Swindon Wildcats were the only team to have consistently featured in the EPIHL from its inaugural season in 1997-98.

[citation needed] During the 1997-98 season the teams that constituted this division played dual schedules; a series of games solely amongst their own division, and another amongst all the teams that were playing under the ENIHL at that time.

Solihull Blaze won the league and play-off trophies of both formats during this inaugural season.

In 2005 the BNL disbanded; leaving the EPIHL to take its place as the second tier of the national game.

The Milton Keynes Lightning and Guildford Flames joined the Elite League, Manchester Phoenix folded, and the remaining seven teams became part of the National Ice Hockey League.