Co-op Live, Manchester, Wants to Keep Brit Awards

Everybody likes to win an award. It’s a quirk of every industry. In the news, the Royal Institute of British Architects is giving out prizes, as is the Royal Television Society. In fact, the ATA Gala is excited about the training of apprentices this month. 

It’s perhaps a part of the human condition, which is why businesses utilise the same tool to reward their customers.

Just as Starbucks gives out points for buying coffee each morning, gaming operators have treats for their players. The Prize Pinball at Betfair offers a chance at cash prizes and casino bonuses with each launched ball. The entry requirements are a bit simpler than TV and film accolades, too (no voting). 

Voting

On that latter point, the awards season for both typically runs from November through February of the following year, although the volume of awards shows on the calendar means that voting (at least) tends to occupy the entire year. 

The Oscars are in March, the Tonys in June, and the Emmy Awards land in September. The Brit Awards, one of the UK’s oldest, begin at the end of February each year. 

The Brits went a little differently this time around. For the first time, the ceremony happened at Co-op Live in Manchester. Now, the arena’s managing director, Guy Dunstan, plans to keep it.

Earls Court

First held 49 years ago, the Brit Awards started at Wembley Conference Centre as a semi-regular event. It remained at the location until the 1990s, when it moved to Earls Court Exhibition Centre. The “legendary” Earls Court, to quote the WestEndTheatre website, was demolished in the late 2010s. The area is now awaiting a £10 billion rebuild.

For more than a decade after the Brit Awards vacated Earls Court, London’s O2 took up the hosting baton. In fact, 2020’s edition coincided with the Brits’ first decade at the venue. What happened next might seem a bit of a surprise.

Organisers evidently felt that the annual event had grown stale, choosing to leave London for the first time in a bid to “invigorate” the nearly five-decade-old show. This move brings us almost to the present day. As mentioned, the 2026 Brit Awards were the inaugural show at Co-op Live. 

Issues

Despite the success of this year’s ceremony, which featured stars like Robbie Williams and came on the back of other larger-than-life occasions at the arena (e.g., Bruce Springsteen), Co-op Live has a surprisingly short contract for the Brit Awards. It’ll keep it for one more year. 

Of course, having been open for just two years, Co-op Live is still unproven. Issues beset its first few months on the event circuit. On one occasion, part of the air-conditioning system fell from the rafters just a few days before the first artists were due to perform.

Arena boss Guy Dunstan says the arena would now “love to stage” the Brits for years to come. The good news is, with such a packed awards calendar, a bit of stability might be just the ticket.