The Arena was Built in 1934 as the swimming baths for the Empire Games. Accident not design. As long as we don't get a god awful "Box Park".If they want the all-year-round experience they need to follow Wembley Stadium/Brent Council. It now has the Stadium, Arena, Hotel, Shops, Bars and Restaurants all around it. All providing pre match/gig entertainment. As well as Apartment blocks with shops below them at ground level.
Yep, football and concerts will bring a lot in but this needs to be a 365 days a year attraction. The change in and around Wembley since 2011 is remarkable….If they want the all-year-round experience they need to follow Wembley Stadium/Brent Council. It now has the Stadium, Arena, Hotel, Shops, Bars and Restaurants all around it. All providing pre match/gig entertainment. As well as Apartment blocks with shops below them at ground level.
Wembley is very different, it’s well away from any other attractions and a long way out from central London, the Etihad is a 15 /20 minute walk from central Manchester. There will be plenty of catering on match days, and catering within the arena complex too. Any hotels/restaurants built around the ground will though have to compete with central Manchester hotels / hospitality.If they want the all-year-round experience they need to follow Wembley Stadium/Brent Council. It now has the Stadium, Arena, Hotel, Shops, Bars and Restaurants all around it. All providing pre match/gig entertainment. As well as Apartment blocks with shops below them at ground level.
Yeah, they may have changed the law in 2050.I hope that when the North Stand is finally finished that the club put some waiters in so they can bring your pie and pint to your seat so you don't have to clog up the concourse queing for you pie and pint.
As are the 6 or 7 located within 400 yards of the Glasgow Hydro. I am sure the club will be thinking this through but demand will certainly be there and the arena is going to be bigger than the hydro. Maybe they expect folk to stay in the town centre. All I can say to that is that’s not what I have seen in Glasgow. I wonder if the club have identified other parcels of land that could accommodate multi hotels and their car parks. Do we know if a multi story is being planned for the arena/match parking? There is much talk of cycling and walking. That’s surely not realistic for arena traffic never mind our more elderly match going fans. All exciting but lots to think about and if they get the access exit stuff wrong it has the potential to degrade what they are trying to achieve which is a brilliant world class sports and entertainment leisure destination.I never said you did. I was just thinking aloud.
City will probably build one hotel to start off with, see what the demand is like, and if the hotel is constantly full via matches, concerts, events, conferences, etc, then they’ll probably build another hotel. It also depends on the size of the hotel and how many rooms it has. One hotel with 100-200 rooms could be enough? With 2 hotels City can cater for different budgets and requirements, City fans, concert goers, tourists and visitors to Manchester, business people, conference people, artists, etc.
The 4 hotels near the Trafford Centre always seem to be rammed.
Tbf the hotel/s would largely serve the arena, the football customer base would be pretty small in comparisonThere has to be rooms to cater for all needs. Season ticket holders who make long journeys to get to the Etihad want value to keep their average costs manageable. Youngsters attending a gig want something cheap. Those flying in for their first visit migh5 want a bit of luxury. All of that should be available.
I keep banging on about the Glasgow Hydro. within 5 minutes walk (equivalent distance to them being sited on our campus) you can access the following hotels:
Radisson
Holiday Inn
Premier Inn
Campanille
Village
Crowne Plaza
Moxy
a mix of 3 and 4 star hotels with a good spread of room rates.
in turn these hotels are attracting bars and restaurants to the area.
I hope you are wrong, the internal parts of the stadium are very good to excellent, but the exterior of the stadium leaves a lot to be desired, hopefully it will be a big part of the extension.I wouldn’t be surprised if we waited another decade to do the externals of the stadium as part of an expansions of the East Stand and Colin Bell Stand. I’d love to be wrong and it be part of the soon to be revealed plans though.