Murrayfield Ice Rink

If you’ve never been, get there ASAP. If you have been… go again. I promise its as good as it was when you were a teenager. Its the most old school ice rink ever and as a result cool as fxxxxk.

Ah, good times. Murrayfield Ice Rink to me is chilly memories of unsure gliding circuits round the rink, when I went to a weekend skating club called Normandy, which was basically for the purpose of checking out boys and posing in my latest Tammy Girl number, rather than actually improving at skating or showing off any athletic ability. Although I do remember skating round the rink to Robert Miles and watching some other awesomely skilled ice skaters do their thing, and thinking I’d be keen to learn to ice skate properly, because it just looks so graceful and amazing if you can do it properly.
Anyway, I suppose the concept of an Ice Rink is fairly self explanatory, so if you fancy a day of icy, slippy, fitness, then Murrayfield is the place to go. If you’re into ice hockey, you can also watch quite a few games here. I also once attended a disco skating night here, where again, I skated about posing and checking out boys, but at night time rather than during the day. I have absolutely no idea if they still run such a night, because I’m about 15 years too old to have a clue now, but I remember at the time thinking it was brilliant.

My flatmate plays ice-​hockey so I have trooped out to the Murrayfield Ice Rink on a number of occasions to root for her team (and get really cold!).
I have to admit I had never been in an ice rink before and I was impressed. It feels a bit stuck in the past (flashes of the movie Mighty Ducks kept creeping into mind). It’s a very decent size rink, particularly busy during the day on weekends. It attracts a lot of the local teenagers, who can’t just make it to the pub yet and come here to hang out instead. Don’t let this discourage you renting out their (a bit old) skates for 6 pounds and giving it a go. Personally, I won’t be skating. All I want to do is get on to the ice-​smoothing machine thingy!
There are a lot of Lothian and first buses who come here from the city centre, namely the 12,26 and 31. If you are going to head here for an ice-​hockey game wrap up warm!

Way back in the mists of time when I was a girl guide (yes, really), I used to come down to Murrayfield for a skate with my pack (not sure if that’s the proper word) quite frequently. We would skate around for an hour or two trying not to get mown down by neddy boys with speed skates, then head to the café for a £1.50 burger (god knows what must’ve been in them). Happy times, except I remember they used to have security on the door doing bag searches (on 12 year old girls!?!) and they’d make you bin any food you’d brought with you. Nothing has really changed, apart from the burgers costing slightly more and, thankfully, the security guards have gone. It’s a nice way to spend an afternoon and infinitely more fun than the gym.

When stepping into Murrayfield Ice Rink you almost feel like you are stepping back in time because the place is so dated. It could really do with an upgrade.
We went on a busy Saturday afternoon, and it was just over £5 for skating plus skate hire, so pretty reasonable for an afternoon out. The skates were so old and cheap, i reckon people were wearing these back in the 70’s. The rink is quite big, although on a Saturday it does get very busy so it does feel a little cramped sometimes. Especially as you cling to the side and there is a hundred other people doing the same thing. The play some tunes while you skate so you can bop away, although who am I kidding skating is hard enough on its own– adding dance moves is too much.
What I didn’t like about this rink was the despite the fact there was signs everywhere saying «No Ice Hockey Skates» during the general skating, there was a large amount of teenagers clearly in their ice hockey skates. This wouldn’t be a problem if they didn’t chase each other around, unbelievably quickly I might add, or chip ice at each other. I saw them knock over a couple of people and there was a few times I almost fell over thanks to them speeding past me. It just felt like there should have been some stewards to stop it, but then they joined in with them as I guess they are all hockey buds.
This ice rink really deserves 3 stars due to it being so outdated and the fact you can enjoy your skating without getting run over by a teenage boy, but the fact its the only skating rink for miles around earns it an extra star.

I recently visited this ice rink for my first time skating in almost ten years. The rink might look a little run down from the outside (and I believe it is being dun up this summer) but the rink itself was fantastic! I was fortunate to visit at a time when speed skaters were not allowed, which made a huge difference. It was great to watch all the wee tots showing off their (more advanced!) skating skills and the rink wasn’t so busy that I felt intimidated by the number of skaters around me. A bargain compared to some other activities, even including skate hire, and I will definitely be back!