Co-op Live  Omdömen 

The venue looks impressive on first arrival. But things aren't always as they seem. We arrived later than we expected so queues were minimal, but the electronic gate had issues and wouldn't active properly but we just move across one as it wasn't busy, wouldn't like to be in a massive queue waiting on that.
Asked at one of the bar areas if there were hot drinks available and was directed vaguely to an area where food and drnks were available, but on arrival no hot drinks availablefor my other half.
I decided on a cider, when asked the price the bar person said" I think it's about 9 pound " I know how expensive these venues are it was in line with the ridiculous prices they charge. It's a night out so I order a pint, on which the bar person proceeded to pour a pint of lager at which i said no and walked of as they had no clue.
After a walk round the merch stand i purchased a very expensive can of cider from a different bar on the way to the seats.

The arena looks big on entry with great view of the stage area but thats as good as it got, the rows are narrow and the seats small , even my partner who is 5'3" was cramped up.

Excellent show by Sabaton made the experience less awful than it could have been.
Not a venue I would rush back to.

This was my first experience of the co op live venue although my other family members had been before. I hope artists read the reviews before booking a show here. The queue of traffic to get in the grounds was very slow.
The overall appearance on entry to the building was good not massive queues as others have mentioned but that may be because we spent so much time in the car trying to get into the carpark.
They have spent a lot of money putting expensive lights around the top of the outside of the building. And the expensive looking sinks in the toilets, although less toilets than you would find in other venues. Escalators to upper levels a great addition too.
The overall experience of a regular seat in this arena was however more uncomfortable than most old theatres, with the limiting seat sizes, the fixed armrests you can’t just put up out of the way. So little leg room that even when stood up to let people passed into their seats there was very limited space for them to get by.
The sound was by no means the best although we were in tier 3 but from there we couldn’t really get an experience of any vibe from the band or audience everything sounded muted. We could see people dancing, clapping a joining in but it didn’t feel like we were amongst the atmosphere.
My usual arena the AO in Manchester will continue to be more appealing than this venue for many reasons. If they could fix their lifts or put in escalators it would be perfect. But being more comfortable and the whole room vibrating is a much happier and enjoyable environment.

I was shocked by the difficulty we experienced just getting to the venue . Hans Zimmer and his musicians were awesome but the co-op live let the whole experience down by it's outrageous pricing for food and drink and hundreds of meters long ques to get in ( gate F). Four of us visited . We bought 4 chicken burgers ,4 chips and 4 cans of cola and the cost was £96. We were a captive audience and this was a complete rip off.
On the up side I didn't use the car park and parked opposite the arena using justparc. What took me 3hr to get there took me 50mins to get home . I read on some reviews some people took 1.5 hours to get out the chaotic car park . I would seriously consider going elsewhere in the country to see my favorite artists

On the plus - Firstly Hans Zimmet and co to include Lisa Gerrad were absolute amazing, what a show of all shows!! Loved it 😻
Now for the negative deserved feedback as follows:
Well what an absolute shambles trying to get to the venue it was a nightmare! cars literally everywhere the venue was 0.5 miles away and it took an hour and a half to travel this very short distance as I had pre booked the orange car park next to the venue (never ever again). parking was extremely poor, there are a few guys wandering about waving their glow wands! worst parking I have ever experienced.
PART 2 Getting out of the car park after show took an hour and half do not book this car park it’s terrible, again folk were wondering about with their glow sticks not directing the traffic. No organisation whatsoever in directing the traffic it was a free for all on who gets out first…….,, TIP - There are a few car parks on the way in better parking at those and walking to the venue much less stressful and better use of time.

The venue itself was chaos too, I think they need a whole new management team to get the whole set up including the venue, outside road structure and parking organised, I mean who was on the planning committee, Bring. Ack AO arena, I’ve watched lots of great shows in the AO hassle and stress free. Going to the coop has really put me off ever visiting regardless of who will be performing!

