The chief executive of Nottingham’s council-owned National Ice Centre and Motorpoint Arena has revealed the venue would have gone out of business without £7m of loans from city taxpayers. Martin Ingham has described how the “dark days” of the pandemic meant the venue had to lay off more than 1,000 permanent and casual staff.
But in an interview with the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Mr Ingham said the venue is bouncing back with sold-out shows and the busiest February, March, April, and May on record. The Arena has a balance sheet deficit of £5.8m up to March 2022. It is also dealing with “a massive backlog of maintenance” which includes spending around £400,000 a year on repairs.
A statement of accounts filed with Companies House for the year ending March 2021 confirms the city council provided a loan of £7.4m, to be repaid over 15 years from 2023. It also says the council set aside a further £1.5m for the Arena, if required.
