The Centrum Arena was a 2,733 seat ice arena in

Prestwick Prestwick ( gd, Preastabhaig) is a town in South Ayrshire on the west coast of Ayrshire in Scotland about southwest of Glasgow. It adjoins the larger town of Ayr to the south on the Firth of Clyde coast, the centre of which is about south, an ...

South Ayrshire South Ayrshire ( sco, Sooth Ayrshire; gd, Siorrachd Àir a Deas, ) is one of thirty-two council areas of Scotland, covering the southern part of Ayrshire. It borders onto Dumfries and Galloway, East Ayrshire and North Ayrshire. On 30 June 2 ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

that opened on 25 August 1996. The arena was used during the winter months for recreational ice skating and ice hockey matches. In the summer months, the arena was used for various events such as the Chinese State Circus. The Centrum was famous as being the home of the

Ayr Scottish Eagles The Ayr Scottish Eagles were a professional Scottish ice hockey club, from Ayr, Scotland. They were formed in 1996 and played their home games at the Centrum Arena (Prestwick), Centrum Arena. The team competed in the Ice Hockey Superleague and t ...

ice hockey club from 1996 until 2002. The building was located at 125 Ayr Road on public land and was demolished in 2009. Today the site is occupied by a supermarket.

History

In the early 1980s,

Kyle and Carrick Kyle and Carrick ( gd, A' Chùil agus a' Charraig) was one of nineteen local government districts in the Strathclyde region of Scotland from 1975 to 1996. History The district was formed by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 from part of ...

District council granted a 100-year lease for the site on which the Centrum was built, to enable construction of a replacement facility for the former

Ayr Ice Rink Ayr Ice Rink was an ice arena in Ayr, Scotland that opened in 1939 and was used for ice skating, ice hockey and curling. The rink was notable as being the home of professional ice hockey clubs Ayr Raiders and Ayr Bruins. The building was located ...

. A condition attached to the lease was that the site could only be used for a multi purpose arena.Ayrshire Post

''Glen Henderson recalls his involvement with the Centrum and Ayr Ice Rink '', 1 July 2011 The site is now owned by

South Ayrshire Council South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþaz ...

on behalf of the public. Caledonian Ice Hockey Ltd, part of the Glen Henderson Group, began construction of the Centrum in 1986 as a replacement rink for the

Ayr Raiders The Ayr Bruins were an ice hockey club based in Ayr, Scotland between 1939 and 1992. Established in 1939 under the name Ayr Raiders, the club played their home games at the Ayr Ice Rink (Beresford Terrace) between 1939 and 1972 and at Ayr Ice R ...

Ice Hockey Club. During the construction phase, notable people related to

ice sports Winter sports or winter activities are competitive sports or non-competitive recreational activities which are played on snow or ice. Most are variations of skiing, ice skating and sledding. Traditionally, such games were only played in cold area ...

visited the facility including

Torvill and Dean Torvill and Dean (Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean) are English ice dancers and former British Ice Figure and Dance Championships, British, European Figure Skating Championships, European, Figure skating at the Olympic Games, Olympic, and Wor ...

. The construction phase was delayed and the building stood incomplete for a substantial period after the project had been abandoned, before being acquired by Barr Holdings Ltd in 1993. Barr Leisure Ltd whilst securing £500,000.00 of National Lottery Funding, invested further sums to complete the project.

Operation

Opening on 25 August 1996, the Centrum was run by Barr Leisure Limited a subsidiary of Barr Holdings Ltd and became home of the

Ice Hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

Club. The Eagles played their first home game on 1 September 1996.Gordon, David. ''Raiders of the Lost Rink Ice Hockey In Ayr''. Tempus Publishing Ltd, 2004, p. 206. Designed as a purpose built ice hockey arena, at the time the Centrum had the United Kingdom's largest ice pad at , designed to

International Ice Hockey Federation The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF; french: Fédération internationale de hockey sur glace; german: Internationale Eishockey-Föderation) is a worldwide governing body for ice hockey. It is based in Zurich, Switzerland, and has 83 m ...

specification, seating 2,733 persons with several VIP booths. The Centrum had a four faced ice hockey

scoreboard A scoreboard is a large board for publicly displaying the score in a game. Most levels of sport from high school and above use at least one scoreboard for keeping score, measuring time, and displaying statistics. Scoreboards in the past used ...

over the faceoff circle with a rotating advertisement wheel beneath displaying Barr Holdings Limited's subsidiary companies. Two

Ice resurfacer An ice resurfacer is a vehicle or hand-pushed device used to clean and smooth the surface of a sheet of ice, usually in an ice rink. The first ice resurfacer was developed by American inventor and engineer Frank Zamboni in 1949 in the city of Pa ...

machines were kept of the

Zamboni Zamboni or The Zamboni may refer to: * an ice resurfacer, commonly known as a "Zamboni" as a genericized trademark * Zamboni Company, a maker of ice resurfacers, founded by ice resurfacer inventor Frank Zamboni * ''The Zamboni'' (magazine), a st ...

marque. The Centrum contained a sports bar to the rear called Tholos, a fitness centre to the front called Aurigin and an ice hockey pro shop selling ice hockey equipment as well as replica Eagles ice hockey jerseys.Ayrshire Post

