Support Leeds Arena

Those of you who live in Leeds may well be aware of the current campaign for a Leeds Arena being trumpeted by the Yorkshire Evening Post and various figures in the local music scene.

There have been rumblings of a Leeds Arena for many years. After Queen's Hall closed down in 1989, Leeds has been left without a high capacity music venue whilst state-of-the-art arena's have been built in Sheffield, Manchester and Newcastle.

Plans were drawn up in the late 90's for a 10,000 seat arena to be built alongside Elland Road stadium, complete with Ice Hockey and Basketball franchises, yet those proposals were abandoned after Leeds United's financial troubles began to get out of hand.

In the meantime, venues such as the Refectory and Leeds Met have their place, but are nowhere near big enough to fill the void and music fanatics from Leeds are still left with the prospect of late-night journeys up the M1 or across the M62 to see world famous acts.

In 2004, private investor Patrick Nally came knocking on the door of Leeds City Council with his own cash. However, whilst he was ready to get his chequebook out, the council were seemed more interested in converting the Town Hall into a music venue, disregarding the fact that both the capacity and acoustics of the building were unsuitable for a top-class venue. The problems with Supertram didn't exactly go down well either.

Then we tried Millennium Square.
Millennium Square is effectively just a public square. It has been used in the past for art exhibitions, an outdoor ice rink every winter and it's a popular venue for fans to watch major football matches on the big screen that's attached to the facing Carriageworks Theatre. This time, the square would be tested for it's suitability as a rock venue and local bands Embrace and then Kaiser Chiefs played gig's in front of 6,000 people crammed into a public square directly outside Leeds General Infirmary.
Whilst the venue has it's place like most overs and whilst the gig's were a major success, Millennium Square was added to the list of "not quite suitable venues".

Then Robbie Williams came to town, bringing chaos, 180,000 people and traffic carnage to the area of Roundhay, closing 11 local schools and outraging the local residents. That has revitalised the current campaign behind Leeds Arena.

The music acts are wanting to come to Leeds, the Sheffield Steelers Ice Hockey team want a fixture with a bit more rivalry than their current "derby" against Nottingham and I dare say that fans both sides of the Pennines would relish a Leeds v Manchester roses battle.

The city needs a top quality entertainment, sports and function centre. The economic gain and prestige that comes with hosting major acts and events is something that Leeds lacks against it's neighbours in Sheffield and Manchester. All the proposed sites would benefit the local area bringing regeneration and business to some neglected parts of the city. This is long overdue.

Sign the petition and support the Leeds Arena.