Empire Pool (Wembley Arena)
Another of the British capital’s legendary venues, Wembley Arena has proved to be more than just a setting for sport.
A covered swimming venue at the 1948 Games (a necessity given the UK’s unpredictable summers), the Empire Pool was part of the Wembley Park complex, the main hub of the 1948 Olympic Games. Used at the 1934 Empire Games (as the Commonwealth Games were formerly known), it welcomed as many as 4,000 swimmers a day after it opened but never reached its full potential as a public swimming pool. On reopening after WWII, it was used for swimming again only at the 1948 Olympic Games, when it also staged the boxing competition, which followed the swimming events.
That transformation of the venue from pool to ring was a sign of things to come, as it welcomed a number of different sports and events in the years that followed. Primarily an ice skating and concert venue in the years immediately after the 1948 Games, it has since been used for boxing, ice skating and basketball, among other sports, and also provided the setting for the Horse of the Year show until 2002. Awarded listed status in 1976, it was renamed the Wembley Arena two years later.
The setting for the badminton and rhythmic gymnastics competitions at the 2012 Olympic Games, Wembley Arena is now one of the British capital’s leading concert and event venues. Every year it attracts more than a million visitors and stages over 100 events, from wrestling shows to stand-up comedy. Over the years, it has been graced by some of the world’s leading pop and rock acts, among them Queen, Stevie Wonder and The Beatles.