The city council's legal team said because it is owed money, it needs to keep commercial information out of the public domain.

The temporary ice rink in Hanley should have been open for six weeks over Christmas but shut after little more than a fortnight.

The firm running it, Aria Events, went into liquidation.

The company applied to go into administration on 16 December, five days before it closed the attraction in Old Hall Street.

Aria has since said a problem with its insurers caused by the firm's financial problems forced the closure of the rink on health and safety grounds.

The company officially ceased trading on 24 December with losses of �120,000 up to March 2002.