Sponsors urged to get their skates on for festive ice-rink

Multiple sponsors are being sought for an outdoor ice-rink which is being erected in Central London for the Christmas season. The rink, which will be built near Marble Arch, is a joint project between Westminster City Council and the Oxford Street Association (OSA). It will launch in November to coincide with the Oxford Street Christmas lights being turned on and will remain open until January 15. The 700sq m rink will take 2,000 skaters a day. Opening hours will be from 10am until 10pm seven days a week with on-site and online booking available. Sponsorship is being handled by PR company VLP and the agency says it hopes to attract food, drink and family-entertainment companies. Various levels of sponsorship are available, including 50 banners which run between Marble Arch and Oxford Street. Somerset House in the Strand has opened an ice-rink in its courtyard similar in size to the projected Marble Arch facility for the past two Christmases. A spokeswoman for the OSA says the new rink is not being set up in competition with Somerset House, as the latter had been oversubscribed every year. Marble Arch is surrounded by attractions, hotels and shops and visited by 200 million people a year. “The traffic figures alone – at around 45,000 vehicles a day – give sponsors another powerful and captive audience,” says the OSA spokeswoman.