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About Us
Who are we….
A Brief History
SS20 was opened in December 1988 on the Cowley Road in Oxford by Mon Barbour & Dave Furneau, Sean Goff was originally employed and 10 months later bought into the partnership. At the time Sean was British Skate Champion, Dave was the British snowboard champion and Mon was the Amateur World Vert Rollerskate champion.
SS20 aim was, and always has been to provide the best possible equipment and advice in order to support the UK's skate & snowboard scenes.
Over the past eighteen years we have been a focal point for many youngsters. We have supported and put on countless events and sponsored numerous up & coming riders. Each of the partners and employees have contributed towards making SS20 one of the most respected skater/rider owned shops in the UK.
We have been the original skate sponsors for Tom Penny (now the legendary Flip pro), Danny Wainwright (now pro on Powell and partner in 50:50 skateshop & Guinness World record holder for the highest Ollie), Alex Moul (the youngest ever UK pro at 15 now pro on Santa Cruz) & Tom Watts (up & coming hotshot now on Unabomber).
Within the snowboard scene SS20 has supported countless instructors, seasonaires and competitors from the likes of Pat Meurier (now boss for K2 sales in the UK), Budd Gallimore (repeated top 5 Brits competitor) and now the up & coming Knox clan (see footage).
On top of this Dave Furneau was involved in running the original British Snowboard association, he was also one of the first snowboard instructors and the first British Snowboard Champion in the UK and taught many of the high profile snowboarders seen in the magazines over the years. In his Youth (and to this day) Dave is a keen downhill & slalom skater.
Sean Goff in now the legendary British Vert skater who has stuck to skating like a man possessed! Sean’s competition results, demos & shows have shown the UK scene that you can still cut it after you turn 40! No other UK skater has achieved as much exposure and respect for his unfaltering attitude to skating. Although Sean recently stood down from being involved in SS20 he continues to trade through eBay under the name Toddtwist – if you want something that SS20 hasn't got then you know where to go!
Mon Barbour (founder of SS20) is also a keen snowboarder and skater. He set up the Oxford Wheels Project Charity, Built Botley Bowl & helped with the legendary Cowley Road ramps. Back in the mid 80’s Mons’ Ramp (located at his parents farm near Banbury) was the scene for some of the best known B.M.X & Skateboard jams of that decade. In addition he organised the first British Skateboard Championships at Radlands in 1995.
We have had two other shops running at various times. One was at Leamington Spa Boys Club where we helped support the skatepark there which was set up by the locals. This ran for almost 2 years before it had to shut down due to the skatepark being dismantled by the Boys Club. The other shop was run briefly at Wycombe Dry Ski slope for 10 months, unfortunately due to the lack of support from the ski based management plus an unscrupulous employee we had to abandon it!
SS20 has gone from strength to strength, providing customers with top quality service, sound advice and one of the fastest mail order services in the UK. We continue to support sponsored skaters and have recently set up deals with skateparks (including the Works in Leeds) in order to provide financial support for them. SS20 has no plans for opening more stores as we believe that this would dilute our skills & knowledge leading to poor service. Our reputation within the skateboard & snowboard industry is second to none and that’s the way we’d like to keep it.
Thank you for your support, and please remember to buy from independent skater/rider owned shops where possible.
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