Ice Palace Derby Street Cheetham Manchester

By 1910 England had won the first European Ice Hockey Championships, and the sport spread North to Manchester with the opening of the Manchester Ice Palace on Derby Street in Cheetham in October of that year. When it opened, the Manchester Ice Palace was the largest indoor rink in Britain, although little provision was made for the accommodation of spectators, with a capacity of only 2,000 seated and standing. The Ice Palace quickly became one of Manchester's most fashionable venues as the leisure pursuit of indoor ice skating (for those with the income to enjoy this pastime) really began to take off. Manchester Ice Hockey Club was founded in the opening year of the Ice Palace and it has been argued that it was here that the phrase "the fastest game on earth" was first coined (Smith, n.d.).

Manchester Ice Palace, like many entertainment venues in Britain, was turned over to munitions production for the duration of the First World War, though triumphantly reopened in 1919. Upon its reopening the Manchester Ice Palace was just as popular with skaters as before the war, hosting the National ice skating championships for the next seven years, and the World Championships in 1924 (Smith, n.d.).  For almost seven years, Manchester was also the only place in Britain where ice hockey was played, until the opening of the new Westminster ice rink in 1926.

THE MANCHESTER ICE RINK - Next Monday Week the Manchester Ice Rink will be opened in Derby Street, off Cheetham Hill Road. The opening ceremony is to be performed by Lord Lytton, himself an accomplished performer, and there will be a representative gathering of the finest skaters of the day. The opening of-the rink may well give Manchester much importance as an ice-skating centre if only by reason of its mere size. The building has a floor surface of 14,000 square feet, free from any obstructions. Of the other rinks in the kingdom Glasgow (13,300 square feet) will rank second in point of size, but the Glasgow rink has the serious disadvantage of having pillars on the skating surface. The better-known Princes' is only some 9,600 square feet. One of the chief reasons for the huge size of this rink is that it may justify the holding of the world's and English championships here. With this object in view there is accommodation in the two galleries which surround the rink for at least 5.000 spectators. The floor itself—on which 6½ miles of piping lie—has a cork foundation upon, which, again, two layers of asphalt are superimposed—this to provide against any loss of heat. The purpose of the cork is to get the necessary resiliency. The only other rink in the world that uses cork for this purpose is that in Berlin, which' till to-day has stood as the best equipped of ice-skating rinks. The cork is obtained from Paris, and is made from millions of old champagne corks. There is an elaborate system of insulation to prevent damp or cold in the corridors. Thanks to the amount of power available it is hoped that it will be possible to adjust the temperature to any required degree of warmth without any effect on the surface of the ice. The, floor will be flooded three times a day, and will be ready for use within a quarter of an hour afterwards. [Manchester Guardian 11 October 1910 page 4]

Reference           Manchester Guardian 11 October 1910 page 4;