Manchester Evening News Arena, Manchester

Completed in 1995 and attached to the city’s Victoria rail station, Manchester Arena is not only the city’s largest concert venue, but one of the most popular indoor arenas in the entire world. The largest indoor arena in Europe, Manchester Arena has a capacity of 21,000. A highly ambitious venture given Manchester’s relatively small population compared to some other European cities, the arena was built as a centrepiece to the city’s Olympic Games bids in 1996 and 2000. Unfortunately, the city lost out on both occasions, but was rewarded by earning the right to host the 2002 Commonwealth Games.

Manchester Arena hosted several events during the games, and has been a popular sporting venue throughout its history. The arena has hosted basketball, ice hockey and even swimming, and has hosted boxing matches featuring local heroes Ricky Hatton and Amir Khan. The venue attracted more visitors in 2007 than any other indoor arena on the planet – and is still one of the five most popular arenas in the world. Formerly known as Manchester Evening News Arena until last year, the venue is also well known for hosting pop stars like Pink, Madonna and Rihanna, as well as live stand up comedy. Local comedian Peter Kay, who once worked as a steward at the venue, played 35 sold out shows at the venue in 2010.