Indoor Parks

[that NBR dude]

I know there are lots of these type of topics floating around at the moment, but this is a bit different so if you could give it 5 mins of your time, that would be greatly appreciated.

It seems pretty obvious that councils say all these things, but never really put any effort or bother into putting them into practice, which is why I am looking for just some general comments and suggestions.

Recently I have been shown around some commercial buildings, gathering some ideas about the potential of renting one to supply riders with an indoor park. Now this is a costly venture, and I dont want to go for it and loose out completely because people aren't bothered about using it.

The Units I have been looking at, are around 300-500sq/m, high roof and made from liners/compo panels, most of wich come with ample parking, and a shutter front door. A unit like this will be costing between £8,000-£15000 per annum. Location wise, Im aiming at within easey riding distance of train stations/bus stops in secure industrial estates.

Obviously there would have to be an entry fee. To cover the cost of the unit alone, at £8000 per annum, with an entry fee of £5 for example, I would need a minimum of 1600 people to attend within that year. That would be like frequent forum users attending at least twice a year. An entry fee of £7 would need a minimum of 1143 people a year.

On top of that, we need insurance, and staff to run the building throughout the day. This could add up to more like users attending at least 4 times per year. Now some of this money can be sourced from government grants, lottery grants, advertising, catering facilities, sponsorship, regular competitions ect.

Now the questions Im asking are:

Would you use it?

If you did use it, would you come more than once?

Would you be happy with an entry fee of £5?

Would you attend competitons there?

I need to put all these things into consideration, before I can make the leap in renting one and building something, but I need to be 100% sure that it can work before I start.

Thanks

[011001000110010101110010]

Id use it to be honest I would pay £5-8 for the day (provided you could leave and return with some food etc). Places like motion Skate Park in bristol charge £8 I think and thats not for a whole days riding. What sort of opening hours where you thinking of?

[PaRtZ]

for me:

Yes

Yes

Yes i'd pay a tenner

Definitly yes

But don't for heavens sake buy a building near london or scotland or such like because how are people at the opposite end of the country gna get there? Somewhere like birmungham (which is still a couple of hours in the car for me) would be better because its more central

[that NBR dude]

Id use it to be honest I would pay £5-8 for the day (provided you could leave and return with some food etc). Places like motion Skate Park in bristol charge £8 I think and thats not for a whole days riding. What sort of opening hours where you thinking of?

Would be along the lines of 9am till 8pm on weekdays for example, and 9am till 10 on weekends or something.

This is on the assumption that I would be there every day to open/close ect.

Yes would be a pay for the day, and that covers you all day, no matter how many times you leave.

Unfortunately PaRtZ it would be on the South coast (Poole/bournemouth/Christchurch) as I would have to be there every day to run it, and Im not travelling 4 hours a day

Im sure the location will put people off, but if we can get enough interest, I might be able to source some special rates at local travel inns ect for people to stay a weekend or something.

[Orgun_Donor]

Obviously dependant on location, and ease of transport to and from.

Yea id use it, and more then once.

Yes id attend comps

And id pay 5 - 10 for a days riding - if you provided water, and a kettle, so i could make a few cups o' tea!

EDIT - Correcting my Engrish

Edited January 26, 2007 by Orgun_Donor

[that NBR dude]

Obviously dependant on location, and ease of transport to and from.

Yea id use it, and more then once.

Yes id attend comps

And id pay 5 - 10 for a days riding - if you provided water, and a kettle, so i could make a few cups o' tea!

EDIT - Correcting my Engrish

Im sure I can stretch the budget and get a kettle for you

[Brian Bleech]

Would you use it?

Yes - would like to see interesting variety of obsticles and stuff. not just TGS. Foam pit drop off would be 'the shit'

If you did use it, would you come more than once?

Maybe, the location would put me off. Again If it was worth coming I would

Would you be happy with an entry fee of £5?

Yes, even £7/8 pounds

Would you attend competitons there?

maybe

[Davetrials]

to be honest i think u live reet down south and alot of notherners just wont be arsed i bet to treck all the way there, it cost best part of 30quid return to get the train your way, so theres half the forum gone.

sorry to be fanny, i hope sum one can provwe me wrong

[Ali C]

I wouldnt use it purly because its 5 hours drive away, but if there was a comp there I would like to attend.

