The Fanning family, who own the site on Industrial Road, have taken back possession of the rink and installed a temporary ice skating surface this winter, before resuming general roller skating for the warmer months.

"I'm looking forward to the new venture," said Jeremy Fanning, who will be managing the centre which has rebranded to Go Skating.

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"Illawarra's never really had an ice skating rink before, we just thought it was something new and something the kids can come in and enjoy."

The size of the Fanning's chilling equipment is not strong enough to handle summer heat to be able to allow ice skating all year round.

The reopening comes after previous operator Michael Ford of District Skate was evicted and given less than four weeks for his business and his staff to vacate by May 5, without any prior warning according to Mr Ford.

"There's two sides to every story," said Mr Fanning who believed the lease ended naturally.

"He never contacted [landlords Lee and Danny Fanning] to renew the lease so they had to make a decision on whether to renew the least that was coming up.

"He was promised three years with a chance to sign on for six but he never got in contact."

Mr Ford had previously told the Mercury he was on the understanding his lease would be renewed for another three years and was "absolutely gutted" by the sudden termination of his lease.

Mr Ford took over operations of the roller rink from the Fannings in 2018 after an alleged homophobic incident at the business led them to abruptly close over "safety concerns".

During his tenure Mr Ford had instigated many new features at the rink including sensory, wheelchair and pram-friendly sessions. He has said he is looking to open District Skate somewhere else in the Illawarra.

District Skate's forced closure prompted widespread outcry in the community, with some members of the public instigating a GoFundMe campaign as well as scouting for new premises that could be suitable for its reincarnation.

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