Over the last few months there have been rumours circulating about the potential future of Ryde Arena. News OnTheWight has been speaking to those involved to find out where things actually stand currently.
What we have learnt is that AEW, the current leaseholders, are in the process of assigning the lease onto another third party.
IWC: Assignment of the lease is taking place
The Isle of Wight council say they are “aware that an assignment of the lease is taking place,” but they’ve yet to receive confirmation that the assignment has been completed.
They added,
“It would be improper for the Council to confirm the identity of the assignee at this time.”
The lease allows the leaseholder to pass the lease on to another party, for example by selling it.
Jordan: We now know that the ice rink has been sold
A recent report by Cllr Phil Jordan in the Ryde Magazine said ,
“We now know that the ice rink has been sold and the new owners plan to open a leisure type destination business including distillery and food/drink space and we await to see how that eventually gets started and trading in the coming months.”
The rumour that has been circulating in Ryde for some time is that Isle of Wight Distillery were taking on the building.
IW Distillery: That’s a ‘no’
A senior source from Isle of Wight Distillery told News OnTheWight today that they had not signed a lease for the building and that the information published in the Ryde Magazine was “incorrect”.
News OnTheWight contacted Cllr Jordan to see if he had for an update to his Ryde Magazine article and will add when we hear back from him.
Recap
Opening 1991, for decades Ryde Arena ran as an ice rink, hosting several ice skating display teams as well as the Vectis Warriors and recreational ice hockey teams.
In February 2001 the council leased the building to AEW for 125 years. It ran as an Ice rink, indeed IWC said it being an ice rink for a minimum of 15 years was built into the lease.
In 2012 Planet Ice was facing closure due to unpaid taxes, then all remained quiet until 2015 when it was announced staff were being laid off and the venue was to close.
There was [quite a movement against] that formed to keep the ice rink open.
October 2018 Bob Seely and Wayne Whittle stood on top of a Zamboni and the former councillor declared Isle of Wight council was ‘going to go legal’.
The council went into arbitration with the company but as this didn’t bear any fruit, in Feb 2021 Dave Stewart, then Conservitave leader of the council, had to announce the legal action was dropped.
Since then, solid news on the future of Ryde Area has been very quiet.
