National Ice Centre
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Exterior of the National Ice Centre
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| Location | Bolero Square The Lace Market Nottingham NG1 1LA United Kingdom |
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| Owner | Nottingham City Council |
| Capacity | 7,500 |
| Construction | |
| Broke ground | 1993 |
| Opened | 1 April 2000 |
| Construction cost | £43 million |
| Tenants | |
| Nottingham Panthers (2000–present) | |
| Website | |
| Venue Website | |
The National Ice Centre (NIC) is located in Nottingham, England. It is the first twin Olympic-sized ice rink in the UK. Located just east of the city centre, close to the historic Lace Market area, the facility includes the Nottingham Arena (since January 2016 re-branded as the Motorpoint Arena Nottingham).
The first rink and the arena were opened on 1 April 2000 by Olympic Gold Medalist, Jayne Torvill. The second Olympic Rink opened the following year, on 7 April 2001.
The National Ice Centre was constructed on the site of the former Nottingham Ice Stadium, which opened in 1939 and was showing its age. Plans to replace the stadium were first announced in September 1995. The estimated cost of replacement was £13 million, part of which was to come from National Lottery funds. The plans were unveiled in October 1996, by which time the British Olympic Association had got behind the proposal.
Several buildings were demolished to make way for the new ice centre; This included an Art Deco warehouse and "The Old Cricket Players" pub, which was initially planned to be spared. The former Ice Stadium closed in March 2000, and by May 2000 was described as "nearly demolished", with four skip loads of demolition rubble being removed from the site every day. This had been the former training ground for Olympic ice dancing champions Torvill and Dean (Jayne Torvill & Christopher Dean). The square in front of the new building was named 'Bolero Square' to honour their achievements.
During excavation for the new building in July 1998 a rare 1,100-year-old Saxon jug was found, which is on display at the Nottingham Castle Museum. A 19th-century graveyard was also found under the car park, from which the bodies were then exhumed.
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