The O2 Arena

The O2 Arena stands in the centre of The O2 entertainment district on the Greenwich Peninsula in south-east London. It occupies the former Millennium Dome, a vast dome-shaped building opened for the turn of the third millennium. The arena itself is the largest enclosed space in the United Kingdom by volume. Its roof was built on the ground inside the dome and then lifted into place. The arena building takes up forty per cent of the dome’s total space. The arena has the third-highest seating capacity of any indoor venue in the country. In 2008 it became the world’s busiest music arena. It has hosted major events such as the ATP World Tour Finals from 2009 to 2020. The venue also staged the first all-female boxing headliner in the United Kingdom in 2022. Each year it draws over twenty thousand fans to C2C: Country to Country, Europe’s largest country music festival. Inside, the seating can be rearranged and the floor changed between ice rink, basketball court, exhibition space and concert stage. The arena was designed to reduce echoing common in older venues. Around the arena lie other parts of the entertainment complex, linked to North Greenwich tube station on the Jubilee line. The dome’s wide concourses and high ceilings give visitors space to move between events.