Absolutely terrible venue! We went to see Hans Zimmer last night and it was most horrendous experience of my life. We often come to gigs in Manchester to different venues and this has to be the worst we have ever been to. We live in Stoke and it’s roughly an hour-80 minute drive on a busy night- yesterday took us 3 hours. 1 hour it took us to go just 3
Miles. Traffic was awful £25 to park was an absolute joke. We arrived at 8.05pm having left before 5pm the show had started at 7.30pm . We then had to walk to find where we were going - very little stewards and the doors were not well sign posted. Lots of people were late. After arriving the seats I had booked on the aisle on the seating map when I booked them were actually in the middle of a long row. I don’t like sitting in the middle hence why I booked an aisle seat. We had to squeeze past everyone and once we were seated it was unbearably cramped. The seats are tiny with arm rests and a cup holder. So you are sat leaning forward slouched. It was so packed in that I had no room to even take my coat off.

The interval was at 9-920 I went out to use the toilet and it was chaos, queues everywhere nothing signposted- needless to say given the 3 hour car ride, how chaotic it was - and how incredibly uncomfortable I was in the seats that were not the ones I had selected according to the seating chart- we left at 9.15pm, and it took an hour to get home. I am glad we left when we did because getting off the car park with everyone else would have been hell!

It is possibly the worse place for a venue- I will NEVER go to the coop again! I’ve driven to the first direct arena at Leeds quicker than I have the Coop absolutely terrible!

Absolutely awful!
Been stuck in traffic for over an hour trying to get to see Hans Zimmer. You can’t contact the venue in any way shape or form, ridiculous! I am now missing a concert that I paid good money for and as gift for family. Paid £25 for parking and can’t even get to it due how badly the road has been designed.
I hope that someone will be in contact with me regarding this!
Update: Got to the venue and missed the first two songs, concert was incredible! However it was ruined by rude staff and an overall disorganised venue.
Will not be coming back to co op live again - would recommend people avoid this venue.

Went to see sonny fodera on Saturday. You expect to queue a bit but it was horrendous getting in. So slow, we missed first half of the show. Probably queued for over an hour in the pouring rain and freezing cold to then be greeted by a 40 minute wait at the bar for a drink. Which were astronomically expensive (4 vodka & lemonade was £48) served in paper cups. Staff behind the at were comically slow, probably cos it’s a cash only venue so obviously won’t get as many tips. Very inexperienced and miserable. I’d never ever see anyone at that arena again, it’s so understaffed and poorly managed. Also worth noting you are not allowed out once you are in the venue and there are no smoking areas if you smoke. Terrible experience and not worth it if you like to see the whole show.

Most the Staff were rude, had no manners and very poor customer service. The arena it’s self was good, but please bare in mind the
Lines were very long

Visited for the first time tonight the seating spoiled the experience tbh far too cramped and poorly designed
It's very dark in the arena and the seat numbers are on the lower half of the seat lost count on the ammount of people struggling to find them
When you do find your seat they are tiny very uncomfortable and narrow and once in a seated position you can't move your legs at all there's no where to put them sideways or forwards it feels like you are sitting on the person next to you for the whole show you are touching them all the time packed in like a cheap coach or airline
You can't both sit up one has to lean forward and there are cup holders but no room for a cup or anyone's arm

And if you do get up to go to the toilet there is no concrete to walk on between the person standing up for you to get past and the massive holes down the back of the seats infront especially the corners its very dark and dangerous even more so with people drinking alcohol if there is ever a fire you aint getting out everyone would just pile over each other and burn it,s so steep
A total profit first over peoples comfort and safety design

*** i would advise people not to bring old people with poor vision or ballance to the seated areas there's a high chance they will fall and get get hurt ***

Absolutely awful venue and I’m gutted that acts are choosing here now instead of the AO arena which is so easy for access and travel.

Every time I arrive at venues such as the First Direct Arena or AO arena, you barely have to queue, but here you are queueing for so long, they need to open doors earlier and manage it better. When we went to see JLS I was really looking forward to seeing Example too, however the long queue made it impossible. We arrived at 6:45pm and the queue was HUGE! We were supposed to go in entrance D but ended up going through C, by the time we got in and got a drink, it was 8pm and we caught the last song by Example! I was absolutely fuming. Never have I missed an opening act before with other venues.

