Manchester’s largest venues AO Arena and Co-op Live come to blows over licensing row: “Simply unlawful”

Bosses of two of the largest indoor UK arenas have come to blows, with one accusing the other of trying to block its launch date for competitive reasons.

• READ MORE: 2023 was “worst year for venue closures” while “no one in music industry seems to care”, say MVT

The conflict is between the AO Arena in Manchester (operated by ASM Global) and the upcoming 23,500 seat venue Co-op Live, which is set to open in the city this April.

In a licensing meeting for the latter, ASM Global had objected over “public safety” reasons and accused the application for a licence being “simply unlawful”.

Initially, ASM stated they had no issue with the new venue opening until midnight, however, issues arose at the prospect of the space being allowed to open until 2am at the weekend. In written submissions to Manchester City Council’s licensing committee, the operator of AO Arena said it only wanted to promote licensing objectives to “safeguard public safety and the prevention of public nuisance”.

The firm argued Co-op Live should close by midnight at the latest, and not be given the ability to open 24/7 on 25 occasions every year as requested.

Gary Grant, representing AO Arena operators ASM Global, claimed that the brand took an interest in the appeal for a licence by Co-op Live as they are “significant stakeholders in Manchester’s cultural and leisure life” (via Manchester Evening News).

From there, Co-op Live hit back at the AO Arena, accusing it of making a “ludicrous and disingenuous” objection to the £385million venue’s opening. Barrister, Jeremy Phillips KC, also repeated claims that AO’s objection was “only about trade protection” and acknowledged the sense of competition between the two venues.

“There’s a saying about pots and kettles. It would be clear to the committee that it was not us that started any animosity to the Arena, or tried to strangle this venture from the outset,” he said.

“I accept entirely that AO is entitled to comment on the application. All that I ask is they be open and transparent about their motivation and admit fundamentally [this is] only about trade protection.

“It’s wholly a trade objection to add restrictive conditions to our licence. If they had acknowledged the position and said ‘We are struggling financially and because of that, the arrival of these premises will impact on how we operate’, that would be a different thing.”

In April, comedian and actor Peter Kay is due to perform at the opening of Co-op Live, which holds 2,500 more people than the AO Arena.

At the hearing in Manchester Town Hall, Mark Donnelly, chief operating officer of Co-op Live, acknowledged the complaints about the venue potentially staying open past midnight. “We are quite disappointed to see [ASM] are trying to put conditions on us when they operate with an unrestricted licence/ We feel these are competition-based. We feel there’s very little from a licensing point of view,” he said.

“A lot of transport issues were dealt with at planning and that was approved unanimously.”

Elsewhere, opposition towards the venue having its licence granted has come from 32 residents, two councillors, the council’s public health team, and the Music Venue Trust (MVT).

For the latter, this comes as Co-op Live had “declined” to sign up for a £1-per-ticket levy which funds the MVT’s “pipeline investment fund” for grassroots venues. During the hearing, Mark Donnelly suggested that the MVT’s objection was out of spite due to the refusal to opt-in for the levy, however, MVT’s Niall Forde said this suggestion was “inflammatory” and “entirely false” (via BBC).

The MVT has instead taken issue with the venue’s “ancillary spaces” being allowed to stay open later into the night, because of the impact it will have on neighbouring residents and smaller businesses.

The licensing hearing continues.

News of the MVT’s issue with the arena opening comes in light of it sharing a report, showing the “disaster” that struck the UK’s grassroots music venues in 2023.

Last year, the MVT delivered their first annual report at the Houses Of Parliament – warning grassroots gig spaces in the UK were “going over a cliff” without urgent government action and investment from new large arenas.

This also came after it was reported that the UK was set to lose 10 per cent of its grassroots music venues in 2023, and later telling NME how 2023 was the “worst year for venue closures” while “no one in music industry seems to care”.

Putting the idea of the ticket levy forward, Mark Davyd of the MVT told promoters for larger venues that they needed “to throw a lifeline down” for grassroots spaces.

He also demanded that “not a single one of those arenas should open unless it has a policy where every ticket sold is investing back into grassroots music venues and grassroots artists”.

“Otherwise, you’re building a carbuncle, a white elephant in the middle of our major cities that will not be filled in 10 years time because there won’t be the artists to fill it,” he argued. “Co-Op Live in Manchester will be a 23,500-capacity venue due to open later this year or early next year. It has no plan at all to invest in the grassroots venues that are going to create the artists that will fill that stage in 10 years’ time. That is not good enough.”

The post Manchester’s largest venues AO Arena and Co-op Live come to blows over licensing row: “Simply unlawful” appeared first on NME.