Co-op Live is the UK's largest entertainment arena, situated in Manchester, England. The venue hosts a diverse range of events, including concerts, sports, and live performances, catering to a wide audience of entertainment enthusiasts. With a focus on providing exceptional experiences, Co-op Live offers premium ticket options and unique pre-show experiences through the Co-op Backstage Club, enhancing the overall enjoyment for attendees. The arena serves as a key destination for both local and visiting fans, featuring performances from renowned artists and popular tours. By accommodating various events, Co-op Live attracts a broad demographic, including families, music lovers, and sports fans, ensuring a vibrant atmosphere for all guests.
Co-op Live receives a mixed reception from attendees, with many expressing dissatisfaction. While some customers appreciate the venue's atmosphere and the quality of performances, such as Billie Eilish and Drake, the overall experience is marred by significant issues.
Reviewers frequently mention poor organization, with long queues and confusion about entry points leading to frustration. Complaints about seating arrangements highlight safety concerns, particularly in upper levels, where tight spaces make access difficult. Additionally, many express disappointment with the acoustics, describing them as horrendous. Despite some positive remarks about staff attitude and service in specific areas like the OVO Lounge, the overwhelming sentiment reflects dissatisfaction with the venue's management and operational efficiency.
Summary generated with AI from recent reviews
Each source counts by its number of reviews. Only reviews written by people are scored.
| Source | Rating | Reviews | Weight | 6-mo | Fake risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Trustpilot Imported Trustpilot reviews | 2.1 | 124 | 100% | -0.3 | ● Low |
Monthly average rating from reviews written by people · latest review Aug 2025.
| Month | Average | Reviews |
|---|---|---|
| Dec 24 | 2.1 | 12 |
| Jan 25 | 2.5 | 2 |
| Feb 25 | 2.6 | 5 |
| Mar 25 | 1.6 | 7 |
| Apr 25 | 2.0 | 22 |
| May 25 | 3.1 | 13 |
| Jun 25 | 1.9 | 30 |
| Jul 25 | 2.1 | 30 |
| Aug 25 | 1.0 | 3 |
Share of positive (4–5★) and negative (1–2★) reviews mentioning each topic · based on the 124 most recent reviews.
“The staff were outstanding throughout: friendly, attentive, and genuinely went out of their way to make the night spe...”
“We were so excited for this concert – it was the first one my niece had ever been to, and she’s a huge Billie fan”
Same method for every company: overall rating, legitimacy checks, the average rating of reviews mentioning each area and the 6-month trend · Tickets & Venues.
| Company | Overall | Legit | Service | Value | Website & app | Trend | Reviews |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 2.1 out of 5 (poor) | 100 out of 100 | 2.6 out of 5 (poor) | 1.8 out of 5 (poor) | 1.6 out of 5 (poor) | −7% | 124 |
| 2.6 out of 5 (poor) | 100 out of 100 | 1.9 out of 5 (poor) | — | 1.4 out of 5 (poor) | +9% | 424 | |
| 4.5 out of 5 (good) | 50 out of 100 | — | — | — | — | 20,156 | |
| 4.5 out of 5 (good) | 67 out of 100 | — | — | — | — | 5,849 | |
| 1.2 out of 5 (poor) | 100 out of 100 | 1.0 out of 5 (poor) | 1.0 out of 5 (poor) | 1.1 out of 5 (poor) | — | 1,002 |
Bottom line: Co-op Live is #4 of 5 on overall rating in this group.
124 reviews of Co-op Live . Filter by what matters to you.
Over a year ago
Dreadful experience at Stevie Wonder concert on 5/7/25, queued over an hour to get in, only just caught the start of the show-many didn't. Overpriced drinks and food. No legroom, packed too tightly in... See more
Over a year ago
Arrived by car. Parking in pre booked blue area all straightforward. Queue to get in moved fast took about 10 minutes to get in so quick. We arrived fie 6.30 even though Stevie not on stage until 8p... See more
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Dreadful experience at Stevie Wonder concert on 5/7/25, queued over an hour to get in, only just caught the start of the show-many didn't. Overpriced drinks and food. No legroom, packed too tightly in, very cramped and uncomfortable. Will never return!!
Arrived by car. Parking in pre booked blue area all straightforward. Queue to get in moved fast took about 10 minutes to get in so quick. We arrived fie 6.30 even though Stevie not on stage until 8pm. Plenty of space inside and hardly any queues at bars. Drinks price way too much £9 a pint. Good view of stage in block 112. Excellent concert. On leaving massive queue for ladies toilets. 20 mins to get out of car park. Gridlocked traffic all the to M62 took 1 hour to go 4 miles. Probably would not return. A few years ago my daughter could not get a tram so missed train back to Liverpool so had to pay for a taxi.
