Centrum Arena (Prestwick)

The Centrum Arena was a 2,733 seat ice arena in Prestwick, South Ayrshire, Scotland that opened on 25 August 1996. The arena was used during the winter months for recreational ice skating and ice hockey matches. In the summer months, the arena was used for various events such as the Chinese State Circus. The Centrum was famous as being the home of the Ayr Scottish Eagles ice hockey club from 1996 until 2002. The building was located at 125 Ayr Road on public land and was demolished in 2009. Today the site is occupied by a supermarket.HistoryIn the early 1980s, Kyle and Carrick District council granted a 100-year lease for the site on which the Centrum was built, to enable construction of a replacement facility for the former Ayr Ice Rink. A condition attached to the lease was that the site could only be used for a multi purpose arena. The site is now owned by South Ayrshire Council on behalf of the public.Caledonian Ice Hockey Ltd, part of the Glen Henderson Group, began construction of the Centrum in 1986 as a replacement rink for the Ayr Raiders Ice Hockey Club. During the construction phase, notable people related to ice sports visited the facility including Torvill and Dean.The construction phase was delayed and the building stood incomplete for a substantial period after the project had been abandoned, before being acquired by Barr Holdings Ltd in 1993.