[Bruce]

As im a from down that way (Bridport in Dorset to be exact) I would definately use it! And as its still a little way from where i live i can imagine that when i did come, i would bring a group of friends with me (saves on petrol money etc. make a bit of a road trip out of it! lol)

£5 is more than fair...i would happily pay up a tenner.

As for comps...yes! definately!

I know what people mean about location and having to drive miles to use the facility, but to be honest where ever it is its always going to be the wrong place for someone.

[TomR]

Depending on location - Im near milton keynes and only 1.5-2hours away from berighton by train, so easily do-able.

Would you use it? - Yes

If you did use it, would you come more than once? - Yes, assuming all levels of rider ability is catered for

Would you be happy with an entry fee of £5? Yes

Would you attend competitons there? Possibly to spectate, but not to enter.

[Ghetto Rider]

Now the questions Im asking are:

Would you use it?

If you did use it, would you come more than once?

Would you be happy with an entry fee of £5?

Would you attend competitons there?

Thanks

Yes

Yes

Yes - upto a tenner!

And yes, we like comps!

Sounds like a good idea mate, i bet you'd make a bob or 2 for your back pocket!

Dan

[Scotty Evil1]

Now the questions Im asking are:

Would you use it? Deffinatly!!!! Especially as i should start driving in march.

If you did use it, would you come more than once? Once again, deffinatly, seeing as its the only one in the UK

Would you be happy with an entry fee of £5? That sounds very reasonable, i think people would be willing to pay £5 - £10

Would you attend competitons there? Yes, i think competitions there would be a great fun, and they would be a good way of promoting the park

Thanks

Scott

[that NBR dude]

Thanks all for the comments

I know the location is a bit of a pain, and something more central would be easier for all, but I will look into making it as easy as possible for people to at least make the journey once with discount rooms or something.

This is just a pipedream at the moment, but Im hoping with enough research, it might just be possible to do.

All levels would be catered for. Theres no point limiting the appeal to a certain type of people, so things from white route up to yellow, with ramps and all sorts, so everyone who comes would have something to enjoy.

[Joe Papasnap Maher]

Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes..

Do it..

Poole is still a few hours drive from where im moving to, but id go definatly.

Drive down, ride it, stay with someone who lives around the area. Ride southcoast seaside resort day after. mish it home.

Thats what i would do.

indoor comps are clearly a good idea

[Christophe']

Yes, would definately use it !

would pay a tenner a pop for a whole day.

would use 4 times a year , maybe more.( depending on the standard of stuff to ride on)

Sounds good!

[haydon_peter]

Being reallistic here Andy but please dont take this the wrong way as its a constructive one.

Trials is a relatively small sport, Im sure sitting in a warehouse every day with no one turning up due to work commitments, school etc... will drive you crazy after a while. Opening at the weekends would make sence, as would some evenings and obviously school holidays, but there is no way you could make a full time thing of an indoor trials park!

£8000-£15000 is a shit load of money for you to risk on a dedicated indoor trials park.

You would really have broaden the activities provided to have any chance of it surviving! (Examples: Climbing Wall, Go-Karting, skate park, indoor paintball? etc.....)

A recent real life example for you:

Just outside Salisbury is Wessex Raceway one of the biggest indoor Karting tracks in the UK. Very speciallist and was stupidly expensive to set up! (Dad knew the bloke that started it and has since sold it to someone else) but a sport that is much bigger than trials. After the busy opening period they always seemed quiet the few times I have been, but were busy the time I went to a corporate event. Its been going for a good 5 years, so cant be failing as a business, but very recently they have added Virtual Warfare Laser Combat to the activities they run. There is a posability they had to diversify because having a facility dedicated to such a speciallist sport was not working out, or maybe it was working and they wanted to expand and have a new challenge? Just an example for you anyway!

[steve1rc]

i would definately use it and attend as much as possible. To be honest a tenner does't sound expensive to me, and i would definately try to get to some comps.

[Krisboats]

I was thinking the same thing about local buildings round here, theres a place thats been abondoned for quite a while and when the weather gets better i'm going to get in contact and ask about cleaning it up and using it for a certain amount each month, i figured anything'd be better than him having it just sit there.

