Big Wheel Opens at Lancaster Xmas Ice Rink
LANCASTER / AGILITYPR.NEWS / December 13, 2019 / LANCASTER ON ICE
Please credit: Image by Nick Dagger Photography
Europe’s biggest portable big wheel opened to the public yesterday [12th Dec 2019] at the city centre Christmas ice rink on Lancaster’s Dalton Square.
Named after its city law firm sponsor, the Simpson Millar Lancaster Eye towers above the Town Hall at the far end of the ice rink and provides spectacular views across the historic city, including Lancaster Castle and the Ashton Memorial, and over to Morecambe Bay, the Lake District mountains and wider Lancashire.
The 35-metre-high wheel is now open at the rink throughout the festive period until 5th January and rides are £5 per person paid on arrival.
The wheel is a major addition to Lancaster on Ice, now in its second year, which last year attracted more than 35,000 skaters to the city centre ice rink, and an estimated 70,000 visitors to the city in total, with skaters coming from as far afield as Scotland and the Midlands.
Organised and run by the managers of Dalton Square pub The Borough, the ice rink has the square’s statue of Queen Victoria as its centrepiece and is adjoined to a Christmas market, tipi bar with smokeless fire pits for marshmallow toasting, and is minutes’ walk from the city’s main shopping and central parking areas.
Lancaster on Ice organiser Martin Horner said: “We knew from the planning documents the wheel was going to look pretty spectacular, but now it has arrived we are just blown away. The square looks absolutely magical, just like the Christmas wonderland we dreamed of looking out of The Borough for years before we decided to go ahead and do it.
“We hope everyone from Lancaster and as many as possible from across Lancashire and Cumbria or further afield will take the opportunity while the wheel is here to come and experience something unique and incredible this Christmas.”
For more information about Lancaster on Ice go to www.lancasteronice.co.uk.
About Us
About Lancaster on Ice and The Borough
- Lancaster on Ice was first held in Lancaster’s historic Dalton Square in the city centre in 2018.
- It is a real ice rink and has seen benches removed from Dalton Square and scaffolding above the grassed areas and borders to create a level surface for skating.
- It will run each day between 23 November 2019 and 5 January 2020 except Christmas Day.
- In 2018 Lancaster on Ice attracted 35,000 skaters and a similar number of spectators, totalling more than 70,000 people in total, many of whom were from outside of the Lancaster area.
- Planning has been granted Lancaster on Ice to take place during the festive season in Lancaster for the next five years. The wheel has been granted permission at least for 2019.
- The Borough pub and restaurant is situated on Dalton Square in Lancaster City Centre, overlooking the site of the ice rink and wheel.
- It is spread over three floors of a Georgian town house in the City.
- It is co-owned by Martin and Hannah Horner who have run the bar and restaurant for the last 14 years.
- The Borough offers a restaurant, bar, rooms beer garden and function rooms.
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