United Kingdom

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Information on World Naked Bike Ride events in the United Kingdom...

Please donate to the WNBR UK Fund

The UK World Naked Bike Ride fund meets the cost of insuring rides
across the UK, and provides local organisers with money for
poster/flyer printing, advertising, ride equipment etc.
Please give generously.

Ride locations

See List of rides in United Kingdom or browse the United Kingdom category

Future rides

There is some talk of holding a southern hemisphere solidarity ride in March of 2009. This would probably be a one-mile ride which started and finished at/near a heated indoor setting where riders could stay warm.

The following seven rides are definitely taking place in June 2009:

• Brighton & Hove 14 June 2009
• Cardiff 13 June 2009
• London 13 June 2009
• Manchester 12 June 2009
• Sheffield 13 June 2009
• Southampton 12 June 2009
• York 12 June 2009

There is also the possibility of rides in Cambridge, Belfast, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Oxford and Totnes. These rides can be brought into being if organisers step forward and offer to work to make them happen. All rides are organised by local riders.

Other upcoming events

The World Naked Bike Ride anticipates holding a stall at the following events (among others).

Southampton University Environment & Ethics Week
May 1st 2009

Environmental Rock
April 25 2009, 12 noon - 6pm
The Hobbit pub, 134 Bevois Valley Road, Southampton, SO14 0JZ

Kingston Green Fair
Not taking place in 2009
Canbury Gardens, Kingston upon Thames, Surrey

Camden Green Fair And Bikefest
Not taking place in 2009
Regent's Park, London, NW1

Press enquiries

Press work is usually handled by local ride coordinators or press officers. For UK-wide information, see the United Kingdom Media Information page.

Posters

For the 2009 rides, full colour A4 posters have been printed for each ride. If more are needed, PDF versions of them can be downloaded for:

• Brighton
• Cardiff
• London
• Manchester
• Sheffield
• Southampton
• York

to be printable locally.

FAQs

The United Kingdom FAQ page answers questions especially relevant to UK riders and organisers.

Legality

UK laws relating to public nudity

The following links will be of interest to people organising rides in the UK:

• Sexual Offences Act 2003, Section 66 - Exposure (c/o the Office of Public Sector Information)
• Wikipedia: Sexual Offences Act 2003
• Laws relevant to nudity in public places from the Naturist UK Fact File (NUFF)

Police restrictions

From 2004 to 2008, there have been 23 UK Naked Bike Rides with a cumulative total of nearly 5,000 riders in 11 locations, and no arrests.

It is unlikely that police will object to nudity at future rides in England and Wales. Local police officially acknowledged the legality of full nudity at all seven rides in 2008 and all five rides in 2007. They required people to wear clothes at three English rides (Brighton, Manchester and Bristol) in 2006, but have made no such restrictions at later events.

In contrast, Scottish police have never allowed full nudity at the two Edinburgh rides in 2004 and 2008.

For UK rides where full nudity wasn't permitted, police requirements of body coverage seemed to be similar. The groin area needed to be covered, as did female nipples. However, buttocks could be shown by either men or women.

Media coverage

This section needs updating. There have been much TV, Radio, print and online coverage of the WNBR in the UK, but most of this info is stored with the local ride's webpages.

General

• ITV Local YourNews: World naked bike ride

2006

• Don't Panic Media, Transport issue, Apr/May 2006: "World Naked Bike Ride 2006"
• Bike For All News, 4 May 2006: "Get set for bare butt biking on June 10th"
• BBC Learning English Weekender programme, ? Jun 2006: "Naked Bike Ride"

2004

• Bike Biz News, 12 Jun 2004: "Bike Week kicks off with glorious weather and media exposure"

History

2008

• Southampton: Fri 6 June, 6pm (156 riders)
• Brighton & Hove: Sat 7 June, 11am (400 riders, 8-mile route)
• York: Sat 7 June, 4pm (90 riders)
• Sheffield: Sun 8 June, 2pm (29 riders)
• Manchester: Fri 13 June, 6pm (90 riders)
• London: Sat 14 June, 3pm (1,000 riders, 6-mile route)
• Cardiff: Sat 14 June, 3.30pm (37 riders)
• Edinburgh: Sun 29 June, 3pm (30-40 riders) Police prevented full nudity, as in 2004.

2007

• York: Fri 8 June, 5pm (65 riders, 5-mile route)
• Southampton: Fri 8 June, 6pm (102 riders)
• Manchester: Fri 8 June, 6pm (50 riders)
• Brighton: Sat 9 June, 10am (220 riders, 7-mile route)
• London: Sat 9 June, 3pm (1,000 riders, 6-mile route)

2006

• York: Fri 9 June, 5pm (60 riders, 5-mile route)
• Manchester: Fri 9 June, 5pm (30 riders). Police prevented full nudity.
• Brighton: Sat 10 June, 10am (160 riders, 6-mile route). Police prevented full nudity.
• London: Sat 10 June, 3pm (800 riders, 6-mile route)
• Bristol: Sat 14 October (17 riders on a spontaneous route for 1 hour). Police prevented full nudity.

2005

• London: Sat 10 June, 3pm (250 riders, 6-mile route) The first ride for which police consented to nudity in advance.
• Bath: Sun 11 June (20 riders at the Wacky Races event for The Wheel Thing)

2004

• Edinburgh: Sat 12 June, afternoon (70 riders on a spontaneous route). Police prevented full nudity.
• Sussex: Sat 12 June – two brave riders made the smallest UK WNBR to date
• London: Sat 12 June, 8pm (58 riders on a negotiated spontaneous 2.5 mile route through Hyde Park)

Links

Websites

• WNBR UK (this website)

Discussion groups

• WNBR UK Yahoo! group

Email contacts

• nakedbikeride@yahoo.co.uk