Greenwich's Queen's House rink opens 18 November, four DLR stops from Lewisham. Seven rinks near Lewisham with 2026 dates, ticket prices and booking rules.

The nearest Christmas rink to Lewisham is the Queen’s House Ice Rink in Greenwich, four stops up the DLR, which opens on 18 November. Beyond it, people here skate at the covered rink at Bluewater (opens 5 November), Glide at Battersea Power Station (6 November) or Streatham Ice Rink, open all year. The borough’s own rink, at Beckenham Place Park, has no 2026 dates yet. Every entry checked against the rink’s own site on 3 November 2026.

We have not skated at any of these for this guide, and nothing here is a review. Each entry gives the dates, the prices the rink’s own website or booking system showed on 3 November, and the rules that catch families out: booking fees, skate aids and age limits. Prices on most seasonal rinks change by day and time, so the figure you see when you book may differ.

In the borough: the Winter Gardens at Beckenham Place Park, not confirmed

Last winter the Winter Gardens in Beckenham Place Park ran a covered rink, billed by the park as Lewisham’s first indoor skating rink, alongside a funfair, a Christmas market and a bar. It ran from 22 November 2025, a week late because of a weather warning, to 4 January 2026. Entry was free and the rink was ticketed by session.

On 3 November 2026 the park’s own events listing still showed last season, and the event’s booking site, visitwintergardens.co.uk, published no dates. A new premises licence application for an annual Winter Gardens event between November and January is on Lewisham Council’s register, with representations open to 12 November. That is a strong sign the organisers plan to return, but it is not an announcement. Our Beckenham Place Park ice rink page has the full story and will carry the dates the moment they are published.

Closest to Lewisham

1. The Queen’s House Ice Rink, Greenwich

An open-air rink on the lawn in front of the Queen’s House, inside Greenwich’s UNESCO World Heritage Site, run for Royal Museums Greenwich by Tamarisk Events (per Visit South East England’s listing). The museum’s page gives the season as 18 November 2026 to 3 January 2027, 10am to 9pm, and mentions special sessions for toddlers, students and SEND families.

The booking page says each session is 45 minutes and that the rink is a 10-minute walk from Greenwich and Maze Hill stations; Greenwich is on the DLR’s Lewisham branch. Londonist reports the rink has doubled in size this year with the same capacity, and that bookings can be moved up to 24 hours ahead.

Open 18 November 2026 to 3 January 2027, 10am to 9pm
Price adult £16.80 standard, £24.64 peak, £26.88 super peak; child £11.20, £19.60, £22.40; student £11.20; parent and mini skater £8.40; carers free (booking page, 3 November)
Booking online, 45-minute sessions
Address Romney Road, Greenwich, SE10 9NF
Website rmg.co.uk/queens-house/attractions/queens-house-ice-rink
Good for toddler sessions, SEND sessions, student sessions, 10 minutes' walk from Greenwich DLR

2. The Ice Rink at Bluewater

Bluewater builds its rink outside The Village, under a roof, so it is “undercover” whatever the weather. The centre’s page gives 5 November 2026 to 3 January 2027 with 45-minute sessions and skate hire included, open on Christmas Eve, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day; its booking system lists no sessions on Christmas Day.

There are parent and toddler sessions, quiet sessions, disco nights and a new Skate & Sing every Wednesday for five weeks from 18 November, plus pay-on-the-door Skate to Donate sessions for the hospice charity ellenor, minimum donation £5.

Open 5 November 2026 to 3 January 2027; no sessions on Christmas Day in the booking system
Price off peak £15 adult, £13 child, £46 family; peak £17, £15, £56; £1.50 more a ticket on the day, £6 more for a family (booking system, 3 November)
Booking online; cheapest booked ahead
Address Bluewater, Greenhithe, DA9 9ST
Website bluewater.co.uk/en/the-ice-rink-at-bluewater
Good for covered rink, skate hire included, penguin and seal skate aids, parent and toddler sessions

3. Streatham Ice Rink

The rink inside Streatham Ice and Leisure Centre, run by Active Lambeth, is a full Olympic-size sheet, 60m by 30m, and Active Lambeth says it “has been one of the coolest places to skate in London” for more than 80 years. Public sessions run “all throughout the day, 7 days a week”, each 60 minutes, and the centre advises booking online.

Skates are for hire from child size 7 to adult size 15, with penguin aids for children under 1.2m and snowman aids for taller ones. Trousers must be worn, and children under 8 need a skating adult with them.

Open all year, public sessions daily
Price public session price not printed on Active Lambeth's site, shown at online booking; private lessons from £15 for 15 minutes
Booking online in advance advised, 60-minute sessions
Address 390 Streatham High Road, SW16 6HX
Website active.lambeth.gov.uk/activities/ice-skating
Good for all year, lessons, under-8s with a skating adult, carers of disabled skaters free

Central London

4. Glide at Battersea Power Station

Glide is three interconnecting rinks around a Christmas tree beside the power station, plus a riverside skate trail through the trees; Battersea Power Station calls it “London’s only riverside ice rink with a skate trail”. The season runs from Friday 6 November 2026 to Sunday 3 January 2027.

