The M&S Bank 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 forms part of Liverpool event campus ACC Liverpool – 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
The arena was designed by Wilkinson Eyre architects and Sport Concepts. M&S Bank Arena is a flexible space offering a variety of standard and bespoke layouts. Standard layouts range from just under 4,000 to over 11,000 capacity. 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 rating of "very good". In September 2015, the opening of sister venue Exhibition Centre Liverpool 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. The venue's 1,600-capacity car park has been closed since a major fire in 2017, but has been replaced temporarily by a 550-capacity car park. A nine-storey, 1,650-capacity car park facility is due to be completed in summer 2020.
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. 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 name took effect from early 2019, with the Liverpool Echo continuing as a business partner of the arena. ;Naming history
Echo Arena
M&S Bank Arena
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. Virtually all of the 1,400 cars there were destroyed, but no serious harm to people or horses was reported.
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 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 station which was at the end of the tunnel.
