The hoardings are up, and construction work on Bristol’s new indoor ice rink is underway.
The brightly decorated hoardings at the development site at Cribbs Causeway give a real sense of what’s to come. Located at the Venue Leisure Park, the ice rink is part of a major new development by Baylis Estates, and will be run by the UK’s largest ice rink operator, Planet Ice. Adjacent to the ice rink site, a Costa Coffee Drive Thru has just opened its doors to the public, and a new Jaguar Land Rover Showroom is close to completion.
The new Bristol attraction will provide international standard skating facilities together with 1300 capacity seating, designed to accommodate a range of ice related activities and sports. It is hoped that the new ice rink will become the new home for the Bristol Ice Hockey Team – The Bristol Pitbulls – who currently have to travel to Oxford for their home games.
David Mace, managing director of Baylis Estates says,
“The steel frame of the building can now be clearly seen and the building will take shape quickly. Once it has been fitted out by Planet Ice, we expect the ice rink to be open for business early 2021.
“It’s an exciting time as Bristol has been without an indoor ice rink since 2012.”
“This is a multi-million investment that will complement an already impressive array of neighbouring leisure activities at Cribbs Causeway including Hollywood Bowl and the Vue Cinema on the Venue Leisure Park as well as Air Hop, Wild Place, and The Wave surfing lagoon close by. And with plans for the new YTL Arena Bristol at the nearby Brabazon hangars, the face of leisure in Bristol and South Gloucestershire is seeing exciting change.”
With his team entering their eighth season as a nomadic team, Bristol Pitbulls team owner, Richie Hargreaves is understandably excited at start of construction of Bristol’s new ice rink.
He says, “I’m going to be beside myself when we get into the new rink. Coming back to the city, to a brand new rink, it’s going to be fantastic for us as a club to have somewhere to call home.”
Mike Petrouis, founder of Planet Ice, the UK’s no 1 operator of ice rinks, adds, “Bristol has been without an ice rink for too long, and we’re looking forward to bringing Planet Ice to Cribbs Causeway. We already serve an amazing 2.5 million customers a year in the UK, and this new location reflects our ambitious plans to continue our growth both here and overseas.”
Planet Ice has taken a 25 year lease from Baylis Estates; Beard Construction is the main building contractor.
