iStockEdinburgh’s Christmas ice rink has been scrapped for the first time in almost 30 years.
The rink, which has been based on George Street in recent years, will be absent from the Capital’s Christmas programme, which runs from November 14 to January 27.
Over the decades, the seasonal attraction has occupied several locations across the city centre, including Princes Street Gardens and St Andrew Square, before moving to George Street.
Edinburgh’s Christmas is delivered by arts and events company Unique Assembly Ltd, which also organises the city’s Hogmanay celebrations on behalf of the City of Edinburgh Council.
An Edinburgh’s Christmas spokesperson said: “We continually review the programme and listen to feedback from our audiences, partners and businesses as we look at how Edinburgh’s Christmas can evolve from year to year.
An ice rink requires a great deal of advance planning, with the ice rink supplier, design of structures and site arrangements committed months ahead. 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. This, alongside the significant costs of staging a rink in the city centre, with no opportunity for funding support, resulted in us taking the difficult but necessary decision not to present the ice rink on George Street this year. We know how much people have enjoyed skating as part of Edinburgh’s Christmas celebrations, and we hope the rink will return as we start the planning process for future years.
We’re excited about this year’s Edinburgh’s Christmas programme, and attractions on George Street include Polar Ice Barand Warming area, including an increased number of Family Sessions, and the return of the popular Coorie Inn, this year hosting a festive programme of free live music, festive workshops, talks and ceilidh dancing.
A further new addition for 2026, sees the introduction of festive shows and cabaret at Bristo Square, and we look forward to welcoming audiences to a wide range of attractions and experiences across the city.”
Roddy Smith, chief executive of Essential Edinburgh, said it was “disappointing” that there will be no ice rink for 2026.
“Unique Assembly have been discussing the viability of the ice rink with us for some months,” he said.
“It is important that there is activity on the westerly block of George Street to spread the Christmas footfall around the city centre and this has been a popular destination for many years, so it is disappointing that there is no ice rink this year. We lobbied hard for this to be added to the Edinburgh Christmas activities a number of years ago, and have financially supported it for many years.
“It is our understanding the financial costs involved in setting up the ice rink and then operating it have proven cost prohibitive. This is unfortunate but entirely understandable.
“We will work with Unique Assembly, the council and any other funding partners to hopefully bring the ice rink back next year. However, this brings clearly into focus the need to look again at the financing of Edinburgh’s Christmas as the current funding model does not work.
“The Christmas activities, especially those away from Princes Street Gardens, need public investment.
“At a key festive and trading period for the city, we need the city centre to be vibrant for our residents and visitors.”
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