Hull Arena (originally Humberside Ice Arena and known locally as the Hull Ice Arena) is an

ice rink An ice rink (or ice skating rink) is a frozen body of water or an artificial sheet of ice where people can ice skate or play winter sports. Ice rinks are also used for exhibitions, contests and ice shows. The growth and increasing popularity of ...

, in the city of

Kingston upon Hull Kingston upon Hull, usually shortened to Hull, is a historic maritime city and unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It lies upon the River Hull at its confluence with the Humber Est ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. It offers an Olympic-sized pad of . It is also used for other sports,

trade fairs A trade show, also known as trade fair, trade exhibition, or trade exposition, is an exhibition organized so that companies in a specific industry can showcase and demonstrate their latest products and services, meet with industry partners and ...

and as a

concert venue A music venue is any location used for a concert or musical performance. Music venues range in size and location, from a small coffeehouse for folk music shows, an outdoor bandshell or bandstand or a concert hall to an indoor sports stadium. Ty ...

, for which it has a maximum capacity of 3,750.

History

The building had a protracted development. Three sites were considered during planning phase: Ferensway, the Marina and the Kingston Clinic site on Beverley Road. Budgeted at £2.5 million, it was originally set to be a joint venture between Humberside County and the

city A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

of Hull, and the city received a £1 million grant to that effect. In June 1986 however, Humberside asked the city to return to grant in order to finalize the project on its own, with a tentative completion date of November 1987. The building's ceremonial

cornerstone A cornerstone (or foundation stone or setting stone) is the first stone set in the construction of a masonry Foundation (engineering), foundation. All other stones will be set in reference to this stone, thus determining the position of the entir ...

was laid by

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

. It was inaugurated on 14 September 1988 by former Olympic

figure skating Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, with its introduction occurring at the Figure skating at the 1908 Summer Olympi ...

champion

John Curry John Anthony Curry, (9 September 1949 – 15 April 1994) was a British figure skater. He was the 1976 European, World and Olympic Champion. He was noted for combining ballet and modern dance influences into his skating. Early life Curry was ...

. The venue closed in March 2020 for renovations worth £1.5 million, which ended up lasting one year and a half. The

ice sheet In glaciology, an ice sheet, also known as a continental glacier, is a mass of glacier, glacial ice that covers surrounding terrain and is greater than . The only current ice sheets are the Antarctic ice sheet and the Greenland ice sheet. Ice s ...

was redone, while the locker rooms and lavatories were renovated. A new lighting rig consisting of eighty spotlights and a clearer

sound system Sound system may refer to: Technology media * Sound reinforcement system, a system for amplifying audio for an audience * High fidelity, a sound system intended for accurate reproduction of music in the home * Public address system, an institution ...

were also installed. The building is nonetheless viewed as outdated, and a new ice rink is being considered as part of a future

real estate development Real estate development, or property development, is a business process, encompassing activities that range from the renovation and re-lease of existing buildings to the purchase of raw Real Estate, land and the sale of developed land or parce ...

on Albion Street. A 2021 publication pegged the Arena's yearly attendance, which has varied depending on the caliber of resident

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

teams, at 147,000.

Ice sports

Hull Arena has been the home of all

teams within the city, including the Humberside Seahawks, Hull Thunder, and Hull Stingrays of the BNL, and the Hull Stingrays of the Elite League, The Hull Pirates of the NIHL, The current teams include The Hull Seahawks, of the NIHL and the Hull Jets. of the NIHL North 1

Other events

The Arena hosts boxing events for the

Matchroom Boxing Matchroom Sport is a UK-based sporting event promotions company founded by Barry Hearn and run by him and his son Eddie Hearn. It first came to attention in the sports of snooker and boxing and is also involved in pool, bowling, golf, fishin ...

promotions stable with Hull boxers Luke Campbell and Tommy Coyle amongst those to compete. It was previously used to hold such events in April 1997, March 1998 and June 1998 with boxers including Paul Ingle, Clinton Woods,

Howard Eastman Howard Anthony Eastman (born 8 December 1970) is a Guyanese-British former professional boxer who competed from 1994 to 2014. He challenged twice for middleweight world championships; the vacant WBA title in 2001; and the undisputed title a ...

and Scott Harrison competing. The Arena has also hosted WWF/WWE

pro wrestling Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to real-life wrest ...

on multiple occasions, such as the Hart Attack '94, Full Metal '95 and Wrestlemania Revenge 2005 tours. The 2011 edition of the

World Masters The World Masters, known for sponsorship reasons as the Mita/Sky World Masters, was a snooker tournament held between 13 and 26 January 1991. Conceived by promoter Barry Hearn, the tournament had a similar format to the Grand Slam (tennis), Gran ...

darts Darts is a competitive sport in which two or more players bare-handedly throw small projectile point, sharp-pointed projectile, projectiles known as dart (missile), darts at a round shooting target, target known as a #Dartboard, dartboard. Point ...

tournament was played at the arena. Among music acts who have appeared at the Arena are

Arctic Monkeys Arctic Monkeys are an English Rock music, rock band formed in Sheffield in 2002. They comprise lead singer Alex Turner, drummer Matt Helders, guitarist Jamie Cook and bassist Nick O'Malley. The co-founder and original bassist Andy Nicholson ...

Faithless Faithless are an English dance music Band (rock and pop), band that formed in 1995, with its core original members being Rollo Armstrong, Rollo, Sister Bliss and Maxi Jazz. During the band's initial period of success, Sister Bliss and Maxi Ja ...

Kings of Leon Kings of Leon is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Mount Juliet, Tennessee, in 1999. The band includes brothers Caleb, Nathan, and Jared Followill and their cousin Matthew Followill. The band's early music was a blend of Southern roc ...

Oasis In ecology, an oasis (; : oases ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environment Robbie Williams Robert Peter Williams (born 13 February 1974) is an English singer and songwriter. He found fame as a member of the pop group Take That from 1990 to 1995, launching a solo career in 1996. His debut studio album, ''Life thru a Lens'', was re ...

Ed Sheeran Edward Christopher Sheeran ( ; born 17 February 1991) is an English singer-songwriter. Born in Halifax, West Yorkshire, and raised in Framlingham, Suffolk, he began writing songs around the age of eleven. In early 2011, Sheeran independently r ...

and

The Libertines The Libertines are an English Rock music, rock band, formed in London in 1997 by frontmen Carl Barât (vocals/guitar) and Pete Doherty (vocals/guitar). The band, centred on the songwriting partnership of Barât and Doherty, included John Hassall ...

References

External links

Hull Arena Website
{{coord, 53.737300, -0.343500, type:landmark, display=title Ice hockey venues in England Sports venues in Kingston upon Hull Netball venues in England