Ikea aims to furnish some festive fun

Published on Monday 13 November 2006 12:05

FURNITURE giant Ikea has announced the line-up for its full Winter Festival programme.

Bosses at the Straiton store are bringing in a 150sq ft ice rink and a host of other attractions in a bid to rival Edinburgh's own city centre celebrations.

The arena's central ice rink will be open for general skating, daily instruction sessions and a one-off ice show on November 24.

The show, by Ginger Cat productions, will include such sequences as Jungle Beats to Jingle Bell Rock and there will be four performances on the day. The site will also have Swedish style cabins, food markets, Christmas decoration stalls, a Swedish outdoor cafe and a Santa's Grotto.

Ikea has arranged for overflow car parking at neighbouring stores while the ice rink is in place. Ikea Winter Festival runs from November 23 to December 17.

The children's workshops will be provided by local visitor attractions, including the Scottish Mining Museum, Butterfly World and Scottish Seabird Centre.

Ikea's synthetic rink is made of a non-slip surface laid in panels and is said to be more environmentally friendly than its "real" counterparts because it has low water consumption and requires no chillers or generators.