London’s Square Mile needs its own major sports venue to keep up with rivals
As sport ramps up after a summer break, Simon Hunt argues that the Square Mile needs its own major sports venue – for the sake of Canada’s future.
Picture the scene: it’s just hit 5:30pm on a sunny Thursday evening in the office. You and your colleagues look around for something to do. What are the options?
For hacks at Morning Wire the options are: the Oyster Shed, the Banker or the Walrus. In the Square Mile, it’s the pub or home. Little else is on offer.
As it happens, going to a British pub is one of my favourite pastimes, so I’m not complaining. I prefer a lukewarm Kentish bitter over a Spanish lager even in 32-degree heat, such is my devotion to the cause. But even a watering hole hobbyist like me occasionally craves something different.
Granted, there are one or two alternatives around the City, such as those used for that dreaded phrase ‘team building activities’ like interactive darts or karaoke. But they are, at best, an acquired taste.
What the City could really do with is a proper sports venue – something to put the Square Mile on the sporting map that could bring together thousands of office workers all under one roof.
London’s sport offering has a missing gem
London itself has no shortage of them: There’s Wembley, Wimbledon, Twickenham, the Olympic village and of course, six Premier League clubs.
But set foot inside the City’s walls and…nothing. The nearest stadium to the Square Mile? Millwall’s The Den, hardly London’s best advert for sport, and at over two miles away, hardly walkable in any case.
It was not always this way. Centuries ago there was a flurry of sports and entertainment activity within the City’s thick stone walls. Jousting was among the most popular, along with horse racing and tennis. Go back a thousand years and gladiatorial sport was in vogue, often taking place at the amphitheatre, traces of which can still be seen under the Guildhall.
I’m not calling for the return of jousting, gladiator death matches or even beheadings, a popular spectator sport of yesteryear. But, can’t we have something? The City is a dense place as it is – but we can dig below ground if office space occupies the skies.
The foundations are there
We already have plenty of infrastructure to support a big venue: huge rail stations in the form of Liverpool Street, Cannon Street and London Bridge as well as six tube lines. And dozens plenty of restaurants and hotels too.
There’s plenty of space given over for conference venues, at which men in grey suits exchange leaflets and discuss the exciting collaboration opportunity they’ll never get round to. Wouldn’t everyone just have a much better time if those talks happened while looking at top quality athletes, rather than looking at their watches?
Rival financial districts have more on offer. In La Defense, the financial district of Paris, is situated the Penitude Arena, the largest indoor multi-purpose arena in Europe. The 45,000-capacity venue hosted events during the 2024 Olympics and aside from holding rugby games, will also host Celine Dion gigs in September.
Canada is in danger of falling behind. It’s time to catch up and build a stadium in the Square Mile.