A session lasts about 45 minutes with skate hire included. Glide prices each session separately and publishes no flat price list; what it does publish is a penguin skate aid at £6, a £290 season pass and “Skate Mates” ice marshals at £30 a session for groups of up to 15.

Open 6 November 2026 to 3 January 2027
Price varies by session, shown in Glide's booking calendar; season pass £290; penguin aid £6
Booking online, about 45 minutes, skate hire included
Address Battersea Power Station, SW11 8DD
Website glidebatterseapowerstation.co.uk
Good for skate trail, accessible sessions, riverside

5. Skate at Somerset House

The rink in Somerset House’s 18th-century Edmond J. Safra Fountain Court, under a giant Christmas tree, sponsored again by Virgin Atlantic Holidays. Somerset House gives 11 November 2026 to 10 January 2027, the latest finish of any rink here.

Skate Lates with DJs run from 12 November with sessions from 8pm, and there is a K-Pop Party with the Korean Cultural Centre UK on 23 November. Skate School and a Kids Skate Club are also listed.

Open 11 November 2026 to 10 January 2027
Price adults £13 to £28.50; children £11 to £15; plus £1.50 fee a ticket
Booking online
Address Strand, WC2R 1LA
Website somersethouse.org.uk/whats-on/skate-somerset-house
Good for lessons, Skate Lates, open to 10 January

6. Skate Leicester Square

Underbelly’s open-air rink circles the Shakespeare statue in the middle of Leicester Square, surrounded by its Christmas market. It opened on 31 October and runs to 3 January 2027, closed on Christmas Day.

The booking page listed tickets “from £7.60”, plus a £3 transaction fee, on 3 November; prices change between off-peak and peak days.

Open 31 October 2026 to 3 January 2027, closed Christmas Day
Price from £7.60, plus a £3 transaction fee (booking page, 3 November)
Booking online
Address Leicester Square, WC2H
Website skateleicestersquare.co.uk
Good for cheapest start price, Christmas market, open now

7. Ice skating at Hyde Park Winter Wonderland

Winter Wonderland calls its rink around the Victorian bandstand “the UK’s largest open-air ice rink”. It opens on 19 November and runs to 3 January 2027.

You need a ticket to enter the site as well, but Winter Wonderland says every £25 spent online on activities unlocks a free entry ticket. Bags go in a cloakroom at £2 an item, and phones and cameras are not allowed on the ice.

Electric wheelchairs can go on with the motor off.

Open 19 November 2026 to 3 January 2027
Price advance adult £12.65 off peak, £17.05 standard, £19.25 peak; child (3 to 12) £9.35, £11.55, £13.75; family from £37.40; £1 to £4 more on the day; site entry extra
Booking online in advance
Address Hyde Park, London
Website hydeparkwinterwonderland.com/attraction/ice-skating
Good for wheelchair users, funfair day out

How we chose

These are the rinks people in Lewisham borough search for, chosen on the public record rather than on taste: real ice within reach by the DLR, a direct train or a short drive, with a 2026 season and prices published by the operator. Dates, prices and rules come from each rink’s own website or booking system, read on 3 November 2026, with the Queen’s House operator taken from Visit South East England and its size change from Londonist. We left out Hampton Court Palace’s rink as a long cross-London trip from here, and Canary Wharf’s, which is not returning this year according to Londonist’s rink roundup.

Run a place that should be here, or spot something that has changed? Email newsdesk@lewishamnews.co.uk. Taken a good photograph of any of these places? Email it to newsdesk@lewishamnews.co.uk and we will add it with your name as the credit.

For more on Christmas locally, see Lewisham’s Christmas markets, the Christmas lights switch-on, Christmas trains and travel, Christmas dinner in Lewisham and what’s on in Lewisham this month. For the rest of the year, see things to do in Lewisham.

Frequently asked questions

Is there an ice rink in Lewisham this Christmas?

Not confirmed, as of 3 November 2026. The Winter Gardens at Beckenham Place Park ran a covered rink last winter, and a premises licence application for the event is on Lewisham Council’s register with comments open to 12 November, but no 2026 dates have been published. The nearest confirmed rink is the Queen’s House Ice Rink in Greenwich, open 18 November 2026 to 3 January 2027.

What is the cheapest ice skating near Lewisham?

Skate Leicester Square’s booking page lists sessions from £7.60 plus a £3 transaction fee. Hyde Park Winter Wonderland’s off-peak advance tickets are £12.65 for adults and £9.35 for children, with site entry extra. Nearer home, Bluewater’s off-peak tickets are £15 for adults and £13 for children booked ahead, and the Queen’s House rink starts at £16.80 for adults and £11.20 for children.

Which rink near Lewisham is open all year?

Streatham Ice Rink, run by Active Lambeth at 390 Streatham High Road. It is a full Olympic-size rink, 60m by 30m, with 60-minute public sessions every day. Active Lambeth advises booking online.