8-487: The O 2 Apollo Manchester (known locally as The Apollo and formerly Manchester Apollo and ABC Ardwick ) is a concert venue in Ardwick Green , Manchester , England. It is a Grade II listed building , with a capacity of 3,500 (2,514 standing, 986 seats). The building was designed by architects Peter Cummings , Alex Irvine, and R. Gillespie Williams, in an Art Deco style. The building's frontage consists of
16-525: A glazed white terracotta façade . Its original purpose was as a multi-purpose cinema and variety hall and was opened on 29 August 1938 by actress Margaret Lockwood . It was taken over by Associated British Cinemas in 1943, but it began to host pop concerts in the 1960s. The Beatles performed at two shows at the ABC Ardwick on 20 November 1963 which were filmed, in colour. They performed here again on 7 December 1965. The Rolling Stones performed at
24-550: A single concert stage. The venue has no air-conditioning except in the "Whiteroom" hospitality area. It was the biggest venue in Manchester before the 23,000 capacity (formerly 21,000 capacity) NYNEX Arena, now AO Arena , opened in 1995. The largest venue in Manchester is now the Co-op Live Arena with a capacity of 23,500. The venue hosts a large number of popular music -based concerts and other events throughout
32-687: Is a public space in Ardwick , Manchester , England . It began as a private park for the residents of houses surrounding it before Manchester acquired it in 1867 and turned it into a public park with an ornamental pond and a bandstand. It contains a cenotaph commemorating the dead of the Eighth Ardwicks, a former unit of the Territorial Army belonging to the Manchester Regiment . The old drill hall at one end of
40-476: The ABC Ardwick with Ike & Tina Turner , The Yardbirds , and Peter Jay & the New Jaywalkers on 28 September 1966. In the 1970s, it stopped presenting films and became solely a concert venue. It also hosts seated events to a capacity of 2,693. Split into two levels, the upstairs contains permanently fitted seating, whereas the larger downstairs can be altered to suit the event; both levels view
48-622: The Ardwick Empire Music Hall (later Manchester Hippodrome) at the eastern end. The business premises of Thomas Brown , surveyor and Resident Engineer for the construction of the Peak Forest Canal , were in Manchester and by 1841 he was living in Allerton Place at 16 Ardwick Green. He died here on the 30 January 1850, aged 78 years. Allerton Place was demolished and by 1915 a tyre works had been built on
56-410: The park is still used by volunteer soldiers. The other end of the park contains a large boulder, a glacial erratic . The Church of St Thomas, on the north side of Ardwick Green, was consecrated as a chapel of ease in 1741. It was rebuilt and extended in the course of the late eighteenth century, and acquired a campanile tower in the 1830s. Many of the grand buildings have been demolished, including
64-548: The year. Concert management and advertisement is handled by Live Nation , merchandise is sold by the permanent resident concession company CMI Ltd, and first aid cover for all events is provided by St. John Ambulance . In September 2010, the venue was rebranded as the O 2 Apollo Manchester, following a sponsorship deal with O 2 . 53°28′11″N 2°13′20″W / 53.46972°N 2.22222°W / 53.46972; -2.22222 Italics denote building under construction Ardwick Green Ardwick Green
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