Review of 'Natural History Museum Ice Rink (2018)'

http://www.nhm.ac.uk/visit/exhibitions/ice-rink.html

An amazing setting for the annual skating rink at the National History Museum in the corner of the museum grounds. It is also a larger rink, a square of ice with a large Christmas tree in the middle. A long, often crowded, temporary building runs the length of the rink having change rooms on the ground and cafe on the first floor.

Rink

Prices for adults start at £12.65 (increasing in peak times, namely, during the day and on the weekends) for a 45 minute session including skate hire. The skates have simple fasteners that, in reality, are not that great and make adjustment very difficult (I spent the entire session with a part of the buckler sticking into the top of one of my feet). The busy staff were polite as they could be but really were not able to chat…

Mistakenly we went to the far side of the rink but the entrance is actually on the side of the building nearest to the V&A (to be fair, the signs are accurate, so just follow them when you get there).

Skate Return

We visited at a peak period on a Saturday morning which was tremendously over-subscribed meaning it took at good 10 minutes to even get onto the ice after the session began (35 minutes remaining…) and when we did, though not great skaters, we spent most of the time skating around others on the ice – trying to find our way through very tight spaces. The ice was, however, very good though at the time we visited there were some leaves on the surface (they do clean the ice between each session).

  • Ice - 8/10
  • Skates - 6/10 (ouch)
  • Aprés Skate - 7/10
  • Price - 6/10
  • Skate Services - 7/10
  • Music - 8/10 (lame Christmas music)

So, better ice than Skate at Somerset House but much more expensive and much, much, busier. Still good fun and very Christmas-y in amazing surroundings. Lots of kids…

Mel Steve

Rating: “It is OK but I have some issues”

Review Date: 2018-11-17



Natural History Museum

Location: London (England)

Address: Cromwell Road London SW7 5BD ENGLAND

Public Transport: TUBE South Kensington TUBE Gloucester Road

Telephone: +44 (0)20 7942 5000

URL: http://www.nhm.ac.uk/

One the great museums of London…and free to boot! Located in South Kensington beside the Science and the Victoria and Albert museums this is a tremendous museum of Natural History featuring the ever popular dinosaurs as well as a large number of stuffed and preserved animals hearkening back to it's Victorian roots.

The museum features many events including sleep overs, films and skating in the winter. Be aware it can get very busy so try to avoid peak times (school holidays, and weekends).