Inside is ok but the layout for choosing tickets is terrible so bare that in mind when buying. I could have swore I ordered aisle seats like I always do but turns out they weren’t and we were cramped into a corner. If you get AMP tickets, be aware that it is very high and not much feet/leg room. Again, I thought we had aisle seats but they weren’t and when we had to get up to move, it was so hard to walk past everyone as there’s barely any room on the floor for your feet, I honestly felt like I was going to fall.

Inside the arena it’s very awkward to navigate. On floor one the places to eat are all at one side and then odd drinks places scattered around. The AMP Club is good but there’s not enough seating and they could definitely add more and better seats. It reminds me of a Wetherspoons though (except the price) as women's toilets are once again placed a million miles away compared to men’s which is just ridiculous. I wanted to use the accessible toilet and was told I couldn’t, it was men’s only and I had to head to the women’s toilets and use the one there. My reply “not very accessible though is it making people walk all that way”. For me, all accessible toilets should be within a short distance. Gender bias regarding toilets is real, even at ‘State of the art’ arenas! At the AO arena they are placed everywhere!

The location of the arena is terrible, having to travel on extremely cramped trams, esp on match days and desperately trying to make it back to Victoria for your train home, it’s just pure stress. And don’t even think about ordering an Uber as the traffic is horrendous!

I was really looking forward to going to this arena once it was complete but it’s not that great. The staff are lovely though which is the one saving grace. And I cannot thank fan services enough for changing my ticket to floor seats for Five as my AMP Club seats were too high.

Health and safety nightmare.

For some reason Coop provide hard plastic cups, which unfortunately get thrown around.

A lot of people were cut and were bleeding from their heads/faces as a result. Others couldn't actually watch the gig as they were too scared of getting hit.

We visited the Coop Live arena for the first time for the JLS/Example concert.
I cannot believe how bad the queues were. We parked offsite and did a 15 minute walk in, and arrived at 6.30. We were meant to be going in at entrance D, the queue was that long we had to walk past the building to the tram station and were near the road to start off. The queues were that long, we didnt get into the venue until 7.45 - and the show started at 7.30. (To note, there were hundreds of people still queuing behind us - it was still back to the tram station). They made us enter at entrance F rather than D, which meant when we got in we were even further away from our seats. By the time we got to them it was 8pm, Example had already done most of his set and we saw him for 20 minutes.

Absolutely furious at how bad the system is for getting in. We couldnt have gotten there any earlier. I have never had this problem at any other venue. People were still being shown in at 8.30.

The drinks pricing were ridiculous also, our first pint was £7.20, and the next one we bought an hour later was £9.

On a positive note, the venue was smart and modern. The sound and lighting were good. But whats the use of that when you miss half the show for bad queue management..

Went to see Tom Grennan on the 19th September. To be honest I wasnt looking forward to it. Myself, my daughter and grandson had been the year before and it had been a horrendous experience.
However this time was so much better. As far as I could see, all the entrances were open, so there was very little queueing. The concert was amazing, including the supporting act Tom Walker!. The sound was perfect (was very bad last year).
I only have 2 negatives.
1. The drinks were astronomical
2. We were on an upper tier, and the wall at the bottom was extremely low, it would take very little for someone to trip, or be pushed over the wall, onto the crowd below.
Overall though, we had a great time

Attended the Richard Ashcroft gig on Saturday, first time I’ve been to the Coop arena. Ridiculous queues to get in - I have never had to queue so long to get into an arena. Awful sound quality - I’ve been in some high up seating right at the side of a stage before and never experienced sound quality this bad (this may be down to the sound mixing team?).
How have they got a brand new venue so wrong!!

Appalling! We booked seated in section 304,row 9.Dont waste yoir money at this place. The seats were so narrow and uncomfortable. I am a size 10 and could hardly move my arms! Two drunk men stood up half of the performance, so everyone behind them had to stand the rest of the night. Unable to see a majority of the show as with their arms in the air blocked our view! Everybody was complaining about the seating. Some leaving their seats to stand elsewhere. There were standing room tickets so it's really annoying when people pick seated when is all they want to do us stand. £13.95 for a dried up small chicken burger. £8.50 for small tin of wine. £3.90 for a thin tin of water! Only booze at the bars, no soft drinks at all so you gave to queue seperately. So expensive. Concert was on the night of a football match so trams were so hectic and crammed to get there. Been here before on lower level to left side of stage and the seating was not that narrow! I have a health condition, this concert venue has left me in alot of pain today. Allocated pick up spot on the map takes you on a 20 minute round trip to back where you came from. If you need to be collected - just head towards the taxi area and find Edwin road.

