London Arena

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The London Arena

The London Dockland Arena was an indoor arena and exhibition centre on the Isle of Dogs in London, England. It first opened in 1989 and had a £10 million refit in 1998. Seating capacity was up to 12,500, depending on the type of event held. It was the home of the London Knights ice hockey team, the London Towers basketball team and later the Greater London Leopards basketball team (from nearby Tower Hamlets). Docklands Arena also hosted pop concerts, plays, boxing matches and wrestling events. In 1991, Docklands Arena hosted the Great British Beer Festival.

This place was one of the last places to host a WWF now WWE Event Capital Carnage in 1996.

It never managed to become a financial success, in part due to its fairly poor transport access, and in 2005 it closed. It has been superseded as the main arena in East London by The O₂ arena, which is in The O₂ entertainment complex (formerly the Millennium Dome), and the new 12,500 seat Croydon Arena expected to be opened in 2011. In December 2005, it housed the annual 'Crisis Open Christmas' event (held the previous year in the Dome), organised by the London-based charity Crisis. This provides food, accommodation, various medical and social services and company to around 1,500 guests and 3,500 volunteers each Christmas. The London Arena was demolished in June 2006 and is set to be replaced by a mainly residential development.

London Arena was served by the Crossharbour and London Arena DLR station, which has since been renamed to simply Crossharbour in 2007.