Surf London Prepares to Bring a World-Class Surf-Anchored Destination to One of the World’s Largest Cities

The newest surf destination headed to the UK is landing in a major metropolitan area. Surf London will feature an Endless Surf wave lagoon, alongside a wide range of amenities and a strong focus on rewilding the surrounding landscape.

Surf Park Central spoke with Hazel Geary, CEO of Crest Experiences, the team behind the surf-anchored development, to learn what’s in store for the new destination.

Surf Park Central: Tell me about Surf London and what visitors can expect from the park. 

Hazel Geary: Surf London is going to be a world-class active leisure and surf destination. It will be centred around an Endless ES48 surf lake offering world-class waves for every age and stage of surfing ability. Beyond this, the 104-acre site will contain additional outdoor spaces for activities such as bouldering and skateboarding, tranquil pod-style accommodation, a relaxing indoor space housing a restaurant and retail space, a modern, relaxed golfing experience, and wide open community parklands. An all-year-round events and activity calendar will ensure that this transformational development will deliver unforgettable memories while always supporting healthy lifestyles. 

Surf Park Central: How will the proximity to London help propel this park to a popular destination? 

Geary: This will be the first surf-anchored, active leisure destination in a global top five city. We’re making surfing available to one of the largest and most diverse urban populations across the world with millions of potential visitors who might not otherwise have access to surfable waves. Within a two-hour drive time are 22 million people, but most exciting are the transport links, with buses, overground lines, national rail and international airports all adding to our accessibility. We’re working with local authorities to extend the use of hireable bikes into the area and intend to lobby transport providers to allow surfboards to be carried on public transport, extending further the access to those without cars in London. 

Surf Park Central: As seen at Surf Park Summit, the Surf London plans include a lot of “rewilding” around the park. What influenced that decision? 

Geary: The land currently is a golf course, and while it is a green space, its use precludes many people from accessing this expansive area on a daily basis. It is also relatively low in its ecological diversity. Through developing the site and creating extensive, publicly free to access parklands, we can also enhance the local ecosystem. This not only makes it an appealing and calming place to visit, it also benefits the biodiversity of the area. The green belt status of the land comes with some minimum requirements for how we redevelop the land, but as a company we believe in doing what is right for the planet, to balance but also go beyond the construction impact of building the surf lake. We have worked with ecological consultants and are actively working with landscape architects to connect the landscape with the experience throughout. 

Surf Park Central: One of the biggest challenges new developments face is environmental pushback. Is this conservation-focused effort contributing to that resistance, or do you see it helping the project move forward? 

Geary: We’ve had very little pushback on the project at all, and one of those reasons is how we’re creating an accessible, green space for hundreds of thousands of people every year. By being open and honest throughout planning in our commitment to prioritising biodiversity, sustainable water use, and long-term ecological value, we’ve been able to demonstrate tangible environmental benefits. This is also a theme which doesn’t end with construction. Our operational processes will prioritise the positive impact on our planet wherever possible.

Surf Park Central: Can you talk about what it’s like building a surf-anchored destination from scratch as someone who already has experience in the industry? Are there advantages to already having the operational know-how? 

Geary: Building any leisure destination from scratch is incredibly exciting, and with 15 years collective surf park experience across the team, we believe we have as much operational know how as anyone in the industry. The true benefit this time around, is being able to learn from what did and didn’t work well in previous locations that we managed, as well as drawing on the global industry where the insights are vastly different now to when Bristol was built. The thinking starts by knowing who your audiences are going to be, and how they’re going to enjoy the space that you’re creating. From there you can map your customer journeys from start to end, and design the physical site in a way that offers the best experience at every stage. The physical site is just part of it, we’re busy drawing up the most seamless, digital customer journey to accompany it at every stage. 

Surf Park Central: What has gone smoothly with the project so far? 

Geary: The biggest moment was achieving planning permission in September 2025. After some early work on developing the London site back in 2022, the project paused but was re-ignited in 2024.  This first-time planning success demonstrates just how thorough our work has been to date. The project team are working at pace, and the early concept design stage has created some stunning visuals that have been very powerful in driving interest and investment as part of a crowdfunder campaign. We’re now in the detailed design phase and this is going well. We’ve also seen a fantastic amount of positive support from passionate in-land surfers and also local communities who can’t wait to have this world-class destination in their borough.  

Surf Park Central: Are there any large hurdles ahead for Surf London? 

Geary: We are certainly taking each day as it comes, with the final agreements all to be agreed in the coming months. But like any construction project, we expect challenges along the way. The key for us is to maintain very clear and open communication channels with all the stakeholders involved which will give us the best chance of keeping to timelines and bringing this incredible experience to London as soon as possible. 

Surf Park Central: Is there anything else you would like to share about Surf London? 

Geary: We want people to truly understand that Surf London is going to be surfing, and so much more. What will be consistent between everyone who comes to visit us, whether they’re surfing at 7 a.m. before work, meeting a friend for coffee, or bunking down in our rural-feeling accommodation pods, is that you’ll leave feeling a little bit healthier and a little bit happier. The blend of physical activity, getting outside and spending restorative time with friends and family or people you’ve just met, will create lifelong memories for everyone.