RINKING IN EKGLAND.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 2743, 23 February 1910, Page 7

RINKING IN EKGLAND.

'THE LATEST FASHIONABLE

MANIA

“In the autumn of 1907 an American amusement manager, - by name Crawford, landed at Liverpool looking about for some iresli worlds to conquer,” says the “Daily Mail.” “Ho was owner of a great skating-rink at Coney Island, the Blackpool of America. Beop.c told him that roller-skating was absolutely -dead in England, beyond hope of revival. Mr Crawford doubted it. Ho decided that Liverpool was as good a place as any to put his theory to the test, so lie found an awkwardly-situat-ed hall, built for a military tournament, rented it. and opened it as a rinking palace. “This was in September, 190/. Witn1n a few weeks there started a craze which has spread, first over England, and then through the Continent oi Europe. To-day there arc several hundred companies engaged in the rollerskatin" business, and .specially-built ‘rinking palaces’ are springing up m all parts by. tlie many score. Seventyfive rinking companies have between them a canital of £783,000, and rnhjiy. rinks have’ within the past year earned a profit more than equal to their entire canital investment. “In and around Manchester alone there are about fifty rinks now open; Bolton boasts nine, and Bat-ley eight. London, usually the last city to bo affected by movements such ns tins, was aroused by the opening of tho Olympia and the Aluwych rinks a year ago. ’Last, winter everybody who was anybody was to be seen on the maple-wood floor of Olympia, and the crowds <m many an afternoon rivalled the first night of a great play for the congregation of celebrities. The takings of Earl’s Court now cannot be far short of £I,OOO a week. The Crystal I alace has acquired a fresh flicker of popularity because of its asphalt ground. Showy halls have been rim , up in a number of suburbs, from Brixton to "Wood Green, and from Wandsworth to Lower Clapton.- The biggest spec-ially-built London centre will be shortly opened at Holland-park. “Speed here is everything. . One firm, of builders which specialises in. this class of "work, advertises ‘skating rinks erected complete in eight weeks.’ T he cost of "a rink naturally varies according to size and position. The Holland - Park Palace, which is probably the most expensive, has a capital of £35,000. Many of the provincial rinks cost from £3,000 to £5.000. “The first essential of a good rmk is, of course, the floor, a'nd polished maple is the usual wood. The supplying. <>r skates lias become a great industry in

itself, and up to recently ..these were mainly obtained' from America. Now serious attempts are being made to meet the demand here. Music is essential in the afternoon and evening gatherings. Most of the rinks are open from half-past 10 in the morning until 11 at night. One establishment at New. Wandsworth has an early morning session, from half-past 6 until 8. “The profits have been almost incredibly large, but there are already signs that over-competition will quickly bring these down. In the course of a law case a few days since it transpired that a rink at Brixton, with a capital of £12,000, is taking £2OO a week. One London rink paid interim dividends of 10 per cent., on account of thirty- days’ working. At a Manchester rink the receipts in fourteen weeks amounted to £8,768, ancl the shares received an average dividend for that time of 109 per cent. In Dublin the preference shares of a rink received in thirty weeks 155 nor cent.”