Having booked wheelchair access tickets to see Simply Red on my partners birthday (27.09.25) I was unfortunately taken ill and unable to attend with him.

Our daughter is also registered with Co-Op as disabled, thankfully though she is ambulant. As I didn't want there to potentially be any issues when they arrived I attempted to contact Co-Op arena Manchester prior to the concert to make sure everything would be OK.

Trying to find a contact number for Co-Op is impossible. Trying to find any contact with either them or Ticketmaster is a bad joke.

Eventually I stumbled upon an agent, who explained as she is ambulant and not in need of a wheelchair she would not be allowed to sit in my seat.

I was advised they could refund my ticket, which I could then purchase the correct ticket for her (and her carer).

Great you would think.

Except the conversation dropped before the refund went through.

Nothing I tried could get me back to the agent. Time was ticking away. I couldn't get a replacement ticket without the refund from the original.

Much to everyone's disappointment, especially my partner as it was meant to be his birthday gift on his actual birthday, that he had looked forward to for a considerable length of time. He missed out.

Since then I have spent time emailing both Co-Op and Ticketmaster. They have found the conversation regarding the refund, but as it wasn't processed prior to the event, through absolutely no fault of mine, they have now said refunds can't be made after events.

All of this could have been prevented had there been a human being on the end of a telephone who could have amended the seats from wheelchair accessible to ambulant.

Everything about this has left a rather bitter taste towards potentially booking events in the future, knowing there is no point of contact whatsoever.

Asking for the refund of the ticket that was unable to be used or exchanged is a mere drop in the ocean for an organisation the size of Co-Op. Yet it had taken me, unable to work through my long term health issues, quite some time to save for what should have been a birthday gift to remember. A huge amount for me, made possible as I was only required to purchase a single seat as he was attending as my carer. That meant that without a disabled person going with him, he wouldn't be able to attend either.

Despite the fact that he would have only been using one seat. I had paid for one seat, but no, this wasn't permitted either.

Co-Op really need to review the way they treat the disabled patrons. I was never attempting to sell the tickets or transfer them to anyone other than a different family member, our daughter.

This should never have been an issue. Exchanging seat numbers shouldn't have been an issue if required as stated. Refunding to then repurchase should have been fulfilled easily. But no. None of it was done and not only was the concert then completely missed, but now because it wasn't completed before the concert, again not my fault, I am not to get a refund.

This is how the rich get richer and those of use unfortunate to be at the bottom of the ladder, will always stay there.

In future I will think twice before using Co-Op. Hopefully any events will be at alternative locations we can attend at rather than risk going again.

As a disabled person in a wheelchair, the disabled platform was brilliant , staff were excellent, great view of the stage , would highly recommend it , only thing that lets it down is getting out of the blue car park , took an hour to get out, absolute nightmare but benson Boone was so good it was worth it , lovely and cool so didn’t get overheated , all round a fabulous experience

First visit to the Coop Live and the actual venue itself is impressive - massive, decent seats and well stocked foyer shops / bars.
That’s about it for good stuff though.

The parking was horrendous. £25 for the privilege, the access was really poor pre-event and we missed the first act (took us over an hour to park and we live 25mins away), and then leaving was even worse. No idea why they have so many car park attendants, they did naff all to help or direct, utterly useless.

Then the prices in the venue were ridiculous. Can’t even describe them as expensive - they were disproportionately off the scale

Been to a couple of events here and it gets worse every time I go Accessibility cue was let in 20to 30 minutes after general admission. Once you are in venue staff really don’t care want you do, accessibility is not their problem. Staff are unhelpful cues for everything for huge

The event we went to was fabulous, however, the drinks prices were ridiculous. To buy a can of Pepsi it was £3.90 and to buy a can of Smirnoff Ice it was £9.80! They don't even let you take your own in, very disappointed given that its the Co-op and their ethos "is caring for others and contributing positively to the community" how is charging that caring for others?