Features
Live Nation’s Academy Music Group Adds Venue In Manchester, England
AMG – Victoria Warehouse
Academy Music Group Limited has announced a new lease agreement with Manchester-based live entertainment venue
Academy Music Group Limited (AMG) has announced a new lease agreement with Manchester-based live entertainment venue, Victoria Warehouse.
The agreement includes the venue’s main auditorium, which has a capacity of 3,500, and excludes the Victoria Warehouse Hotel and vintage cinema located in the building.
Seeing that Academy Music Group, whose majority shareholder is Live Nation Entertainment, has had a long-standing naming rights agreement with O2 – a deal that was renewed last year – Victoria Warehouse will be rebranded O2 Victoria Warehouse Manchester from Sept. 1.
Victoria Warehouse was originally the Liverpool Warehousing Company, two huge warehouses built in 1925 and 1936. The building renovated in 2009 to become a events and hospitality venue, with multiple rooms, formats and configurations, while retaining its classic internal structure of cast-iron columns, supporting wooden beams and joists.
Graham Walters, Chief Operating Officer, Academy Music Group said, “Manchester’s warehouses are so important to the history of the city. They give Manchester its local distinctiveness, identity and character.”
He added, “iconic venues are the life-blood of what we do, and we have significant expertise in running some of the most historically important entertainment venues in the world. We are delighted to welcome this stunning venue in a prime city to our Group; especially as Manchester is such an integral part of the UK’s live music scene.”
Gareth Griffiths, Head of Sponsorship, O2, commented: “The new O2 Victoria Warehouse Manchester is a brilliant addition to our O2 Academy estate and further demonstrates O2 and Academy Music Group’s commitment to live music in Manchester.”
As with all O2 sponsored venues, customers of the mobile phone company get priority access to tickets 48 hours before the general onsale.
The property owner James Cohen of Victoria Warehouse Group added: “We are delighted to have entered into a lease agreement with Academy Music Group for our large music and conference space, occupying 90,000 square feet of the 300,000 square foot building. It’s a fantastic move for our site to add both live music and club shows by partnering with AMG.
“The VW Group will continue to deliver all corporate event business and to place music shows at the venue, thus working hand-in-hand to drive profitability. This deal is testament to our vision to create one of the most iconic events and hire spaces in Manchester.”
O2 Victoria Warehouse Manchester adds to the existing UK portfolio of now 19 venues that are owned and operated by Academy Music Group, including London’s iconic O2 Academy Brixton and O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire.
One of the buildings, the O2 ABC in Glasgow, Scotland, got severely damaged in a recent fire that started at the adjoining Glasgow Arts School. It’s still unclear whether the building can be saved. Mark Mackie, who runs Glasgow-based promoter Regular Music, told Pollstar, there might be a chance of recovery.
“It’s with the insurers and the landlords. We’re all in discussions, and maybe it will rise out of the ashes. It was brilliant, Glasgow is going to miss that while it’s gone,” he said.