But in order to make a proper go of it its going to need to be more versatile, especially at the lower coast of the uk where a lot of riders just won't be able to get to. Maybe have it set up with street sections and things, some quarter pipes and stuff, movable ramps maybe? This way you could attract a lot MORE custom by allowing skateboarders and bmx'ers in there. There was a local skatepark in leicester and i was talking to the owner fora while and he said it was good at first, but then nobody seemed to show up and he began losing money despite altering the layout and actively publicising the place. In the end he had to sell it and when a friend looked at the details it was amazing how he's managed to keep it going as long as he did, and this was with a normal skatepark.

Don't get me wrong, its a great idea, however without considering more options for customers, it is one unlikely to succeed for any large duration of time.

I always used to go to derby storm skatepark and that was like £6 for a half day and £10 for a full day... i certainly wouldn't mind paying that for something better for trials.

[steve1rc]

through my kayak club, we found a government youth fund... if you apply at the end of the year, you usually have a good chance of getting the money leftover. I'm sure that this plan would count as it is mainy for youth, or youth at heat (no offence meant)

Steve

[PaRtZ]

You would really have broaden the activities provided to have any chance of it surviving! (Examples: Climbing Wall, Go-Karting, skate park, indoor paintball? etc.....)

That sounds good actually. you could combine trials + paintball mwahahaha or paintball and go-karting lolz

What about insurance and that? or is it going to be an unofficial sorta thang?

Actually sounds like a larf

[monkeyseemonkeydo]

Hmm... I've been thinking about this before posting and although at the moment it would seem a really good plan and everyone's going to say 'yeah! wicked! I'd come loads...' by the time spring comes around we have a country full of wicked natural riding and architecture which would mean that for most of the year it would be a total dead end (IMO of course). To work it would either need to be

a) a permanent outdoor facility requiring no staffing and be all weather (like that one in Spain)

b ) a (most likely small) annex to a permanent indoor skatepark or

c) we would need to have winters that last 9 months making riding outdoors impossible!

Reading that over seems very pessimistic but I don't want you to stick a load of money into something without sussing it out first...

Dave

Edited January 26, 2007 by monkeyseemonkeydo

[Davetrials]

15 k to rent the place

f**k knows how much for insurance, im not gonna tip toe around the fact u dont have 20 grand and you wont want to loan that sorta money and sumthing so dodgy.

not worth it at all. sorry, a skatepark with trials facilities as well maybe.

[Christophe']

Hmm... I've been thinking about this before posting and although at the moment it would seem a really good plan and everyone's going to say 'yeah! wicked! I'd come loads...' by the time spring comes around we have a country full of wicked natural riding and architecture which would mean that for most of the year it would be a total dead end (IMO of course). To work it would either need to be

a) a permanent outdoor facility requiring no staffing and be all weather (like that one in Spain)

b ) a (most likely small) annex to a permanent indoor skatepark or

c) we would need to have winters that last 9 months making riding outdoors impossible!

Reading that over seems very pessimistic but I don't want you to stick a load of money into something without sussing it out first...

Dave

hmm

I thought about my first post!

I thought waahay yes it would be ideal for me to ride in the winter.

But having read daves points and also reading ticcys points it doesnt realy seem viable to me.

[Tommy d]

Seems it might be tricky to pull off from what people are saying but I'll answer the questions anyway.

Yep I'd come about 3 times a year for the next couple of years I reckon (while I'm at Southampton uni anyway), more if the winter was really windy/wet. EDIT: X2 since I'd bring my friendly neighbourhood trials buddy along too.

Entry fee could be at least £5 since the train fair would be a bit more than that anyway so no point shaving off a couple of quid.

Might attend a competition just for laughs but I'm not too into comp. Having comps every few months might be the best way to attract lots of people?

Obviously it makes sense to have it where you live not in Birmingham, you can't make one single park cater for the whole country, just make sure its near the station, has parking etc, like you said.

Although being a student I could come during the week, I agree it might be wisest to just open it weekends and the odd evening. You would ideally need to find some other way of using the building during the week though so you're not wasting your money on the presmises. No idea what though. Find some way of renting it out for business functions/training days or something? Don't ask me how since it will be full of trials fodder but use your imagination I guess...

Edited January 27, 2007 by Tommy d