United Kingdom

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This page has info about the World Naked Bike Ride events in the UK. It has info about future events and a history of all the rides in the UK.

Ride locations

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

Press enquiries

Press work is usually handled by local ride coordinators or various local press officers, for info see the United Kingdom Media Information page.

Upcoming events

The main 2008 WNBR events all took place in June, but riders may be interested in participating in the national Climate Camp at Kingsnorth (near Rochester). This year's focus is on the threat of building new coal-fired power stations (Kingsnorth is one of these planned new power stations). There is a cycling caravan leaving Heathrow on 27 July and arriving in Rochester for a major demo on Sunday 3 August. You don't need a bike to participate in the protest Sunday 3 August (12 noon from Rochester Station). Details about all this are available at www.climatecamp.org.uk and www.campaigncc.org. You are welcome to come for one or many days of the climate camp.

On 6 December 2008, the National Climate March will take place. As in previous years, there will be a bike ride protest before the main march. Although it's not advisable to go naked in cold weather, you could bring your WNBR flag and go "as bare as you can bear". Regardless of how you participate, the demo is very important and well worth attending. Details are at the Campaign Against Climate Change.

Future rides

There is some talk of holding a southern hemisphere solidarity ride in March of 2009. This would probably be a 1 mile ride which started and finished at/near a heated indoor setting where riders could stay warm.

The following 8 ride locations are predicted to repeat in June 2009. If shown, all date/assembly details must be considered provisional (unless otherwise indicated):

• Southampton
• Brighton & Hove: Sat 6 June, 11am (TBC)
• York
• Sheffield
• Manchester
• London: Sat 13 June, 3pm (TBC)
• Cardiff
• Edinburgh

A new ride is expected to take place on the Bristol to Bath bike path.

Furthermore, there is ongoing interest/discussion about possible rides in Cambridge, Belfast, Glasgow, Oxford, and Totnes. These rides can be brought into being if some ride organisers step forward to offer to do the work to make the rides happen. All rides are organised by local riders.

History

2008

• Southampton: Fri 6 June, 6pm (150 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 (20 riders approx) 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)

Legality and police restrictions on UK rides

It appears unlikely that police will object to nudity at rides in the England and Wales rides. Local police in England and Wales officially acknowledged the legality of full nudity at the five rides in 2007 and seven rides in 2008. The Scottish police have never allowed full nudity at the two rides in Edinburgh (2004 and 2008).

From 2004-2008, there have been 23 UK based WNBR events with a cumulative total of nearly 5,000 riders in 11 locations, and no arrests ever. Police required some coverage at three English rides (Brighton, Manchester, Bristol) held in 2006, but did not restrict later events. Scottish Police in Edinburgh have always prevented full nudity at the two Edinburgh rides (2004 & 2008). For every UK ride where full nudity wasn't allowed, the police requirements of body coverage seemed to be similar -

1. The groin area needed to be covered by underwear, swimwear, fabric, or objects
2. Buttocks could be shown by either males or females
3. Female breasts had to be partially covered by stickers, bodypaint, or gauzy fabric (essentially, if you could get sunburned nipples, the police wanted you to cover up more).

FAQs

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

Information for the media

Press, television and radio journalists can find information about the ride on the United Kingdom Media Information page

Events

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

Southampton University Environment & Ethics Week
April 2009

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

Kingston Green Fair
May 2009, 11am - 8pm
Canbury Gardens, Kingston upon Thames, Surrey

Camden Green Fair And Bikefest
June 2008, 12 noon - 7pm
Free admission Regent's Park, London, NW1

Legality

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)

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"

Links

Websites

• WNBR UK (this website)

Discussion groups

• WNBR UK Yahoo! group

Email contacts

• nakedbikeride@yahoo.co.uk