London Arena
The London Arena (also known as London Docklands Arena) was an indoor arena and exhibition centre in Millwall, close to Cubitt Town area of Poplar, on the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England which was inaugurated in 1989 and demolished for housing in 2006. Seating capacity was up to 15,000, depending on the type of event held. It was the home of the London Knights ice hockey team, the London Towers basketball team and later the Greater London Leopards basketball team.
London Docklands Arena | |
The London Arena, seen before demolition | |
| Location | Millwall, London, England |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 51°29′48″N 0°00′53″W / 51.49673°N 0.01484°W |
| Owner | SMG and Anschutz (1998) |
| Capacity | 15,000 |
| Construction | |
| Opened | 1989 |
| Renovated | 1998 |
| Closed | 2005 |
| Demolished | June 2006 |
| Architect | HOK Sport (1998 refit) |
| Tenants | |
| London Knights (BSIL, 1998–2003) London Towers (BBL, 1989–1990) Greater London Leopards (BBL, 1994–1999) | |
History edit
The arena was built on the grounds of a former harbour warehouse at Millwall Inner Dock as part of the redevelopment of the Docklands area, which was developed from a harbour and industrial area to a trade and residential one. The project was led by peer Malcolm Mitchell-Thomson, 3rd Baron Selsdon, sports commentator Ron Pickering, music promoter Harvey Goldsmith, and boxing promoter Frank Warren.[1]
The venue opened in 1986, but was immediately rebuilt and reopened in 1989. It could seat up to 12,500 people in the stands and up to 15,000 in concert mode. Events ranged from sport events like basketball, ice hockey, wrestling and boxing to music concerts and trade exhibitions.
Spectacor Management Group (SMG), the world's largest private facility management company, took over ownership of the London Arena in 1994. The company manages arenas and stadiums in the US and Europe, including the Louisiana Superdome, the Mile High Stadium in Denver and the Ullevaal Stadium in Oslo. During 1998, SMG entered into a partnership agreement with another American based company, Anschutz Sports Holdings, to hold an equal share in the ownership of London Arena.
Renovation edit
The arena received a £10 million refit in 1998, allowing the capacity of the arena to be altered hydraulically. One of the primary reasons for the refit by joint owners, Anschutz Entertainment Group, was to introduce professional ice hockey back to London with the London Knights. Along with this, the brief given to architects, HOK Sport, was to turn the arena into a major multi-entertainment centre. This involved introducing a permanent Olympic-size ice rink, 48 luxury hospitality boxes with views over the arena, two brand new team dressing rooms, a completely refurbished foyer and box office, plus a state-of-the-art SACO SmartVision video scoreboard, the only one of its kind outside the US.[2]
However, the arena continued to struggle to attract enough visitors and events to be profitable and it never managed to become a financial success. One reason for this was its rather isolated geographical position, combined with poor local road and public transport access and limited parking space, although it was well served by the Crossharbour and London Arena DLR station. However, on days when events were held at the arena, it was not uncommon for the small station to be severely overcrowded.
Sale, closure and demolition edit
In 2003, the arena was sold, which, combined with the disbanding of the Ice Hockey Superleague, led to the folding of the London Knights, the only tenant at the arena at the time, leaving the arena without a permanent tenant, which made the situation worse.[3]
In 2005, the arena was closed and was superseded as the main arena by The O2 Arena, which is in The O2 entertainment complex (formerly the Millennium Dome).
The arena was demolished in June 2006 and has since been replaced by a mostly-residential development, including the Baltimore Tower. In 2007, the Crossharbour and London Arena DLR station was renamed to simply Crossharbour. However, the London Arena name still remains on a few street signs in the area.
Notable events edit
Events edit
On 18 November 1989, the Arenaball Transatlantic Challenge, the first ever Arena Football League exhibition game in Europe,[4] was played there, with the Detroit Drive winning over the Chicago Bruisers 43–14.
In 1989, the WWE held its first ever United Kingdom event at the London Arena, as well as the UK Rampage 1991 event and Capital Carnage in December 1998. In 1995 it was the venue for the Nigel Benn vs. Gerald McClellan boxing match. It hosted the Lennox Lewis vs. Francois Botha heavyweight boxing fight in 2000, and the Naseem Hamed vs. Manuel Calvo featherweight bout in 2002.
Frank Sinatra played the arena in summer 1990, with the Woody Herman Orchestra conducted by Frank Sinatra Junior.
