Bristol ice hockey team hail "superb" new rink
The Bristol Pitbulls had been homeless for almost a decade before Planet Ice opened in Cribbs Causeway
A new ice rink opened in Bristol last month (25 October) has been called "superb" by the city's ice hockey team, the Bristol Pitbulls.
The opening of Planet Ice ended a nine year spell during which the city had no permanent ice rink, meaning the Pitbulls had to travel all across the South of England simply to train, let alone play matches.
To mark the opening of the new rink, we went to watch the Bristol Pitbull's first session in their new home.
WATCH: Our video report on the opening of Bristol's new rink
"I'm not ashamed to say I had a tear (when the rink opened)," Pitbulls owner Rich Hargreaves told us.
"On Saturday (30 October) we played in front of a sold out building which was great.
"We had five days to plug it because we weren't sure it was going to be opening in time.
"I think the 13 years of doing this and building this and obviously being on the road, finally came to an end for us here and (we're) building a new chapter and yeah I had a moment myself."
The Pitbulls were founded by Rich in 2009 when he returned to Bristol, following travels playing ice hockey in Canada and in the Czech Republic.
Bristol's last ice rink, on Trenchard Street in the city centre, closed in 2012 despite a campaign to save it that drew support from Winter Olympic legends Torvill and Dean and their fellow Olympic medallist Robin Cousins.
Hargreaves called the moment he stepped onto ice in Bristol once again "surreal".
"It (the rink) just compliments the city," he said.
We also spoke to several players including Ollie Shone, who is the club's all time leading goal scorer.
He called the opening of the rink "quality", explaining the team used to have to travel to places including Birmingham, Basingstoke and Oxford just to train.
"I love Bristol as a city, there's always something going on in Bristol," he said.
"In my first year in Bristol we had the ice rink then and it was always busy, every public skating session was busy.
"You'd turn up to games in other rinks and its got half the amount of people on the ice beforehand, so a lot of people missed it.
"It was good to see how many people were back at the weekend straight off the bat...
"A city like Bristol needs something like this."
Ruth Leopold plays for the women's team the Bristol Huskies, which is newly formed thanks to the opening of the rink.
She's lived in Bristol since 1995 but until now has always had to travel to Swindon to play.
"Our training used to be, probably about half past 10 to half past 11 (at night) in Swindon," she said.
"So obviously really late training, midweek as well, you've got to get up for work, to drive all the way to Swindon, really late training and then not get home till one in the morning so, it took a bit of dedication to keep going...but now I live 15 minutes away so it's an absolute dream come true...
"It's going to be great for the local kids as well.
"It's a great thing for kids to get into. You've got skating, you've got figure skating, you've got kids ice hockey, so for the local community it's going to be a superb sports facility."
Planet Ice is open for recreational skating seven days a week and has a seating capacity of more than 1,000.
You can find out more about the rink via its website here.
The Bristol Pitbulls' website is here.