{"id":242234,"date":"2026-01-13T11:12:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T11:12:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/242234\/"},"modified":"2026-01-13T11:12:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T11:12:10","slug":"clive-rowen-legend-of-irish-skateboarding-scene-dies-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/242234\/","title":{"rendered":"Clive Rowen, legend of Irish skateboarding scene, dies \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">The \u201cgodfather of Irish skating\u201d, Clive Rowen, has died, his skating shop confirmed on social media.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">His death was announced by the shop\u2019s Instagram and Facebook accounts late on Sunday night in a post saying: \u201cIt is with a heavy heart that we have to announce the passing of our beautiful hero, the patriarch of our family, world\u2019s best husband, father, grandfather and most importantly our best friend Clive Rowen. We love you to infinity and beyond.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">The post has more than 60 comments as tributes pour in, including one from Irish photographer Rich Gilligan saying: \u201cRest easy Clive. Thanks for giving so much to the skate community in Ireland. The first time I walked through the doors of Hill Street was completely transformative for me and so many others.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">He opened <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/culture\/heritage\/the-origins-of-skateboarding-in-ireland-it-s-not-a-craze-or-a-childish-whim-1.4029967\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/culture\/heritage\/the-origins-of-skateboarding-in-ireland-it-s-not-a-craze-or-a-childish-whim-1.4029967\">Dublin\u2019s first dedicated skateboarding shop called Clive\u2019s on Hill Street in 1978.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Most recently, he ran Skate City in Temple Bar.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Rowen retired from working in the shop in January 2024 and it closed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">In 2018 in an interview with RT\u00c9, Rowen said, \u201cI\u2019ve always had this passion for things with wheels.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">A documentary called <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/culture\/film\/hill-street-1.1805298\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/culture\/film\/hill-street-1.1805298\">Hill Street<\/a> looked at the evolution of skateboarding culture in Dublin since the late 1980s to 2014 when it was released, showing how Rowen single-handedly progressed the scene through the building of primitive ramps at his shop before moving on to a temporary skate park in the Top Hat Ballroom in D\u00fan Laoghaire.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">He later managed to convince the Powell Peralta \u201cBones Brigade\u201d Team, including the legendary skateboarder Tony Hawk, to visit the skate park in Dublin for a demo.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">In <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/news\/ireland\/irish-news\/from-pariahs-to-the-olympics-ireland-s-skateboarders-embrace-the-limelight-1.4640560?fbclid=IwY2xjawPRlRdleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEeVLjklL8muGjhevyzTDNI2jAe-w8MxWqIY-8FGj7kl67Uc6KeYTMnA4u_fdI_aem_ZJhuyhroh1-IbadjIgKIAw\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/news\/ireland\/irish-news\/from-pariahs-to-the-olympics-ireland-s-skateboarders-embrace-the-limelight-1.4640560?fbclid=IwY2xjawPRlRdleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEeVLjklL8muGjhevyzTDNI2jAe-w8MxWqIY-8FGj7kl67Uc6KeYTMnA4u_fdI_aem_ZJhuyhroh1-IbadjIgKIAw\">an interview with The Irish Times<\/a> in 2021, Rowen said every Irish town should have a skate park, while cities should have an indoor park to cope with the weather. It is a relatively small investment for a big return, he said. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">\u201cFor many skaters it is a way out of the mundane,\u201d he said. \u201cLife can be a bit boring. It gives them something to do, improves their body and their mind, and has saved a lot of young people from other things.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Rowen\u2019s younger brother Peter, also a skater, was on the cover of U2\u2019s Boy album. Other brothers include the artist Guggi and fellow Virgin Prunes member Strongman.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The \u201cgodfather of Irish skating\u201d, Clive Rowen, has died, his skating shop confirmed on social media. His death&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":242235,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[615,42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-242234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-dublin","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=242234"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242234\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/242235"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=242234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=242234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=242234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}