Chester has no city rink in 2026; the nearest is Oaks on Ice at Cheshire Oaks, open daily to 3 January. Prices, session times, age rules and Black Friday hours.

There is no ice rink in Chester city centre announced for 2026. The council, Chester BID’s events calendar and the Christmas market listing carry no rink this year. The nearest seasonal rink is Oaks on Ice at Cheshire Oaks Designer Outlet in Ellesmere Port, north of the city. It runs to Sunday 3 January, and a 45-minute session costs £15 for an adult at peak times, £12.50 off peak, with skate hire included (Oaks on Ice).

The quick answer

  • Chester city: no rink announced for 2026
  • Nearest rink: Oaks on Ice, Cheshire Oaks Designer Outlet, Kinsey Road, Ellesmere Port CH65 9JJ
  • Dates: open now, every day to Sunday 3 January; Christmas week sessions are on sale
  • Prices: adult £15 peak, £12.50 off peak; child 10 to 15 £13 or £11; junior 4 to 9 £11 or £9.50; family of four £43 or £36
  • Sessions: 45 minutes, starting on the hour; skate hire included; skate aids £5 on the day
  • Who can skate: ages 4 and up; under 10s must skate with a paying adult; wheelchair accessible; carers skate free
  • Deeside Ice Arena, Queensferry: year-round rink; Christmas Skate from 21 November, 90 minutes for £13 with skate hire, family £48
  • Northwich: its indoor rink at Barons Quay ran for one weekend in 2025 (29 and 30 November); nothing announced for 2026 yet

Updated 3 November: Deeside Ice Arena has published its Christmas skating, from 21 November, with prices; Oaks on Ice prices and dates are unchanged, and Northwich has still announced no rink.

Updated 30 October: the rink is open, and the operator says its Christmas week sessions are now on sale. Prices are unchanged.

Updated 23 October: the rink’s own site now publishes prices, session rules and a 3 January closing date; the outlet’s page has moved the opening to Saturday 24 October.

Is it open?

Yes. The rink opened for the season in the last week of October and is open seven days a week until Sunday 3 January. On 30 October the operator’s banner read “Open 23 Oct – 3 Jan / Christmas week sessions now released” (Oaks on Ice). Its hours table gives December as 10am to 9pm on weekdays, 9am to 9pm on Saturdays and 10am to 7pm on Sundays, with short days on Christmas Eve (to 6pm) and New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day (10am to 5pm). The same table lists late November dates under 2025’s weekdays, so for November go by the booking calendar.

Oaks on Ice prices

Every ticket is a 45-minute session with skate hire. The rink’s site does not say which sessions count as peak, beyond warning that weekend and twilight sessions sell out first.

Ticket Peak Off peak
Adult (16+) £15.00 £12.50
Child (10 to 15) £13.00 £11.00
Junior (4 to 9) £11.00 £9.50
Family of 4 (2 adults, 2 children) £43.00 £36.00
Student (with ID) £13.50 £11.50
Groups of 10 or more, per person £13.00 £10.00
Sip & Skate (session, then a drink at the bar) £19.50 £17.00

Prices from Oaks on Ice, read 23 October. The booking page says a booking fee is added.

The rules worth knowing before you book

All from the rink’s own FAQs:

  • Sessions start on the hour and end at the same time for everyone, so arrive about 20 minutes early to collect skates.
  • Juniors aged 4 to 9 must be on the ice with a full paying adult, so a junior ticket cannot be booked on its own. The minimum age is 4.
  • Skate aids cost £5 and are first come, first served on the day; they are for under 10s. Marshals are on the ice at every session.
  • Gloves are required on the ice and are not sold on site.
  • No helmets are provided; you can bring your own.
  • Tickets are non-refundable. You can give a ticket to someone else, or reschedule if you ask at least seven days ahead.
  • Skate sizes run from child UK 8 to adult UK 13.
  • The rink is covered, so sessions go ahead in the rain, and there is an outdoor ice path around the outlet’s oak tree. The rink is accessible, but the viewing area is not step free.
  • Walk-ups are taken if there is space; pre-booked tickets get priority.

