A 30m by 8m ice rink and marquee would open at the Riverside, Kingsmead Road, from October to January each winter to 2031. Comments are due by 30 October.

An ice rink could return to Canterbury this winter, and every winter after it until 2031. A planning application asks to put a temporary rink and a marquee in the courtyard at the Riverside on Kingsmead Road, from October to January each year.

The application, CA/26/01572, was validated by Canterbury City Council on 28 September. It is awaiting a decision.

What is planned

The drawings and form on the council’s planning register set out the scheme:

  • a 30m by 8m ice rink, laid out lengthways in the courtyard between the restaurant units, north of the Curzon cinema
  • a 12m by 6m marquee beside it, at the northern end
  • the season: October to January, for each winter from 2026 to 2031
  • the site: 498.33 square metres of the courtyard, described as serving “surrounding commercial premises”
  • power: the ice would be kept frozen by electrical chillers, housed in the undercroft car park

The application form gives the opening hours as “Unknown”. It does not give prices, a start date for this winter or the number of staff.

The application is made in the name of Whitefriars Canterbury, with the shopping centre’s management suite on Gravel Walk as its address. The block plan, drawn by Blink Architecture of Whitstable, names Rockhopper Events Ltd as its client. Neither has published plans for the rink that we could find.

The form also shows notice was served on Canterbury City Council as an owner of part of the land, on 17 September. The Riverside is the council’s regeneration scheme on a former waste depot site. Its opening release in August 2022 said the council would earn income there from rents, parking and a share of business rates.

Canterbury’s earlier rinks

The council ran its own rink, Canterbury on Ice, in the Dane John Gardens at Christmas 2019. Its plans release of May 2019 said around 140 skaters could use it at once. It also said an earlier rink run by a private operator had “ultimately failed”.

The council later said 16,000 skaters went in that first year. It cancelled the 2020 rink in May that year because of the pandemic.

The Riverside rink would be a private venture on a smaller footprint: 240 square metres of ice.

The timetable

  • 28 September: application validated
  • 30 October: the date the council lists for its consultation to expire
  • 23 November: the deadline for a decision

The council can decide it sooner. Either way, the rink cannot open before it has permission, so this winter’s season would be shorter than October to January.

What it means for you

  • If you want to comment, find CA/26/01572 on the council’s planning register and comment by 30 October. Comments can be about noise, opening hours, lighting, the chillers or parking.
  • If you live near Kingsmead, note the hours are not set yet. The council can limit them by condition if it approves the plan.
  • If you were hoping to book, there is nothing to book yet. We will report the decision, and any dates and prices once the operator publishes them.

How the plan sits with the rest of the season is in our guides to the Canterbury Christmas market and what’s on this month. Other live applications are on our Canterbury planning applications page.

Sources