One of the UK’s most popular Christmas ice rinks has been scrapped for 2026

Hot water bottle season is officially upon us, and while winter brings with it soggy weather and gloomy evenings, there’s also plenty to look forward to during the colder months. Festive markets are dusting off the cobwebs and switching on the twinkling lights in the countdown to Christmas, offering stocking fillers, lashings of mulled wine and plenty of icy activities to try your hand at.

But one of the UK’s best chilly attractions won’t be making a comeback for 2026. It’s with heavy hearts that we announce the end of Edinburgh's Christmas ice rink, which has been axed after almost 30 years in operation. The rink was originally in Princes Street Gardens, then it moved to St Andrew Square before ending up in George Street in recent years.

Unique Assembly Ltd, the company which produces Edinburgh’s Hogmanay and Christmas celebrations for the council, has confirmed that the frozen rink has been cut from the city’s festive programme, which will run between November 14 and January 27. 

Plans for the seven-week winter festival were decided during the summer, and uncertainty around the reopening of Princes Street after a devastating fire earlier this year scuppered plans for a rink in 2026. 

‘An ice rink requires a great deal of advance planning, with the ice rink supplier, design of structures and site arrangements committed months ahead,’ a spokesperson for the company said, according to the BBC. 

‘Those decisions had to be made over the summer, at a time when key parts of the city centre were closed and there was real uncertainty about when Princes Street would reopen and what the knock-on effects would be.’

Edinburgh’s Christmas fair, which has brought merriment to the Scottish capital since 1999, will still host traditional festive markets, fairground rides and live outdoor events this year. 

And there is light at the end of the icy tunnel for future celebrations too, because Unique Assembly Ltd hopes to bring back its skating lake in the years to come.

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