Watford's outdoor ice rink returns to Pondside from 5 December to 1 January. The council has confirmed the dates; prices and times are not published yet.

Watford’s outdoor ice rink, Big Skate, is booked into Pondside from Saturday 5 December 2026 to Friday 1 January 2027. That is 28 days, covering the whole school holiday and New Year’s Day.

The dates come from Watford Borough Council’s own events site, which lists Big Skate at Pondside for that run with the council itself as organiser and events@watford.gov.uk as the contact.

What is not published yet

Everything else. The council’s listing says, in full, “More information to come soon”. So as of 5 September 2026 there is:

  • No opening times.
  • No prices.
  • No session length.
  • No booking link, and no on-sale date.

Anyone quoting you a Watford ice rink price today is quoting an old year. We are not going to repeat figures from a previous season and let them read as this year’s, because rink pricing moves every year.

Judging by when the council has put out its other winter event detail, the practical answer is to check again in early November, and to expect booking to open before the rink does. We will update this page the moment the council publishes.

Where Pondside actually is

Pondside is the council’s public event space by the pond at the top of The Parade, at the north end of Watford town centre. It is the same site that hosts the Christmas lights switch-on two weeks earlier, on 21 November.

It is not a permanent facility and it is not the Harlequin. If you are meeting someone, “the pond on The Parade” is the landmark to give.

Getting there

The Parade runs down from the top of the town centre, so all the usual town centre approaches work. Watford High Street and Watford Junction are both mainline stations serving the town centre, and Watford Underground on the Metropolitan line sits over by Cassiobury Park.

The rink runs straight through the busiest retail fortnight of the year, so the town centre car parks will be under pressure most afternoons. Tariffs and locations are on our Watford parking page, and anything dug up or diverted on your route is on the roadworks and travel page.

The rest of the festive line-up

More things to do across the borough are on our things to do in Watford page.

Sources