Group bookings go through the box office: hello@cheshireoaksonice.com or 07337 504200, from 10am daily. Book online through the Oaks on Ice booking page.

The outlet’s own opening hours are not the rink’s hours, but they tell you when the centre is open around it. Over half term the centre opens until 10pm on Thursday 29 and Friday 30 October and 9am to 9pm on Saturday 31 October; weekdays from 2 to 20 November are 10am to 9pm, and the late nights of Black Friday weekend run 8am to 11pm on 27 and 28 November (Cheshire Oaks extended hours). Larger stores keep Sunday trading hours of 11am to 5pm.

What else is on at Cheshire Oaks this Christmas

  • Santa’s Grand Parade, free, no booking. The Christmas Launch is Friday 6 November from 4pm, then the parade returns on 5 and 6, 12 and 13, and 19 and 20 December at 12.30pm, 2pm, 3.30pm and 5pm. It starts at Guest Services and runs through Phases 3 and 4, about 30 minutes each time.
  • Free film showings in the Alpine Lodge from 6.30pm on selected dates: Halloween films first, then Christmas films including Home Alone and The Grinch, booked as free slots. A hot chocolate and cookie is £6.50.
  • Winter Village huts for up to six people, bookable for an hour with a £25 deposit that comes off the bill.

Northwich: a rink last year, nothing yet this year

In 2025 Visit Northwich, the town’s official visitor site, ran an indoor ice rink at Barons Quay, between H&M and The Entertainer, on 29 and 30 November. Sessions lasted 30 minutes, pre-booking was essential and there was a dedicated SEND session at 10am on both days (Visit Northwich).

That weekend was the town’s Christmas Extravaganza weekend. The 2026 Extravaganza is Saturday 21 November, and its listing still says “more information coming soon”, with no rink on the town’s events list yet. If the rink returns with the Extravaganza it will most likely be that weekend, but that is our reading, not an announcement. Our Northwich Christmas Extravaganza page will carry it the day it is listed.

Deeside Ice Arena: Christmas skating from 21 November

Deeside Ice Arena, inside Deeside Leisure Centre on Chester Road West in Queensferry, Flintshire (CH5 1SA), is the nearest year-round rink to Chester. Visit Wales calls it North Wales’ only permanent Olympic-sized ice rink, and its operator Gwella, Flintshire’s leisure trading company, says ITV’s Dancing on Ice trains there (Visit Wales, Gwella).

Christmas skating starts on Saturday 21 November 2026, Gwella says, with music, lighting and snowfall effects, and a DJ at selected sessions (Gwella: Christmas Ice Skating):

  • Christmas Skate: 90 minutes, £13 a person, family ticket £48
  • Quieter Christmas Skate: 60 minutes with reduced capacity, softer lighting and quieter music, £10 a person, family ticket £36; 9.30am sessions from 19 December; wheelchair users welcome
  • Family tickets cover two adults and two children, or one adult and three children
  • Skate hire is included in both Christmas tickets; penguin skating aids are £6 and banana aids £7, in limited numbers, so book ahead
  • Free parking at the leisure centre; arrive about 30 minutes early to collect skates

Outside the Christmas sessions the rink runs ordinary public skating. The leisure centre’s price list from 1 April 2026 gives a public skate as £9.50 online or £10.50 at the door, plus £3 skate hire, and a family skate as £34 online (£38 walk-in) before hire (Gwella price list). Its weekly timetable on 3 November listed public skating on weekday late mornings (10.30am to 12.30pm, longer on Mondays), Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 7pm to 9pm, and 10am to noon at weekends, with a family disco on Saturday and Sunday afternoons from 2pm to 4pm and Disco on Ice on Friday and Saturday nights. Christmas sessions may replace some of these, so check the booking calendar.

Getting there

Cheshire Oaks is on Kinsey Road, Ellesmere Port, CH65 9JJ. The outlet’s travel page did not show its parking or bus details when we read it, so check there before you set off. Check roadworks and travel first in the Christmas weeks, and if you are coming into Chester itself as well, car park prices are on our parking in Chester page.

More Christmas in Chester

Sources