# Planet Ice-MK, MK Pleasure Plaza, Milton Keynes - September 2013



## Landie_Man (Sep 15, 2013)

Well here it is; after the insane success of my not that remarkable report on Flamingos/Empire club (huge internet stats on Flickr) at the MK Leisure Plaza, and after I was unable to find a way in, I decided to give Planet Ice another go.

I thought that after three weeks the whole lot would be gone, but a photo posted on the Facebook Group “Spotted: Milton Keynes” late last week; I was filled with some hope. 

From the A5 it was looking bleak. The side of the stripped out bowling club was there, well partly stripped, but it looked like not much remained behind that. When I arrived on the rainy morning to the Retail Park, I saw that pretty much all of Planet Ice remained; but unsure what. After a stroll in, I was certainly not disappointed! Everything was intact, though ancillaries were long gone. 

The place had an eerie feel to it, it was pretty dim inside and the half demolished building had all sorts of creaks and knocks in the wind. It felt incredible to be inside such a huge imposing sports centre, but also sad as it’s seemed such a waste to see all this equipment get destroyed.






-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Planet Ice opened along with the Plaza in 1990 as “The Bladerunner Arena”. The Plaza consisted of The Golden Flamingo Nightclub, Megabowl Tenpin and of course the ice rink itself and other various bars and shops such as Homebase and Argos as mentioned in The Empire report.

The Bladerunner Arena had 3 licensed bars, one overlooking the ice and one down next to the rink, one within a one if its three function rooms and a restaurant. Other facilities included: an arcade, an ice sports shop, 8 changing rooms and of course; the ice pad itself.

The arena regularly sold out during Kings Ice Hockey games which meant that custom was turned away. Several figure skating events and competitions also happened here through the years.

The Owners, First Leisure, closed the arena in 1992 but were soon pushed into reopening it by public outcry. The Bladerunner went through another 2 closures, including a final one in 1996. 

The Ice rink was then mothballed, with local games taking place as far away as Peterborough and Oxford. Rumour has it that staff of the Plaza’s other businesses would go into the mothballed rink during breaks, using it as a large recreation area. 

The rink remained closed until 1998 when it came under new ownership, and was renamed “Planet Ice”. The Kings Hockey Team reformed in the third tier of English Ice Hockey under the ownership of a local businessmen. 

The arena was now being used by other hockey teams including: The London Knights Superleague Team. 

The changing rooms were converted into a luxury dressing room and also an office and gym. 

As the years went by, the 80s and 90s dream of having an all in one leisure complex dwindled, and Central Milton Keynes thrived. Everything became central so redevelopment of the Leisure Plaza was on the cards for many years. It was finally granted in March 2013.

Planet Ice closed its doors on the 13th of July 2013 and is currently being demolished along with Megabowl, The Empire Club and the rest of the complex.

A new rink will open in 2014.

Many thanks to wiki for ALL of this information which I have used to write my own report.

Planet Ice Milton Keynes - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 


Onto the photos, which sadly, many have noise :-/ 






























































Finally, check this old tin out!





dated 1996!

Thanks for reading, more at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/landie_man/sets/72157635543105465/

Empire/Flamingos Thread:
[ame]http://www.derelictplaces.co.uk/main/showthread.php?p=272733#post272733[/ame]


----------



## krela (Sep 17, 2013)

Great stuff, well worth the return trip!


----------



## UrbanX (Sep 17, 2013)

Wow, looks awesome. I always find it weird to walk into spaces that size when they're just completely unused. Great pics as always dude!


----------



## TeeJF (Sep 18, 2013)

Excellent stuff!


----------



## whitelaw (Sep 20, 2013)

I always wondered how thick the ice in an ice rink was. Come to that, I wondered where the cooling elements run. Shame to see this really. You would think that filling the rink and chilling it down and you could open the doors to business tomorrow, what with Dancing on Ice and all that. 

Nice find. Thank you. And well done for your persistance.


----------



## Landie_Man (Sep 20, 2013)

The elements run under the concrete. They spray in about 4 inches of water and freeze it. They then spray it white! Seriously! So it looks nice and shiny. They then paint on the logo and the hockey lines and then spray over another 2 inches of water photo and freeze it to seal in the finish.


----------

