Box Arena, Carlisle marks successful first year in Cumbria

In late October 2023, it was confirmed that Box Arena would pick up the mantle left by The Venue, the popular live event, performance, and conference venue at Portland Place that was forced to close after a 'dispute with commercial property agents' in June of that year. 

The venue hosts a wide range of events (Image: Supplied) A promising first month would follow, with a number of sold-out events including DJ nights and the ever-growing Target Wrestling show.

Since then, the city centre venue has gone from 'strength to strength' with its versatility key to its success according to director Ben Greenslade. 

He said: "“It’s been a good year. It’s cemented itself in the city’s nightlife, and it’s been really well accepted. We’re thankful that we’ve got that reputation and trust with people and our events are going from strength to strength. We’re counting our blessings every day because there are so many businesses struggling at the moment, it’s a very strange time. I’ve noticed over the last few years that the street trade is starting to slow, people aren’t going out as much on a Saturday any more."

The venue wants to attract all different types of people with their events (Image: Supplied)Ben stressed the importance of buying tickets as early as possible, to ensure that they can continue to put on these big events for the people of Carlisle.

He added: "We’re responsible now for bringing people at of their houses. The days of just hoping that you will be busy are long gone. Being versatile is the key. It can be used for anything. We’ve had concerts, boxing fights and wrestling. Every event is totally different, that is the beauty of it. You can attract a different audience every weekend by mixing and matching, bringing different people out every week. That has been a massive thing for us."

Tribute nights have also proven popular (Image: Supplied) The venue's adaptability in terms of being able to pick and choose events, based on current trends has also proved popular, with a Taylor Swift tribute night producing an electric atmosphere earlier this year. 

Ben concluded: "We're very proud of what we've done. Box Arena isn't in competition with anyone, we want to support all the local bars as well with our events. 

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