Lahore, Pakistan

Where  Pakistan, Lahore When    2023  Who     Salad Days, Skate Pakistan, The Skateroom

In February 2023 we developed Pakistan’s first concrete skatepark in partnership with Salad Days and Skate Pakistan. 

Salad Days is a nonprofit organisation based in Los Angeles, California that provides support and mentorship to flourishing skateboard communities around the world, while Skate Pakistan is a locally run organisation that aims to spread national awareness of the sport and provide a network for the growing number of skaters in Pakistan.

The skatepark is situated in the Bagh-e-Jinnah gardens in Lahore and neighbours one of Pakistan’s oldest cricket grounds, established in 1885. The park has a long and interesting history dating back to 1860 when, largely an overgrown wilderness, it started to be used by people to practise Badminton and Cricket. Inspired by Kew Gardens in London, plans were made to turn this park into a huge botanical garden where people could continue to practise sport, hold public meetings, stage theatrical entertainment; so in 1862 it’s first tree was planted.

Over the years the park has become home to over three hundred varieties of trees, shrubs and palms, and provides a green oasis of calm in an otherwise vibrant noisy city.

The Lahore Skatepark sits amongst the foliage surrounded by wildlife, sharing an area dedicated to practising various sports and is free for everybody to use.

While the city has some fun spots to skate, the locals were desperate to have a shared space with a mixture of transition and street to meet with friends and improve. The new Lahore skatepark offers a wide variety for people of all ages and experience, and provides a second home for the skateboarders of Lahore.

Skate Pakistan, run by founder Shaihan Hassan, now looks after the local skatepark community, offering skateboard equipment and training to anybody who wants to learn how to skateboard.

photo credit: Heidi Fachtan