Streatham Ice and Leisure Centre is an

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

and

leisure centre A leisure centre in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia (also called aquatic centres), Singapore and Canada is a purpose-built building or site, usually owned and operated by the city, borough council or municipal district council, where people ...

in Streatham, 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 team sport. 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 sch ...

of the

Streatham IHC Streatham IHC (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, and added the nam ...

and Streatham Storm

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 ...

teams. It replaced the older Streatham Ice Arena.

Streatham Ice Arena

Streatham Ice Arena was originally opened on the site on the 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 The London Plan is the statutory spatial development strategy for the Gre ...

, Lt Col. A. Bellamy, and the

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for

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 ...

, 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, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red ...

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, following problems with the aging ice-making machinery. 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 Welwyn Garden City, England. In 2011 it was the third-largest retailer in the world measured by gross revenues and the ninth-largest in th ...

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 a district in 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 ce ...

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

* Indoor 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