The Mancunian Way: Face the music
manchestereveningnews.co.ukOne of them’s not even open yet, but already Manchester’s two biggest music venues are at each other’s throats. It was always going to be interesting to see how the AO Arena and new kid on the block Co-op Live were going to rub along together.
And if yesterday’s tense set-to is anything to go by, the answer appears to be pretty uneasily. Manchester’s new 23,500-seat venue is set to welcome punters from April and is in the midst of applying for a licence to operate.
But a row broke at a meeting at the town hall when it came to discussions around Co-op Live’s application for a 24 hour licence on 25 days a year - thought to be part of plans to host sports events like UFC for a global TV audience.
ASM Global, the operators of the AO Arena, argued the new arena should close by midnight. But Co-op Live bosses accused their rivals of attempting to block the move for ‘competition’ reasons.
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