Hammersmith Has Been Highlighted As The Ideal Location For The greatest Music Arena In The World 

Hammersmith Has Been Highlighted as the ideal location for the greatest music arena in the world 

This was the words of Tim Leiweke an American Business man who runs Oak View Group (OVG).  Oak View Group is due to launch Manchester's Co-op Live - the largest arena in the UK, seating 23,500 people.  In an interview with the Sunday Telegraph, Mr Leiweke was speaking about his current £365 investment and was openly enthusiastic on the prospect that the Northern Arena could be outdone by a new venue in west London and for the location he went further to say “If you guessed Hammersmith, it would be a good guess.”

He continued, “We’re pretty focused on a particular site. We’re excited about the site, but I understand there’s a process and we need to talk to neighbours, we need to talk to the community, we need to talk to the business leaders and to political leaders. We’re going to play by their rules, I’m not going to get ahead of them." “No disrespect to New York or Los Angeles, but London is the best market in the world, especially for live entertainment. London deserves to have the greatest arena in the world. They don’t yet.”   He added that it will be a year or so before the scheme ‘gets real’ but initial discussions with the authorities have been positive.

Mr Leiweke has an impressive background and knowledge of the entertainment industry as the former CEO of Anschutz Entertainment Group which owns arenas and stadiums worldwide including the Eventum Apollo in Hammersmith and the O2 in London.

This is all exciting news for West London, however Mr Leiweke explained that it’s still early days before the scheme gets the go ahead, however all the discussions have been positive with all the major authorities .  Until November last year, his former company AEG part-owned the Manchester Arena which claimed to be Europe’s largest before the opening of the Co-op Live venue just two miles away. 

No indication has been given as to where the ‘Hammersmith’ venue might be, but industry insiders believe that Mr Leiweke used the name to highlight his plans to his former employers. Just as he did in Manchester, he will be looking at setting up a rival venue nearby.