No ice rink in Newbury this Christmas. Reading Winter Wonderland skating opens 7 November; Planet Ice Basingstoke has a £10 Christmas Day skate.

There is no ice rink in Newbury this Christmas. Nothing in the town has announced one, and Newbury BID’s Visit Newbury events calendar lists no skating anywhere in the district from November to January when we checked on 20 October 2026. The last big rink in town was Underbelly’s Great Christmas Carnival at Newbury Racecourse in 2022, with skating, rides and a big top; nothing like it is listed for 2026.

Your two nearest options are Reading Winter Wonderland, an outdoor Christmas rink under a dome at Hills Meadow, open 7 November to 3 January, and Planet Ice Basingstoke, an indoor rink open all year with a £10 Christmas Day skate.

The quick answer

  • Newbury: no rink in 2026.
  • Reading Winter Wonderland: Hills Meadow, Caversham, RG4 8DH. Real ice under cover, Saturday 7 November to Sunday 3 January. 45-minute sessions on the hour, last one 9pm. Open on Christmas Day, 12pm to 5.45pm.
  • Planet Ice Basingstoke: Leisure Park, RG22 6PG. Indoor, open all year. Weekend and holiday tickets £15.40 for adults and children. Christmas Day 10am to 12pm, £10.
  • Book ahead at both: Reading caps each session at 150 skaters, and Planet Ice turns people away from full sessions.

Reading Winter Wonderland

The organiser, Premier Winter Wonderland Events, says the rink is bigger this year, at 560 square metres of skating surface, under a 900 square metre clear dome, with new skates and 30 new seal and penguin skate aids (ice rink page). Entry to the Winter Wonderland itself is free; you pay for skating, rides and the grotto.

Session times. We read the organiser’s TicketSource booking calendar date by date on 20 October. Every session is 45 minutes and starts on the hour:

Dates First session Last session
Weekends, 7 Nov to 6 Dec 11am 9pm
Weekdays, 9 Nov to 11 Dec 3pm 9pm
Every day, 12 Dec to 3 Jan (except Christmas Day) 11am 9pm
Christmas Day 12pm 5pm (ends 5.45pm)

Christmas Eve, Boxing Day, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day all run the full 11am to 9pm timetable. Every session we checked showed good availability.

Prices. The organiser’s home page prices an unlimited ride wristband (four hours of rides) at £24, and £5 more to add an ice skating session. The price of a skating-only ticket appears only at checkout on TicketSource, which we could not read, so check it when you book. Its FAQ says seal and penguin skate aids are £5 each per session, and that there is a student discount with ID. (The same FAQ still quotes older wristband prices of £20 and £25: go by the home page and the booking site.)

Is it going ahead? Reading Borough Council’s officers recommended planning permission for this year’s event, reference PL/26/1116, at the Planning Applications Committee on 7 October (agenda and update). The minutes are not published yet, but the organiser is selling skating for every day from 7 November.

Parking: the FAQ says there is pay and display on site. Hills Meadow is the riverside car park in Caversham, beside Caversham Bridge. From Newbury the train to Reading is direct.

Planet Ice Basingstoke: open all year

Planet Ice’s arena at Basingstoke Leisure Park, RG22 6PG, is the nearest permanent rink to Newbury. We read its booking calendar session by session on 20 October:

  • Christmas Day: one session, 10am to 12pm, £10 a skater (under 4s £3.20).
  • “Skate & Spot Santa” sessions in the run-up to Christmas, including the weekends of 12-13 and 19-20 December, Monday 21 December and Christmas Eve.
  • Christmas Eve: daytime sessions to 3pm, then again from 3.30pm to 8pm.
  • New Year’s Eve: a “New Years Eve Skate” from 10am, with the last ice time ending 5.15pm. There is no late-night session.
  • New Year’s Day: sessions from 10am, the last ice time ending 6.30pm.
  • Ordinary November weekends: 11am to 1pm and 1.30pm to 4pm or 4.30pm.

Prices at weekends and in the holidays: adult (16+) £15.40, child (4 to 15) £15.40, family tickets £14.70 a person for three or more, students £10 online only. Skate hire is extra, and Planet Ice adds a 4% booking fee online. Children under 8 must have an adult on the ice with them, and under-12s must wear gloves. Parking at the Leisure Park is free.

Getting there from Newbury

Check our roadworks and travel page before setting off, and our parking in Newbury page if you are taking the train from Newbury station.

More Christmas in and around Newbury

Sources