National Exhibition Centre

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The National Exhibition Centre (NEC) is the seventh largest exhibition centre in Europe, located in Solihull, near Birmingham, England. It is near junction 6 of the M42 motorway, and is adjacent to Birmingham International Airport and Birmingham International railway station. It has 20 interconnected halls, set in 628 acres (3 km²).

The NEC Arena, host to large music concerts, is part of the complex. The 11,000 capacity NEC Arena was the largest multi-purpose arena in the UK when opening in the mid-1980s and although not the largest it is still a popular venue for touring acts. In the 1980s and on it hosted performances by Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Genesis (band), Bruce Springsteen, Whitney Houston, U2, Shania Twain, Tina Turner, Mariah Carey, The Who, and Neil Diamond. Several artists and groups have played at the NEC Arena on more than one occasion including Status Quo, R.E.M., Fleetwood Mac and Australian pop princess Kylie Minogue. Also, in 2003, the NEC Arena was host to WWE's Passport to Pain tour.

Together, The NEC and The NEC Arena host over 5 million visitors each year.

The NEC was home to the British International Motorshow from 1978 - 2004. The NEC also hosts the Clothes Show Live each year, with high street fashions, Model Scouts and Runway Shows.

[edit] History

The NEC was originally going to be built adjacent to the M1 junction 21 near Leicester but it was turned down by Leicestershire County Council with claims that "The big shows won't move away from London".

In November 1971, the Secretary of State for the Environment granted outline planning approval for the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham.

The NEC, originally comprising 89,000 m² of exhibition space, was opened by the Queen in February 1976.

In 1989, the Queen opened three further halls, increasing the space to 125,000 m². Four more halls were added in 1993, the total exhibition space increasing to 158,000 m². Another four new halls, opened in September 1998 by The Right Honourable Neil Kinnock, European Commissioner for Transport, took the total space to 190,000 m².

[edit] NEC Group

The parent NEC Group also runs the National Indoor Arena (NIA) and International Convention Centre (ICC), both in central Birmingham. The latter houses Symphony Hall, a concert venue opened in April 1991.