Faces of Kettering: Trav Clayton of Illicit Skate School

“At the Skate Park, Everyone Was One”

We sat down with Trav Clayton, Kettering-born skateboarder and founder of Illicit Skate School, to talk about why skateboarding is about so much more than tricks – and how it’s changing young lives across the county.

Tell us a bit about yourself and how this all started.

I was born in Kettering, I’m 36 now, and I’ve been skateboarding since I was about 12 or 13. Growing up, Chopper skate shop in Kettering was a real hub for us. When I look back on my childhood, it was obviously way more than just a shop – it was somewhere to hang out, somewhere to belong. I think with a lot of sports, like football or rugby, there’s a clubhouse, a team, an affiliation. Skateboarding didn’t really have that – but the shop gave us it, and it was super important.

I went travelling for a few years and lived in Australia, and while I was away, the shop closed down. In that moment it felt like someone had died. It was more than just a shop closing – for a lot of us, it was memories. It meant something.

When I came back to Kettering and found myself in a job I was hating, I thought – you know what, there’s enough of a skate scene here. I’m going to try and open a shop and give the next generation what that place gave to us. I sat down with Mark and Amanda, the previous owners, and they helped me open accounts with all the brands and told me where they felt things had gone wrong. I tried to fill in those gaps.

How did things develop from there?

When I opened, I immediately inherited a preexisting skate scene and clientele – so it came together pretty quickly. I started in a little container in the yards, then moved into a bigger unit opposite where I put a half pipe inside. That space really did become a safe place for young people. It was a brilliant hangout.

But it was also a business that needed to make money, and at times it felt more like a youth club than a profitable shop. Covid hit, a few other things happened, and keeping it open became really stressful. I was doing a lot of work just to keep the lights on, and I was genuinely worried about what the young people who depended on it would do if it wasn’t there.

So I started doing skate lessons on the side to bring in a bit of extra income – and I found it hugely fulfilling. Seeing someone learn something new, feeling that moment of accomplishment – it took me right back to how I felt when I first got into skateboarding. Giving that to young people was amazing.

Gradually, the lessons became the main thing. There’s no physical shop anymore – I sell boards online – but my main work now is three days a week doing specialist provisions with kids for whom mainstream school hasn’t worked out. I pick them up, we go to the skate park, and they learn through skateboarding. Resilience. Hard work. If you fall, you get back up.

Why do you think skateboarding works so well for young people?

It reaches so many different corners and subcultures of young people – boys, girls, all sorts. When I look at old childhood photos of skateboarders, it’s such a vast mix. You’ve got the grungy side, the hip hop side, and you look at a group photo and think, how on earth did these people meet? But that’s what I love about it.

At school, you can get boxed in – labelled, put in a category. But at the skate park, if you’re riding a skateboard, everyone is just one. I think that’s such an amazing thing. And I really do see that across all the schools and places I work now, across every walk of life.

A lot of people come to it apprehensively, worried about falling – but because I love it so much, I think I can give them that passion. And they love it. That’s what keeps me going.

How can people get involved?

You can reach out through Instagram or Facebook – just search Illicit Skate School. I do taster sessions, one-to-ones, and group sessions, so there are loads of ways to jump in. I teach everyone from four year olds up – group sessions for four to eight year olds, and nine plus separately. Happy days!

Illicit Skate School operates across Kettering, Corby, and Northampton. Find Trav on Instagram and Facebook to book sessions or find out more.

This interview is part of Faces of Kettering – a celebration of the extraordinary people who make our town the place it is. Each person featured in the series has had their portrait painted by a local artist, with the paintings displayed in locations across Kettering town centre as a colourful reminder of the community spirit that runs through everything we do here.

You can find all of the portraits – and where to find them – on our interactive art trail map on the Love Kettering Hub. Whether you follow the trail in an afternoon or stumble across a painting on your daily routine, we hope each one makes you smile, and perhaps inspires you to find out a little more about the remarkable people who make Kettering great.