City gets its own ice rink
It is hardly the grand ice rink Torvill and Dean are used to skating on – but this £50,000 creation is set to become one of Wolverhampton's most popular attractions.
The synthetic ice rink has been created at a city bowling alley in a bid to bring permanent ice skating to the city for the first time.
The attraction has been installed on the top floor of the recently reopened Strykers bowling alley in Shaw Road, Bushbury.
The 11m X 6m rink will be unveiled to families from next Friday. Strykers owner Sam Samra said today: "It is a big investment but this is a first for the city so we're hoping it will pay off.
"We wanted to do something different and the nearest rink is in Telford."
Manager Rene Candy said the rink was made of wood with a special slippery surface.
"People use special skates that have a much thicker blade than traditional ice skates," he said.
"The rink itself only took a day to install but now we're installing the lights and sound system and special glow-in-the-dark equipment. The remodelling has taken more than two weeks. We've been really popular ever since we reopened and hopefully this will strengthen us further."
A spin around the rink costs £2 on Mondays to Fridays between 10am and 5pm and £3 for children or £3.50 for adults after 5pm. The old Strykers bowling alley closed its doors in November to make way for a multi-million pound replacement on the other side of the city.
Its previous owners, AMF Bowling, boarded up the site and opened a state-of-the-art £2.5million, 26,000 sq ft alley in a former gym building at Bentley Bridge in Wednesfield. The 24-lane alley reopened under new ownership on April 30.
