Manchester arenas clash over late opening bid

A major arena has told a licensing hearing that another venue's bid for a licence was "unlawful".

The £85m, 23,500-seater Co-op Live is due to open near Manchester City's stadium on 23 April.

The AO Arena's barristers told the hearing in Manchester that the Co-op Live's bars being open until 02:00 could disturb neighbouring residents .

But the Co-op Live's lawyers said the AO Arena was just trying to protect its own business.

Gary Grant, representing AO Arena's operators ASM Global, said his client took an interest because "we are significant stakeholders in Manchester's cultural and leisure life".

"It's important that when a new arena comes in that reputation is not damaged," he added. "That's the risk if too much flexibility is given to Co-op Live in a residential location."

He said the risk was due to the new arena being outside the city centre, with "limitations of concrete transport options" and "the absence of existing methods of dispersal in the early hours of the morning without disturbing residents or endangering public safety".

He added: "It's the equivalent of the night time economy the size of somewhere like Didsbury inserted into a place with very little night time economy."

Although Co-op Live's barrister, Jeremy Phillips KC, declined to ask questions of the AO Arena after its submissions, he claimed in his closing arguments that ASM had tried to prevent competition moving into the city.

"The Arena has taken every opportunity to restrict the proposal before you," he said.

He accepted that AO was "entitled to comment on the application", adding: "It's wholly a trade objection to add restrictive conditions to our licence.

"If they had acknowledged the position and said 'we are struggling financially and because of that, the arrival of these premises will impact on how we operate', that would be a different thing.

"None of that is being done. That's being done through a residential objection."

The proceedings also heard Mr Grant's claim that Co-op Live's application to open for 24 hours on 25 occasions annually - in what is thought to be an effort to host sports events like UFC for a global TV audience - was "simply unlawful".

It was more than double the initial application of 12 occasions, with case law finding that applicants cannot increase the scope of opening after consulting with the public, he said.

"We say trying to more than double that is simply unlawful," Mr Grant said.

"The general public has never been consulted on 25 24/7 events. It's wrong in fact, morality and in law."

Towards the end of proceedings, council legal adviser Leo Charalambides said he believed the application "does not sit comfortably" with the case law, prompting Co-op Live to amend their bid.

They have now asked for 12 opportunities to open for 24 hours — with a further 13 opportunities to open the venue until 04:00.

A three-councillor panel will consider the application and a formal decision is expected within a week.

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