Liverpool Arena, known for sponsorship reasons as the M&S Bank Arena, and previously Echo Arena, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the city centre of
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...
, England. The venue hosts live music, comedy performances and sporting events, and forms part of Liverpool event campus
ACC Liverpool
Arena and Convention Centre Liverpool, also known as simply ACC Liverpool is a multi-purpose event complex on the former Kings Dock, Liverpool, England. Opened in May 2008, it is part of Liverpool event campus, consisting of an interconnected ...
– an interconnected arena, exhibition and convention centre. The venue serves a regional population of 2.5 million people and over 6.6 million across England's North West.
Architecture and design
![DSLR Pics from inside the Echo Arena Liverpool (18554940341)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/47/DSLR_Pics_from_inside_the_Echo_Arena_Liverpool_%2818554940341%29.jpg)
The arena was designed by
Wilkinson Eyre
WilkinsonEyre is an international architecture practice based in London, England. In 1983 Chris Wilkinson (architect), Chris Wilkinson founded Chris Wilkinson Architects, he partnered with Jim Eyre (architect), Jim Eyre in 1987 and the practice w ...
architects
and Sport Concepts. M&S Bank Arena is a flexible space offering a variety of standard and bespoke layouts. The arena has 7,513 permanent seats around three sides of a central floor suitable for hosting indoor sports events. The capacity for end-stage and in-the-round concerts is 10,600 including floor seating. With floor standing, the overall capacity of the arena is increased to 11,000. There are several corporate boxes situated around the sides of the arena.
There are six dressing rooms, five team locker rooms and two promoter offices within the arena.
Vehicles weighing up to 38 tonnes can gain access to the basement of the arena.
The complex has a
BREEAM
BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method), first published by the Building Research Establishment (BRE) in 1990, is the world's longest established method of assessing, rating, and certifying the sustainability of ...
rating of "very good".
In September 2015, the opening of sister venue
Exhibition Centre Liverpool
Exhibition Centre Liverpool is a multi-million pound exhibition centre, the latest addition to Liverpool event campus, alongside interconnected sister venues ACC Liverpool and M&S Bank Arena.
History
The 8,100m2 exhibition centre was constructe ...
resulted in a broader offer for standing concerts and international sporting events. This venue features 'Space by M&S Bank Arena', a flexible entertainment space for up to 7,000 standing capacity.
History
The venue opened its doors on 12 January 2008 as the Echo Arena Liverpool, with the official opening ceremony for the
Capital of Culture. The ceremony launched a year-long celebration and signified the culmination of a decade of regeneration in the city. The show, named 'Liverpool the Musical', featured 700 performers and took 15,000 hours to organise. Since opening, the arena has attracted more than 7 million visitors to over 3,800 events, as well as generating £1.6 billion in economic benefit for the
Liverpool City Region
The Liverpool City Region is a combined authority region of England, centred on Liverpool, incorporating the local authority district boroughs of Halton, Knowsley, Sefton, St Helens, and Wirral. The region is in the historic counties of ...
.
Naming rights
In November 2018, it was announced that the Echo Arena Liverpool would be renamed to its current title, as part of a sponsorship deal with
M&S Bank. The new name took effect from 7 January 2019, with the ''
Liverpool Echo
The ''Liverpool Echo'' is a newspaper published by Trinity Mirror North West & North Wales – a subsidiary company of Reach plc and is based in St Paul's Square, Liverpool, Merseyside, England. It is published Monday to Sunday, and is Liverp ...
'' continuing as a business partner of the arena. A complete rebrand also took place inside the venue and across the Kings Dock site, before being unveiled on 31 January 2019.
2017 car park fire
On the evening of 31 December 2017, a fire broke out in an adjacent multi-storey car park and as a consequence, the Liverpool International Horse Show, taking place at the arena, had to be cancelled.
Around 80 horses were safely evacuated from temporary stabling built on the ground floor level of the car park, and held on the arena floor and the land surrounding the building. The fire continued into the small hours of 1 January 2018. The structure had to be demolished later and cars were removed. Virtually all of the 1,400 cars there were destroyed, but no serious harm to people or horses was reported.
The car park was replaced in 2019.
Death of Eric Bristow
On 5 April 2018, after attending a
Premier League Darts
Premier League Darts is a darts tournament which launched on 20 January 2005 on Sky Sports. Now played weekly from February to May, the event originally started as a fortnightly fixture in small venues around the United Kingdom. The tournament ori ...
event,
darts
Darts or dart-throwing is a competitive sport in which two or more players bare-handedly throw small projectile point, sharp-pointed projectile, missiles known as dart (missile), darts at a round shooting target, target known as a #Dartboard, dar ...
legend
Eric Bristow
Eric John Bristow, (25 April 1957 – 5 April 2018), nicknamed "The Crafty Cockney", was an English professional darts player.
He was ranked World No. 1 by the World Darts Federation a record five times, in 1980, 1981 and 1983–1985. He was ...
collapsed in front of the venue due to a heart attack and later died.
