‘Future is bleak,’ say ice skaters as council signals end is nigh for historic Islington rink

Protesters outside the Town Hall earlier this year. Photograph: Julia Gregory

Ice skaters fear the “future is bleak” after town hall bosses said it’s the end of an era for a historic ice rink damaged by a flood.

The ice rink at the Sobell leisure centre was amongst sports facilities “written off” by a flood at Tollington Road nearby and the council decided to look at using an insurance payout to replace it or come up with another leisure use.

It has decided to built a soft play area instead and said the rink had been losing money and was expensive to maintain.

Ally Millar from the Sobell Ice Skating Club feared the decision could hit the skating and ice hockey clubs hard.

The council said 25,428 visits were made to the ice rink annually and the rink ran at a £250,000 loss each year. It would cost £1.8m to rebuild using the insurance payout.

Ms Millar said the situation for her club was looking “pretty bleak”.

Whilst the rink was closed some skaters had been training in Kent which has been costly and time consuming.

Clubs had been told they could use the newly opened Lee Valley rink or go to Alexandra Palace but some clubs have reported problems in getting suitable slots.

The Save Sobell Campaign Group which is made up of ice hockey and skating clubs said it is “disappointed but not surprised by Islington Council’s consultation report which outlines their recommendation to not reinstate the rink and to replace it with an extended area of soft play.”

Campaigners said: “The council should have involved the community early on, soon after the flood last year closed the Sobell Centre.”

They urged residents to write to councillors demanding the decision is called in, which would mean the whole Labour-controlled council would have to discuss it.

The Save Sobell Campaign Group said: “This administration will have a lot to answer for if the rink does not re-open and is permanently lost for the Borough of Islington.”

Unless it is called in the decision is likely to be rubberstamped on 2 August.

The council heard from 830 during its seven week consultation and 448 people, or 54 per cent, said they would not be affected if the ice rink shut.

A further 298 people, or 36 per cent said the closure would affect them.

Some people said they thought the soft play option will have limited appeal “catering heavily to younger audiences”.

Thr 50-year-old sports centre was built using £1.1m donation from businessman Sir Michael Sobell along with council cash and the Sobell Foundation told the council they wanted to see the ice rink reinstated.

Cllr Nurullah Turan, executive member for health and social care said: “Throughout the consultation, the affection that many people have for the ice rink has shone through. The arguments for not reinstating it – such as the huge financial cost of maintaining it, the comparatively low usership, and the opening of newer, larger facilities – are compelling, but that doesn’t make our decision any easier.

“We’ve thoroughly explored different ways to reinstate the ice rink but, regrettably, none of these were viable. We’re now working with GLL and ice rink users to make it as easy as possible for skaters and groups to make use of the fantastic state-of-the-art rinks at Lee Valley and Alexandra Palace.”

He said it had looked at ways to make the rink more energy-efficient and explored the option of working with other rink operators but it would have seen skating sessions become more expensive.

A council report said the changes at the leisure centre could see a 250,000 rise in visits annually, with most from its target group of young people.

It said the soft play, together with the trampoline park, will appeal “to a much wider demographic group”.

The council said it wanted to create “more inclusive” leisure activities at the Sobell and will unveil its plans later this year.

Campaigners had said internal council emails they obtained through a Freedom of Information request suggested the council had already made up its mind.

One email from an adviser read: “We need to go ahead with
the soft play option, but we need to at least make it look like we are listening”.

The council said it had launched a consultation after this internal exchange of views and  the decision will be made by a senior officer who “will take care to exercise independent judgment on this decision”.