London Arena

The London Arena stood on the Isle of Dogs in east London’s Millwall Docklands. It was a large hangar-like building converted from a 1969 warehouse and opened in 1989 as part of the Docklands redevelopment. The arena seated up to 12,500 people and hosted sports, concerts and trade shows. It was home to ice hockey and basketball teams including the London Knights and London Towers. The building featured an uninterrupted 86-metre span supported by 18-metre columns, the largest such hall in Britain since the 1930s. The arena was led by figures such as peer Malcolm Mitchell-Thomson and promoter Harvey Goldsmith. It cost £24 million to convert and was managed by Bovis under the London Docklands Development Corporation. In 1998 it received a £10 million refit with a new ice rink, luxury boxes and a video scoreboard. Despite this, poor transport links and its isolated position made it hard to fill. It closed in 2005 and was demolished the following year. Visitors found a vast single space with no internal columns and a steeply raked seating bowl. The foyer held box offices and hospitality suites with views over the arena floor. The Crossharbour DLR station served the site, though it often became overcrowded on event days. Today the site is a residential area with street signs still bearing the arena’s name.