Went to see Stevie Wonder who was fantastic the coop however was not will never return. Stairs to seats were dark and steep leg room was tight. No escape route when at the top area. Screen way to small lighting was useless sound was good thanks to Stevie. Price not your every day shop £3.50 can of water disgusting food or the lack of it. No thank you. Staff were nice Stevie amazing venue rubbish come on at the prices charged we surely can do better.
Money making machine!! We were there at Stevie Wonder’s concert yesterday. The show was great. However, there was no public transport at 11 pm, no trams or buses. People were asked to walk all the way into the Manchester which took more then one hour!!
Although they have a long way to go with some changes they need making, I have to say it is one of the safest, securest arenas I have attended, and the staff are all so lovely. Big shout out to Roze who went out of her way to make sure my experience was accessible and enjoyable! A lot of area for improvement generally, that would take me ages to sum up, but already so promising. Had an amazing time.
Once outside the venue it took 30 minutes to enter after joining a very long queue.Stevie Wonder was on stage by the time we were sat down.
For a purpose built concert hall the seating is appalling. Although sound and views from the gods was pretty good... The lack of space was awful. Barely enough room for someone to walk by even when everyone stood up.. The seats are very very tightly packed together with no leg room. For the ridiculous prices charged for gigs here and the constant advertising of it being the best purpose built concert venue it was extremely disappointing. Compared to somewhere like the ovo in Glasgow it's just awful. Ill not be returning.
We booked a wheelchair space and companion, turned up, they wanted a non ambulant person to walk down stairs, and along to middle row. 2 staff on for ticket problems, massive queues, lots missed the start of concert, people had tickets blocked, all given lower value tickets instead. People by passi g parking queues, and not being scanned .. so why did we pay and pre book when chancers didn't.... Disabled loo didn't flush, toilet paper was trapped and unusable. Security wise no large bag thing didn't appear adhered too. People.with carrier bags. Maz who worked there sorted us eventually, without her I was walking out! Staff just stated same response contact where got tickets! Also, non disabled using toilet, who thought as she was staff... but on a night off watching concert gave her the right to use the loo... Enough said
Worst venue I’ve ever been to. Disorganised, not enough toilets, endless queues everywhere you look that just don’t move (that’s bars, toilets, merch), screens in the main hall not working properly, insane prices and sound was nothing special. Parking is a rip off, and badly organised. This is the kind of place that makes you think twice even if it’s your favourite band. Dreadful in every respect.
Well, after problems at Pitbull and Robbie it was iron maiden time. We booked the before and after show club. Only when we went for our seats we found there was no seats for us on the disabilities platform! We had paid for 112 row 24 327 328 however when we got there the steward said there were no seats! What had we paid for then? My sons autistic, dyspraxic with learning disabilities with fibromyalgia and walks with a stick...where was they supposed to put us then? The old steward kept looking over my son had a panic attack which led to medics and no show what's so ever...lost money lost show thanks to an incompetent steward and a problem with the seating....CO OP LIVE IS A TOTAL WASTE OF MONEY AND A TOTAL DISGRACE.....NEVER AGAIN WILL WE WASTE MONEY ON THESE IDIOTS
Ridiculous queues for Chris Brown concert. No information other than technical difficulties. We had only just sat down when Chis Brown came on stage. Many more people were still waiting to enter the venue. Won’t rush back.
Initially i was disgusted. Arriving on time only to be met by a massive Q. Was told it was a problem with electrics only to later find out security were watching soccer aid. Anyway with pure cheek and fueled by shop bought malibu I succesfully (jibbed) the Q.Even managing to blag a free v&t of a woman from luton. Once in the venue my seat offered me a lets say a pidgeons eye view. So the tried and trusted sprained ankle soon got me near the stage and also a free bottle of water(£6.00) seated now near the front I could film the entire thing in comfort . My advice is go and take the piss before they do it to you.
The venues event management team need a good talking to. By the time we actually got in, there were a lot of annoyed people. On arrival we were told to join the queue in front of us. Then a large proportion of people were sent to join another queue. Was a good 3min walk to find the back of that queue. Then as we got about 3/4 down they sent us back to where we were originally, announcing that anyone can go in that line irrespective of your entrance number. Think they realised they had made a massive error in their crowd management. You couldn't get into any of the restaurants prior to the doors opening (doors open at 6.30 - show started at 7.30) wtf?!! So the only place you could get a drink in the heat was a little bar which you had to queue for. It cost £5 for a pepsi and £4.50 for packet of squashies as that was the only food we could get. I had to show my event ticket (why on earth would we queue for a overpriced bar serving expensive soft drinks out of choice??!!) Inside there were co-ops but you could only get a couple of things from a heated cabinet, then cans of various things, crisps or sweets. Then they made you open the can when you paid for it (even if you were saving it for later) - this was to prevent you using it as a weapon (I thought she was joking when she said - that apparently not haha). Thankfully the event we went for was fantastic. Egress was handled much better though.
