Behind the scenes: Eastbourne ice rink prepares to open

In September it was confirmed that the ‘bigger and better’ ice rink would be returning to the town after it welcomed more than 17,000 people last year.

Winterland, a festive area for shops, food and drink, and the ice rink and will be open next to Enterprise Shopping Centre from December 1-January 8.

Your Eastbourne BID’s Stephen Holt said: “I am absolutely delighted. It is going really, really well. The building is on schedule, it is on track. In fact, I think we are in advance of schedule, which is great. Over the coming days even more is going up, but it is going really, really well at the moment.

“The feedback we had last year was that people loved the ice rink, they thought it was brilliant and they really wanted to see it come back but they wanted it to be bigger, so we delivered.

"Last year was very much a trial run, we know what went well, we listened to the customers’ feedback and now we are really looking forward to a great Christmas period.”

Hailsham-based catering company Catering by Bucklers will be running an ‘ice rink bar’, which will be located next to the Lightning Fibre ice rink. Operations manager at Your Eastbourne BID Luke Johnson had said: “I’ve seen the menu myself and it looks fantastic. There will be a wide range of local beers and Christmas drinks on offer, and not to forget the tasty Yorkshire pudding wraps to help warm everyone up on those crisp winter evenings. All this will be delivered from the ice rink’s brand new covered and heated seating area, which will be situated right next to the ice rink’s main entrance.”

Mr Johnson added: "Do stick around and have a drink before and after you get off the ice, keep it careful before you go on, but then stay around and have a meal with your family after as well. We will have a dedicated seating area, a heated seating area.”

Eastbourne’s Christmas lights are also set to be switched on at an event on Thursday, November 24, according to Your Eastbourne BID. The interactive Christmas tree lights will be turned on at 6pm.

Here is what the ice rink looked like last year.

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