‘A nightclub on a massive scale’: touring Populous’ £365m Co-op Live arena

By Tom Lowe2024-02-22T07:00:00

Soon to be the UK’s biggest indoor music venue when it opens in April, the 23,500-seat Manchester behemoth is an impressive site. Tom Lowe has a look around

“The brief”, says a member of Co-op Group’s PR team, looking out over the cavernous innards of what will soon be the UK’s biggest music venue, “was to create a sweaty nightclub on a grand scale.”

This might not be the first thing you would associate with the firm best known for its medium-sized supermarkets, but the £365m Co-op Live arena, designed by Populous and built by Bam, looks like it should be up to the job.

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