Capital FM Arena

The National Ice Centre (NIC) is located in Nottingham, England. Just east of the city centre, it is close to the historic Lace Market area. The facility neighbours the Capital FM Arena Nottingham which is also known as Nottingham Arena. The site has hosted an ice arena since 1939, but the old building was showing its age: hence its nickname, "The Barn". Several buildings were demolished to make way for the new arena, including an Art Deco warehouse on the opposite side of Barker Gate, and bodies had to be exhumed from a nineteenth century graveyard found under the car park. This obviously led to some controversy at the time, but The Old Cricket Players pub was initially spared. It was eventually pulled down to make way for an apartment block called the "Ice House". The Ice Stadium closed in April 2000 and was demolished soon after to make way for the building of the second public rink.The current building was first announced in September 1995 at an estimated cost of £13 million - part of which was to come from National Lottery funds. The plans were unveiled in October 1996, by which time the British Olympic Association had got behind the proposal. The first public skating session took place in April 2000. The final cost of the project was around £40m, 10% of which came from the lottery - one of the highest grants awarded.