Why city's arena has been top of the pops for a quarter century

FROM global icons such as Lady Gaga, Elton John, Beyoncé and Justin Bieber to a rich history of ice skating, the Motorpoint Arena and National Ice Centre has become a world-class entertainment and sporting venue rolled into one over the last 25 years.

- LYNETTE PINCHESS

The largest arena in the East Midlands, it has contributed a billion pounds to the local economy and has attracted millions of visitors from across the UK and further afield.

As well as concerts and comedy, the venue is the home of the Nottingham Panthers ice hockey team and has staged other high-profile sporting events Premier League Darts, World Championship Boxing, UFC and WWE.

Built at a cost of £42m, it was officially opened on April 1, 2000, by ice dance legend Jayne Torvill, with Simply Red being the first to take to the stage on April 29.

The National Ice Centre was built to replace the crumbling stadium where Torvill and partner Christopher Dean first skated together before going on to Olympic glory.

Chief executive Martin Ingham said: "Twenty five years is a great milestone for us. We are a unique venue - probably almost certainly the only arena in the world that is also a national sports centre.

"The national sports centre was the raison d'être following on from the legacy of Torvill and Dean.

"The initial thought was this is going to be an ice centre that would send kids to the Olympics and a home for the Panthers and the secondary part of it was we'll also be able to do arena gigs.

"Actually, the reality of it is the arena part of the business makes the money and helps to subsidise the ice sports part of the business, which doesn't charge people enough to be able to cover the running costs."