RECOMMENDED: When every major London Christmas lights display will turn on for 2025.
When are London ice rinks returning for Christmas 2025?
Skate Leicester Square is a brand new addition to London’s spread of pop-up rinks. Encircling the Shakespeare statue at the centre of the plaza, right in the middle of the annual Christmas market, it’s the first to welcome skaters onto the ice this year.
Opening date: November 1
Battersea’s ice rink will take up its usual spot right next to the Thames for a fourth year. Glide is one of the most aesthetic ice rinks in the city, with views over the river and across London’s glistening skyline. Besides the rink itself, there’s a vintage fairground and a bar with DJs.
Opening date: November 7
Photograph: Carolina Faruolo
Skate at Somerset House isn’t just a pop up ice rink, it’s a full on winter festival. Within the beautiful Georgian courtyard, there’s a rinkside chalet serving warm festive refreshments, a Shelter Boutique with takeovers from sought-after brands like All Saints and Nobody’s Child and a series of Skate Lates featuring trailblazing women-run radio station Foundation FM, NTS Radio host Ruf Dug and queer dance party Sue Veneers.
Opening date: November 12
The UK’s largest outdoor ice rink will be back from mid-November. Winter Wonderland’s huge rink (sponsored by Mayfair’s art museum Moco for 2025) wraps around Hyde Park’s Victorian bandstand and is illuminated by more than 100,000 fairy lights to get you in the festive mood.
Opening date: November 14
After a fallow year, South London’s only outdoor ice rink will be back in front of Greenwich’s grand Queen’s House for Christmas 2025. Spend an hour gliding in front of one of London’s prettiest UNESCO World Heritage Sites before picking up some seasonal food and drink at the Zero Degrees restaurant next door.
Opening date: November 21
Photograph: Royal Museums Greenwich
For all the fun of Christmas skating without the temperamental winter weather, head for Kensington Olympia. A huge ice rink is popping up at The Grand Hall in Olympia as part of Winter Funland, one of Europe’s biggest indoor festive family extravaganzas.
Opening date: December 13
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