Edinburgh’s Christmas ice rink scrapped after nearly 30 years

Edinburgh’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.

On social media, Edinburgh’s Christmas confirmed: “The ice rink won’t be returning to Edinburgh’s Christmas this year.

“We update the programme each year based on feedback from our visitors and are always looking at ways to introduce new experiences alongside returning favourites.”

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.”