Went to see Linoel Richie last night it was amazing staff so helpful amazing arena but where did they get them seats from so uncomfortable so small iv been to many arenas but that has to be the worst seating ever I won't be going back there
I'm sorry but the organisation for car parking is absolutely ridiculous and spoils the concert experience. We took 2 hours to travel 3 miles last night at Robbie Williams (10/06/2025). We had booked blue parking, and arrived 3 miles away from the venue at 18:45, thinking we'd have plenty of time to get in and settled for the support act before Robbie. However, after nearly 2 hours creeping along to cover 3 miles of dual carriageway cars, the left hand lane turned off to "orange" parking. We had pre-booked blue parking, £25, guaranteed space close to the arena as my wife has difficulty walking. We kept in the signposted right lane for blue parking, but then after the orange turn off it was a free for all to get back over to the left to turn into the "blue" parking - only to then be told by staff that the car park was full and we had to turn back to use the orange car park!!!! How can a pre-booked car park at £25 a pop be sold out??? No explanation - just turn round and park on orange. This was then a 15 minute walk to the arena, difficult for my wife, but we got there, missing the first 5 minutes of the concert. Didn't see the Lottery Winners at all and we were so pee'd off and fed up that it ruined the overall experience. It's a good job that seeing Robbie in person for the first time was worth it!!! Co-Op arena, the parking and organisation was a joke. 3 and a half hours for what should have been a 1 hour 20 minute journey for us, and 2 hours of it right outside the arena stuck in a queue of traffic that had not been accounted for. £25 pre-booked ticket was pointless, we might as well have paid £10 at one of the "dodgy" parking and walked the short distance even if my wife would have struggled. At least we might have got there on time to see the whole concert and not forced to arrive 5 minutes after Robbie had started. I'm sorrry Co-Op Live, but you have not got this right by a long shot - the venue is amazing but the parking has just not been sorted out and made it a very frustrating journey. We could have easily missed the concert if we had waited in traffic any longer. Very, very dissapointing and just not good enough....
Firstly the queue to get into the venue was ridiculously long, had to walk for ages to find the back of the queue with multiple people just jumping in rather than walking to the back, took an hour to get into the venue a people were struggling to scan mobile tickets so missed the support act completely. Once in the venue the positives are there are plenty of toilets and places to get a drink and staff are friendly. However the seats are too small and close together, I'm only 5,4 and size 10 but struggled to fit in the seats, especially if someone next to you is slightly bigger. The seats are very steep and made me a little nervous. Overall the concert was good but would avoid this venue in future.
Worse place ever . Don't ever book if your above a 36 waist cause you ain't going to fit in the seat there tiny . No room what so ever . No leg room cramped . Talk about expensive.. £6 for a few chips that are cold £11 a pint . Shocking will never return
price on the shelf pound £1 at the checkout 2.99 on several products about 300% different price but written in small letters that the low price is for people with a club card! idiots who stole personal data so you are punished for shopping in this store! robbed! I do not recommend!!!!!
Great venue amazing stewards in n the venue only thing that lets it down is its security staff aren't disabled friendly my daughter has a number of disabilities and struggled when leaving the venue tried to go back just inside door to escape the massive crowd and calm her down but he put his hand in her face and refused for her to come just back inside down to calm and regulate herself. Disappointing after a goodnight and staff should be aware of the effect their actions have on kids with hidden disabilities
The seats are ridiculously tight and cramped - there is no point having the fancy concourse etc if you are so painfully uncomfortable you cannot enjoy your very expensive show. I can even forgive the v expensive drinks and food but there is no excuse for the seating in a brand new purpose built venue.
Co-op Live is the UK's largest entertainment arena, situated in Manchester, England. The venue hosts a diverse range of events, including concerts, sports, and live performances, catering to a wide audience of entertainment enthusiasts. With a focus on providing exceptional experiences, Co-op Live offers premium ticket options and unique pre-show experiences through the Co-op Backstage Club, enhancing the overall enjoyment for attendees. The arena serves as a key destination for both local and visiting fans, featuring performances from renowned artists and popular tours. By accommodating various events, Co-op Live attracts a broad demographic, including families, music lovers, and sports fans, ensuring a vibrant atmosphere for all guests.
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