Durham to get its skates on with winter ice rink

Posted by Rich on November 29th, 2009 21 Comments Printer-Friendly

Durham Winter Ice Rink

UPDATE: Opening temporarily delayed until mid-week, week commencing Monday 7th December. Expected to be fully up and running by weekend of Friday 11th December.

An outdoor winter ice rink is set to open in Durham this week. The venture is spearheaded by local businessman Jan Eskildsen who announced last year plans to construct a permanent ice rink in the area.

The temporary rink, currently being built next to the former Riverside Rink building in Freemans Place, forms part of the longer-term vision to see a full-time ice arena re-established in the City and will be in place throughout Christmas until March next year.

Mr Eskildsen said: “Plans are still very much progressing with regard to the permanent ice facility, however these things can sometimes take longer than we would like, so when the opportunity to open a temporary rink came about, we jumped at the chance to re-establish ice-skating in the city once again, as promised for December 2009 in the BBC Inside Out programme which aired earlier in the year. And while interest and momentum builds, we will continue to progress with the process of getting plans for the ‘big rink’ finalised.”

“Durham has not had any form of ice rink for a number of years, and with the popularity of outdoor Christmas rinks in the region and elsewhere in the country we are confident it will be an exciting addition to what the city has to offer over the festive period this year.”

The temporary pad, built by the company behind London’s Canary Wharf rink, will be similar in size to Newcastle’s highly successful Centre for Life ice rink and will also boast a hospitality tent for parties and corporate groups. Skating lessons from professional coaches will also be on offer.

Plans for the permanent facility were announced in August of 2008, initially earmarked for Belmont’s industrial estate, however other locations are currently being explored. Mr Eskildsen assured that the likelyhood of the full-time arena and the long-term return of ice skating and ice hockey is still on track: “It’s been a long journey and a lot of progress has been made so far. We would have liked to have been up and running by now, but we need to get everything absolutely right for it to succeed. We hope however by providing the city with a temporary ice rink, we spark once again the interest in skating in the interim and build up the support in the area for the permanent arena.”

The winter ice rink is now expected to open the week commencing December 7th 2009.

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