FURNITURE giant Ikea has announced plans to compete with Edinburgh's Winter Festivals - by creating an artificial ice rink in the car park of its Straiton store.
Store bosses are bringing in the 150 square feet rink next month as part of the outlet's own winter festival celebrations. Visitors will also be able to browse continental markets as well as taking in an ice show.
Senior councillors today welcome
d the plans, saying they were a pleasing addition to events on offer in the city.
But others were not so enthusiastic, with one key player in the winter festival slamming the store's festive fun scheme as "desperate".
Ikea has arranged for overflow car parking at neighbouring stores while the ice rink is in place. The synthetic rink is made of a non-slip surface laid in panels.
It is said to be more environmentally friendly than its "real" counterparts because it has low water consumption and requires no chillers or generators.
The city's culture and tourism leader Donald Anderson said the plans could only add variety to the seasonal events programme in the area.
He said: "I can't see this detracting in any way from the activities in Edinburgh city centre.
"What we have is an unbeatable combination of location and top-class events, so the Ikea festival can only enhance activities in the area over the festive period."
But Pete Irvine, director of Unique Events, the producers of Edinburgh's winter festivals, was not so sure.
He said: "Edinburgh had the first major outdoor ice rink in the UK in 1998, and since then everyone has simply tried to copy us. This sounds to me like the kind of ice rink you'd buy off the shelf - it's desperate."
And arts impresario Karen Koren, artistic director at the Capital's Gilded Balloon, added: "Ikea is obviously just trying to jump on our bandwagon. I'd imagine it may cause them problems if they have to put it in their car park. It must only have room for about 20 skaters, whereas Winter Wonderland has a capacity of 350."
The Ikea Winter Festival, which runs from November 23 until December 17, includes children's activities, workshops, Swedish food tasting, an ice show and a pantomime.
It will also see the reappearance of the Christmas Wishing Tree - part of the long-standing relationship between Ikea, Unicef and Save the Children that allows people to make their wish for a better world.
The charges for the ice rink will be £3.50 for all (adults and children) and a 75p skate hire. The cost of a skating session in Princes Street Gardens is usually £7 for adults, £6 for children and £22 for a family ticket for those renting skates. If people bring their own skates a pound is knocked off both adult and child prices.
