Shirley Bassey opened it before 5,500 fans and Queen Elizabeth II cut the ribbon a month later - a suitably grand start for the building that gave Wales its first true arena. Utilita Arena Cardiff, on Mary Ann Street in the city centre, opened on September 9, 1993. Built between 1989 and 1993 for 23 million pounds as the Cardiff International Arena and Convention Centre, the venue has cycled through sponsor names - Motorpoint Arena from 2011 to 2021, back to CIA briefly, then Utilita Arena from August 2023 - while remaining the city's largest purpose-built indoor events space. The main hall offers 4,500 square metres of exhibition floor and scales to 7,500 standing or 5,000 fully seated, with the World Trade Centre offices occupying the upper level of the complex. Three decades of bookings cover most of popular music - Oasis, Beyonce, Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Iron Maiden, Dolly Parton, Dua Lipa and Meat Loaf among hundreds - plus the biggest names in British stand-up from Peter Kay to Michael McIntyre. The sporting file is serious too: Joe Calzaghe world title fights, the Welsh Open snooker, PDC darts and boxing cards that turned the compact bowl into one of the loudest rooms on the UK circuit. A 2017-18 renovation refreshed the building, and owner-operator Live Nation UK continues to run it at near-nightly utilisation while advancing plans for a 17,000-capacity successor arena in Cardiff Bay. Until that project rises, the Mary Ann Street hall remains what it has been since Bassey's opening night: the room every arena tour must book to play the Welsh capital. The building's convention-centre DNA still earns its keep - exhibitions, graduations and party conferences fill the daytime calendar between tours - and its city-centre position, a short walk from Cardiff Central station and St David's shopping quarter, keeps it woven into ordinary Cardiff life in a way out-of-town arenas never manage.

Type: Stadium / Arena

Address: Mary Ann Street, Cardiff, United Kingdom, CF10 2EQ

Website: https://utilitaarenacardiff.co.uk

Cover Charge: 1

Capacity: 7500

Opening Date: 09/09/1993

Accessible