Events
Entertainment
The arena has hosted various entertainment events, including the
2008 MTV Europe Music Awards
The 2008 MTV EMAs (also known as the MTV Europe Music Awards) were held at the Echo Arena in Liverpool, England, on 6 November 2008. It was hosted by Katy Perry. This was the second time the awards have taken place in England.
Nominations
Winne ...
, and concerts by artists such as
Justin Bieber
Justin Drew Bieber ( ; born March 1, 1994) is a Canadian singer. Bieber is recognized for his genre-melding musicianship and has played an influential role in modern-day popular music. He was discovered by American record executive Scooter ...
,
Little Mix
Little Mix are a British girl group, composed of group members Leigh-Anne Pinnock, Jade Thirlwall, and Perrie Edwards. Jesy Nelson was originally part of the group before she left in 2020. After becoming the first group to win the British ver ...
,
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...
,
Beyoncé
Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter ( ; born September 4, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Beyoncé's boundary-pushing artistry and vocals have made her the most influential female musician of the 21st century, according to ...
, and others.
On 7 October 2022, the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...
and the
European Broadcasting Union
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; french: Union européenne de radio-télévision, links=no, UER) is an alliance of Public broadcasting, public service media organisations whose countries are within the European Broadcasting Area or who ar ...
(EBU) announced that the venue would host the
Eurovision Song Contest 2023
The Eurovision Song Contest 2023 is the upcoming 67th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It is set to take place in Liverpool, United Kingdom, after , winner of the with the song " Stefania" by Kalush Orchestra, was unable to meet the dem ...
on behalf of the previous year's winning country , who was unable to meet the demands of hosting the event due to security concerns caused by the
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...
. The contest will consist of two semi-finals on 9 and 11 May, and a final on 13 May 2023. This will be the first time that the contest will take place in Liverpool, and will also be the record-extending ninth time that the UK has hosted the contest, having last done so in
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...
in .
Sports
The arena has hosted several major sporting competitions. From 2008 to 2010, the arena was the home of the
Mersey Tigers
The Mersey Tigers were a professional basketball team based in the city of Liverpool, England. The club was established in 2007 as a start-up franchise of the British Basketball League, the country's elite competition. The Tigers started compe ...
basketball team. For a number of years, the Liverpool International Horse Show has been held in the arena at the end of the year. In 2021, it had to be cancelled due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
. It is also one of the venues for
Premier League Darts
Premier League Darts is a darts tournament which launched on 20 January 2005 on Sky Sports. Now played weekly from February to May, the event originally started as a fortnightly fixture in small venues around the United Kingdom. The tournament ori ...
since its opening.
In November 2021, the arena was intended as the venue for the final of the
2021 Wheelchair Rugby League World Cup
The 2021 Wheelchair Rugby League World Cup will be held in England from 15 October to 19 November 2022. It was originally planned to be held in November 2021 but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic in England. It will be the first occasion ...
but was postponed by a year due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
. The postponement made the arena unavailable and the final game was moved to the
Manchester Central Convention Complex
Manchester Central Convention Complex (commonly known as Manchester Central or GMEX (Greater Manchester Exhibition Centre)) is an exhibition and conference centre converted from the former Manchester Central railway station in Manchester, Engl ...
.
Transportation links
Direct public transport to the M&S Bank Arena is by bus.
James Street railway station is a short walk away and is served by the
Merseyrail Wirral Line. The station is two stops away from mainline station.
The arena is situated opposite the portal of the now disused
Wapping Tunnel
Wapping or Edge Hill Tunnel in Liverpool, England, is a tunnel route from the Edge Hill junction in the east of the city to the Liverpool south end docks formerly used by trains on the Liverpool-Manchester line railway. The tunnel alignm ...
which runs from Edge Hill in the east of the city. There have been calls to reuse the tunnel with a station serving the arena and immediate docks on the site of the demolished
Park Lane
Park Lane is a dual carriageway road in the City of Westminster in Central London. It is part of the London Inner Ring Road and runs from Hyde Park Corner in the south to Marble Arch in the north. It separates Hyde Park to the west from May ...
station which was at the end of the tunnel.
See also
*
List of indoor arenas in the United Kingdom
This is a list of indoor arenas in the United Kingdom with an indoor seating capacity of at least 5,000, regardless of usage.
Constructed England
Northern Ireland
Scotland
Wales
Under construction / proposed
Former / demolished
See als ...
References
External links
ACC Liverpool – Home to Echo Arena Liverpool and BT Convention Centre
{{Authority control
Music venues in Liverpool
Indoor arenas in England
Sports venues in Liverpool
Echo Arena
Liverpool Arena, known for sponsorship reasons as the M&S Bank Arena, and previously Echo Arena, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the city centre of Liverpool, England. The venue hosts live music, comedy performances and sporting events, and ...
Buildings and structures in Liverpool
Badminton venues
Darts venues
Mersey Tigers
Event venues established in 2008
Tourist attractions in Liverpool
Netball venues in England
2008 establishments in England