The Slip Scandal
Langland surfers have been served notice that their spiritual meeting place for over 40 years is to become a thing of the past - if the council has their way.
The Slip road in Langland has been the local surfers’ parking place for generations. It is used by surfers 365 days a year and is so much more than a place to park. It is in equal parts a community centre, an open air clubhouse and maybe most importantly a safe place for the younger surfers to hang out with people they know.
Langland has produced some incredible surfers over the years including several Welsh, British and European champions and is held in high regard amongst a lot of Britain’s top surfers.
There even used to be a magazine produced called “The Slip Scandal” which documented all the local gossip and surf news.
On any given day you can find a really eclectic mix of people at the Slip ranging from eighty to eight year olds, from doctors and lawyers to bin men and dropouts, all talking and hanging out together .Where else would you find such an diverse bunch of people with the same thing in common?
Well, all this could be coming to an end because the Slip road has recently been “adopted” by the council . And in their infinite wisdom; they have served notice that they are going to put double yellow lines up the whole street which would stop anyone parking there.
Years ago ,there used to be a slipway onto the beach from the bottom of the road for the emergency services but since that was removed ,it is simply a dead end so there seems no reason for stopping people parking there.
The "Slip" is an iconic and important piece of the Langland surfing scene and it would be shameful to take this away from the local surf community.
Ed: The Bay contacted the City and County of Swansea for their comment but at the time of going to press we had had no response.
