Streatham Ice and Leisure Centre 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 ...

and

leisure centre A leisure centre, sports centre, or recreation centre is a purpose-built building or site, usually owned and provided by the local government authority, where people can engage in a variety of sports and exercise, and keep fit. Typical facilit ...

Streatham Streatham ( ) is a district in south London, England. Centred south of Charing Cross, it lies mostly within the London Borough of Lambeth, with some parts extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Wandsworth. Streatham was in Surrey ...

, south London. It is the only Olympic-sized skating rink in the city, and is the

home ice In sports, home is the place and venue identified with a sports team. Most professional teams are named for, and marketed to, particular metropolitan areas; amateur teams may be drawn from a particular region, or from institutions such as sc ...

of the

Streatham IHC The Streatham Ice Hockey Club (formerly Streatham Redskins and RedHawks) is a British ice hockey club based in Streatham, London, England. Amongst the oldest British ice hockey teams still in existence, they were founded in 1932 as Streatham, a ...

and Streatham Storm

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. It replaced the older Streatham Ice Arena.

Streatham Ice Arena

Streatham Ice Arena was originally opened on the site on 26 February 1931 by the Mayor of

Wandsworth Wandsworth Town () is a district of south London, within the London Borough of Wandsworth southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Toponymy Wandsworth takes its name ...

, Lt Col. A. Bellamy, and the Member of Parliament for

, Sir William Lane-Mitchell. During the Second World War, the arena was closed to the public and was used as a food storage centre. In 1962 the arena was purchased by the

Mecca Mecca, officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, is the capital of Mecca Province in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia; it is the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow valley above ...

entertainments company, who spent almost £350,000 on various improvements including a restaurant and cocktail bar, and renamed the rink as Silver Blades, it being one of several in a chain of Silver Blades ice rinks that the company operated in the UK. A further £1 million was spent refurbishing the rink in 1980. However, by the end of the twentieth century the building was proving very expensive to maintain and it had begun to fall into disrepair. During its last years, the arena was in substandard condition from a safety point of view, and would have required extensive refurbishment, including to the curved ceiling, to remain operative. In 2001

Tesco Tesco plc () is a British multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in the United Kingdom at its head offices in Welwyn Garden City, England. The company was founded by Jack Cohen (businessman), Sir Jack Cohen in ...

bought the site in preparation for a proposed multi-million pound Streatham Hub development, which was to include not only a new Olympic sized ice rink but also a public leisure centre with a 50 metre long swimming pool, 250 homes and a large Tesco store. The arena finally closed on 18 December 2011, was demolished, and later replaced by the mixed-use development complex which opened to the public on 18 November 2013. To cover the time until the new ice rink opened, a smaller, temporary ice rink was built two miles away in

Brixton Brixton is an area of South London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Brixton experienced a rapid rise in population during the 19th century ...

Gallery

File:Streatham Ice Arena - geograph.org.uk - 1759119.jpg, The original Streatham Ice Arena File:Streatham indoor ice rink.jpg, Streatham Ice Arena indoor ice rink File:Streatham Ice Arena ceiling.jpg, Streatham Ice Arena ceiling

References

External links

* * Ice hockey venues in England Sports venues in London Defunct sports venues in London Former buildings and structures in the London Borough of Lambeth Streatham History of the London Borough of Lambeth {{London-sports-venue-stub