Visitors and locals invited to get their skates on once again to create magical memories on the ice after plans for a new rink were given the go-ahead by the council’s Planning Committee.
Running from Friday 17 November 2023 to Monday 1 January 2024 The Cheltenham Ice Rink will return to Imperial Gardens.
The modern-day version, delivered by leading ice rink operator S3K Group, will be undercover
The ice rink is organised by the Visit Cheltenham team at Cheltenham Borough Council to encourage people to visit the town centre, boosting the economy in the crucial Christmas trading period.
Councillors approved the application at a Planning Committee meeting on Thursday 21 September, noting that the ice rink will provide a tourism boost to the town, having attracted 43,000 skaters in 2021. Organisers will put in place new measures to reduce the environmental impact of the rink, including the use of HVO, a more sustainable fuel, and battery storage to reduce the noise of the generator.
An additional £3.3m was spent in Cheltenham as a result of the ice rink and associated market in 2021 with two-thirds of visitors saying they ate or drank in local venues and/or spent money in local shops.