this shop should know, skating is an expensive hobby. I am not really in a position to be shelling out 300 pounds on skates that I will now never use again (is anyone?). So...

I must have caught the staff on a bad day. I entered the shop and patiently waited to be served whilst a young child was being seen to. The staff member looked at me, looked me up and down, turned his nose up at my appearance (I was in a suit).

I am not built for figure skating (more for recreational hockey) admittedly due to my size and the fact that my “big guy” size was mentioned later, the worker clearly didn’t want to assist too much.

I politely asked if I could be sized up for a pair of skates, to be informed that this wouldn’t be possible due to the shop experiencing time wasters and only sized if I was buying. Again politely, I asked how could I buy a pair of skates if I didn’t know what size I was. Reluctantly I was sized and tried on a pair of skates, whilst the attendant went back to his colleague and the child figure skating in the making. I then tried to ask for more information but it was difficult to say the least. I certainly felt the staff member had dismissed me as a time waster and was more keen to attend to the child.

I was informed again that I was a big guy for skating and I calmly challenged the worker around his overall attitude, informing him that I had seen his visual once over that triggered his “bad smell” reaction upon my arrival.

I’m not a delicate flower so people like him are quickly forgotten but for a small establishment treating a serious customer (who had already decided he was going to spend £200 on new skates before he had arrived in the shop) with such a pompous attitude (I won’t use the phrase fat shaming but...) is disappointing and I will take my money to Puckstop where the individual is served as the staff member would like to be served themself.

I’m just a Dad who wants to join his two girls playing hockey, it’s hard enough coming into a specialist shop knowing nothing and looking for advice to then be treated...