Get ready to play! Looking for something different to get you out of the house? Well, Glasgow’s Urban Playground is for you…
An exciting new collaboration between three of Glasgow’s top leisure attractions – Pinkston Watersports, The Loading Bay Skatepark and Scotland’s first Wake Park – Glasgow Wakepark to create a strengthened visitor experience for Glasgow adventure tourism. Launching very soon, here’s what to expect:
New outdoor Activities
This fresh collaboration will allow guests to choose from a variety of outdoor activity packages from across the ‘Urban Playground’ such as pick-and-mix sports packages and tasters; family watersports days and children’s residential stays and experiences.
Funded by Experience Glasgow to support development and new bookable products this unified adventure and alternative sports brand will help develop Glasgow as a must-visit tourist destination.
Where is it?
Located side by side around the Forth and Clyde Canal, just 10 minutes from Glasgow city centre, Pinkston Watersports, Glasgow Wake Park and The Loading Bay Skatepark are joining forces to establish a collaborative and exciting visitor experience in north Glasgow.
As members of Glasgow Canal Co-op, the three cutting-edge organisations already work closely together in this part of the city, which has undergone significant regeneration and a renaissance in recent years, to ensure their fantastic sport facilities are accessible to the local community.
Nestled around the top of the canal in this up and coming corner of the city, the three destinations already individually offer a host of activities for beginners, large groups and adrenaline lovers alike, including kayaking, canoeing, white water rafting, stand up paddleboarding, skateboarding, BMXing and wakeboarding.
Let’s Get Outside
The new set-up will mean it’s never been easier for the local community and visitors to experience the great outdoors in the city and get a taste for urban sport – all set among the canal’s unique industrial heritage, with breathtaking views across the city.
This boost from Glasgow’s Industry Collaboration Fund will allow the organisations to pull together and allow people from near and far to book truly unique, combined experiences online.
Hannah Blair, general manager at Pinkston Watersports, said: “The scale and quality of the sports facilities our three businesses offer are unique to Glasgow and rarely found in the heart of any city. Collaborating like this and coming up with new, joined-up packages will allow us to welcome more visitors than ever before and show them exactly what this exciting part of the city has to offer.
“We’re like-minded organisations who want to share our passion for our sports with as many people as possible. We want the local community and visitors to have a brilliant experience getting stuck in and see that anyone can try a new alternative sport right here in Glasgow. The funding from Experience Glasgow allows us to combine forces and create a digital presence that will help reach new people. We can’t wait to launch it.”
The Collaboration Fund is supported by Scottish Enterprise and aims to help deliver on the ambitions of Glasgow’s Tourism and Visitor Plan to 2023 to develop innovative products and services for visitors and attract more people than ever before to the city.
The funding will support these three businesses to create a new shared brand, a website with online booking facilities and to trial their new packages to reach new visitors from nearby, as well as UK and international visitors.
Urban Playground will launch in the next few months.
Meet the Urban Playground Businesses
Glasgow Canal Co-op is a collective of organisations on the bank of Glasgow’s Forth & Clyde Canal in the north of the city, which aims to unlock the potential of the canal to create a vibrant neighbourhood for people to live, work and visit. Glasgow canal is an emerging destination and home to leading cultural organisations, cutting-edge sports activities, Scotland’s first urban nature reserve and Glasgow Canal Festival. The area has unique assets of heritage, environment, arts and sports, which paired with the thriving organisations and brilliant people based along the canal, make it an area with much to celebrate.
Pinkston Watersports is a community paddlesports centre with Scotland’s only artificial white water course, offering unique urban watersports facilities in an urban setting. You can take part in paddlesport classes, community activities, team building and even host a birthday. Whether it’s rafting, kayaking, canoeing or stand up paddleboarding you’re into, Pinkston’s the place for you.
Glasgow Wake Park is a system 2.0 wakeboard park in the heart of Glasgow open from March to October. Whether you would like to wakeboard for the first time, or are set on perfecting your latest trick, Glasgow Wake Park is the perfect watersports destination. The park’s cable system allows the wakeboarder to ride continuously, turning at each end of the basin. They have four obstacles floating in the water that allow riders to perform varying levels of tricks.The Loading Bay is the latest addition to north Glasgow’s alternative urban sports playground and Glasgow’s first and only indoor skatepark. The 30,000 sq ft space features a street plaza, a 60ft long bowl, movable modular ramps and training room with trampolines, gymnastics flooring and foam pits and a café. The Loading Bay is the result of a collaboration between internationally acclaimed skate ramp company Vision Ramps, whose past collaborators include Red Bull and the team behind the new James Bond movie, and Scottish Canals. It is fast becoming a favourite spot for pros and beginners alike.