The 1998 and 1999 editions of the Brit Awards were held at the arena,[5] and from 1989 until 2001, it was also the annual venue of the Smash Hits Poll Winners Party.[6]
In the year 2000 World Championship Wrestling would tour the UK twice, unknown to many it would be the final times they would be on British shores before being purchased by rival promotion World Wrestling Entertainment in March 2001. The first Tour in March was a part of non-televised "house" shows, the show at the Docklands Arena was a sell out, then on November 13 they would return for a televised episode of WCW Nitro which also sold out the Docklands Arena. The episode is available on the WWE Network https://watch.wwe.com/episode/WCW-Monday-Nitro-2742
In December 2005, it housed the annual 'Crisis Open Christmas' event (held the previous year in the Millennium Dome) providing food, accommodation and various medical and social services to homeless people in London, organised by the London-based homelessness charity Crisis.[7]
Concerts edit
| Act | Date | Tour | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Duran Duran | 22 April 1989 | 1988–1989 The Big Live Thing | The first band to play at the London Arena.[8] |
| Pink Floyd | 4–9 Jul 1989 | Another Lapse | Without Roger Waters |
| Erasure | 11 December 1989 | Wild! Tour | A recording of the concert was released on VHS. |
| David Bowie | 26, 27, 28 March 1990 | Sound+Vision Tour | Clips from the shows were broadcast on national television news networks. |
| Janet Jackson | 8 April 1995 | Janet World Tour | The first of four sold-out shows held in London, with the other three held at Wembley Arena. |
| Eurythmics | 6 December 1999 | peacetour | Recorded for DVD named after the tour, released in 2000. |
| Britney Spears | 15, 16 November 2000 | Oops!... I Did It Again Tour | One of the shows was filmed and broadcast on TV channel Sky1 |
| Eminem | 9, 10 February 2001 | Anger Management Tour | With Xzibit, D12 and So Solid Crew. |
| Linkin Park | 16 September 2001 | Hybrid Theory World Tour | With Puddle Of Mudd, Adema, Dilated Peoples. Audio recordings of their performances of "Papercut", "Points of Authority", "A Place for My Head", "With You" and "High Voltage" were released on the 20th anniversary reissue of Hybrid Theory. |
| Slipknot | 16 February 2002 | European Iowa Tour 2K2 | The concert was recorded and released as a live DVD called Disasterpieces. |
| Korn | 8 September 2002 | Issues Tour | |
| S Club 7 | 23–24 February 2002 | S Club Carnival Tour | A recording of the concert was released on VHS/DVD in late 2002. |
| Destiny's Child | 8 June 2002 | 2002 World Tour | First UK gig of their 2002 tour.[9] |
| Red Hot Chili Peppers | 26 June 2002 | By the Way World Tour | |
| Will Young and Gareth Gates | 3 October 2002 | Will and Gareth Tour (with special guest Zoe Birkett) | Dual billed concert from the stars of Pop Idol, recorded for VHS/DVD release in early 2003. |
Television edit
The arena was used as a studio to film the tenth and final series of the ITV gameshow You Bet! in 1997.
See also edit
References edit
- ^ "Survey of London: Volumes 43 and 44, Poplar, Blackwall and Isle of Dogs - The Millwall Docks: The buildings". London County Council. 1994.
- ^ . 28 November 2006. Archived from the original on 28 November 2006. Retrieved 24 March 2019.
- ^ Crosse, Simon (27 March 2003). "Ice Hockey: Knights' future in doubt". Retrieved 24 March 2019 – via www.telegraph.co.uk.
- ^ Wong, Glenn M. (8 March 2012). The Comprehensive Guide to Careers in Sports. Jones & Bartlett Publishers. ISBN 9781449602031.
- ^ "BRIT Awards Setlists". setlist.fm. Retrieved 24 March 2019.
- ^ "Smash Hits Poll Winners Party Setlists". setlist.fm. Retrieved 24 March 2019.
- ^ (PDF). the Pavement. December 2005. p. 12. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 December 2009. Retrieved 18 April 2017.
- ^ "Duran Duran » DURAN DURAN Complete Tour List". Retrieved 24 March 2019.
- ^ "Destiny's Child get London Arena jumpin'". 8 June 2002. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
External links edit
- Map sources for London Arena
- Pictures of the demolition of the London Arena.
- List of concerts and music events at the arena
- Report about the Arena on an ice hockey fansite