''Prestwick's Centrum Arena is dismantled'', 20 February 2009Centrum Area Match Programme (15.01.1997). ''Ayr Scottish Eagles v Manchester Storm'', p20 Public skating was offered with skate hire facilities. The Centrum was mainly used as an ice-hockey venue for the

Ice Hockey Superleague The British Ice Hockey Superleague (BISL, also known as the Sekonda Ice Hockey Superleague from 1998 to 1999 for sponsorship reasons) was a professional ice hockey league in the United Kingdom between 1996 and 2003. Devised in 1995, it replaced ...

but was also capable of hosting events such as the

Chinese State Circus The Chinese State Circus is a touring circus that aims to present Chinese circus arts to European audiences. The show is based on Chinese acrobatic acts. All the performers come from China and are trained in the Chinese tradition of ''Ma Xi'', ...

and motor shows both in the off-season and during winter by covering the ice pad.Centrum Area Match Programme (17.10.1996). ''Ayr Scottish Eagles v Manchester Storm'', p6 When the Eagles ice hockey club moved to

Braehead Arena The Braehead Arena is a multi-purpose arena in Renfrewshire, Scotland. The arena was built in 1999, and is located within the Braehead Complex. The arena was formerly the home of the Scottish Eagles ice hockey club and is now the home to the e ...

in 2002, the Centrum Arena effectively closed its doors to the public although was still used for practise by the Eagles on occasion - the Eagles ice hockey club went bankrupt after six home games at Braehead. The last ice hockey match held at the Centrum was staged on 4 February 2003. Organised by Friends of Eagles Hockey, this exhibition match was a fund raising event to raise funds for players and officials who had been left in financial difficulty due to the bankruptcy of Ice hockey services Ltd, the Eagles operating company. Local ice hockey fan group, Friends of Eagles Hockey, campaigned for the return of ice hockey to the Centrum Arena after the Eagles's demise and indeed for a replacement facility once the Centrum was demolished.

Closure

The sports bar Tholos and fitness centre Aurigin remained open whilst the arena was closed.Ayrshire Post

''Centrum demolition is brought forward'', 13 February 2009 The Centrum arena stood for empty for six years after being stripped out of most of the equipment and indeed, the scoreboard can be seen at

Dundalk Ice Dome Dundalk Ice Dome was the first permanent ice arena in Ireland, located in Dundalk Retail Park, Dundalk, County Louth, Ireland. The Ice Dome aimed to become the centre of excellence for ice hockey in Ireland. It was home to the Irish national i ...

County Louth County Louth ( ; ga, An Lú) is a coastal county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Ireland, within the province of Leinster. Louth is bordered by the counties of Meath to the south, Monaghan to the west, Armagh to the north and Down to the ...

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...

.Ayr Advertiser
"Mystery over Centrum 'offer'"
, ''Ayr Advertiser'', 26 February 2008 On 6 November 2006, Dawn Construction announced purchase of the leasehold from Barr Holdings Ltd for a sum around £700,000.00 and went into dialogue with South Ayrshire Council into possible alternative uses for the site. The South Ayrshire Local Plan that was adopted by South Ayrshire Council on 6 April 2007, that outlines policies for the development and use of land in South Ayrshire states Policy Tourism 3 was associated with the Centrum. Planet Ice approached Dawn Developments Limited to enquire about running the facility as an ice rink but were turned down by Dawn. Shortly after, Dawn lodged an application to demolish the rink that proved contentious amongst the local public who were concerned over the loss of the facilities and that a supermarket may be constructed on the site.Ayrshire Post

''Prestwick's Centrum Arena is dismantled'', 20 February 2009Ayrshire Post

''No supermarket plan for Centrum in Prestwick'', 14 May 2008 It was stated by South Ayrshire Council that there were no plans for a supermarket to be constructed on the site. The Centrum's demolition was opposed by Friends of the Eagles Hockey but supported by Prestwick Community Council who saw its demolition as a step toward regeneration of the Prestwick Toll area, stating that the Centrum had become a target for vandals. The demolition of the Centrum commenced on Monday 16 February 2009, after being brought forward from its original scheduled demolition in late 2009. Dawn Developments stated that this was due to pressure from Prestwick Community council who had concerns that the Centrum would become a target for anti social behaviour including vandalism. The demolition contractor was N&R Demolitions Ltd.

Aftermath

The site was entirely redeveloped. A

petrol station A filling station, also known as a gas station () or petrol station (), is a facility that sells fuel and engine lubricants for motor vehicles. The most common fuels sold in the 2010s were gasoline (or petrol) and diesel fuel. Gasoline ...

and

carpark A parking lot (American English) or car park (British English), also known as a car lot, is a cleared area intended for parking vehicles. The term usually refers to an area dedicated only for parking, with a durable or semi-durable surface ...

of the new Sainsbury's supermarket are located where the Centrum formerly stood. The supermarket, which was opened on Wednesday 14 July 2010 is situated at the rear of the site that was the location of the over flow car park for the Centrum. The accommodation comprises of shop space. The ground lease will expire on 31 August 2109.South Ayrshire Council. ''Excerpt from the minutes of the leadership panel''. 26 August 2008.

References

{{reflist, 30em Indoor arenas in Scotland Sports venues in South Ayrshire Sports venues completed in 1996 Sports venues demolished in 2009 Demolished sports venues in the United Kingdom 1996 establishments in Scotland 2009 disestablishments in Scotland