• Welcome to the tickets section which contains all you need to know about booking tickets for the Manchester Evening News Arena.

Please use the links to find a full list of Ticket Retailers and box office Terms and Conditions.

Please be aware that if you don't buy your tickets from authorised outlets you run the risk of being refused entry to the venue or not getting any refund if the event is cancelled or postponed. If you choose not to use the ticket buying options below and are unsure of the legitimacy of a ticket outlet, we suggest you check the official artist or promoter website. The M.E.N Arena's official booking agent is Ticketmaster. For more information go to the Small Print at the bottom of this page and/or download the Daily Mirror 25/05/06 article or Guardian Money 17/03/07 for more information and some real life examples of problems from using an online secondary ticket agency.

Before you book don't forget to have a browse through our Event Listing section and check out the Arena Guide for Seating Plans and Virtual View, a superb panoramic shot inside the arena so you can see where your seat is or where you want it to be!

If you are buying tickets for anyone 14 years or under we advise you purchase a seated ticket.  Please be aware that during concerts people may stand up.

How to Book 

• Book Online
  buy tickets online search our Events section and click the book online link from the relevant artist page.
• Personal Callers
  Visit the M.E.N. Arena Box Office (open 10am-6pm Mon-Sat, and until 15 minutes after the main act has gone on stage on performance nights unless otherwise advertised, also open from 12 noon on Sundays when there is a performance). No booking fee for cash, cheque or debit card payments. Tickets are also sold to personal callers at a variety of Ticketmaster Ticket Centres around the country (booking fee applies) including The Palace Theatre Box Office on Oxford Road. For a full list of Ticketmaster Ticket Centres, go to the Ticketmaster site:
  http://www.ticketmaster.co.uk/etc/
• At The Concert                                                                                Tickets for all future events are available from the Customer Service Kiosk located on the Concourse at Block 101. 
• By Post
  Send a self addressed envelope and a cheque made payable to 'SMG UK Ltd' to:
  M.E.N. Arena Box Office
  Victoria Station
  Manchester
  M3 1AR
• By Telephone
  Call the 24 Hour Ticketmaster Hotline on 0844 847 8000. Tickets are subject to booking fee.

The Small Print
The decision by the Office of Fair Trading to liquidate the company trading as getmetickets.net and the recent television exposé by the BBC on its Inside Out programme has highlighted the practice of 'secondary ticket selling', otherwise known as 'touting' or 'scalping'.

Although this practice is not illegal it is strictly against the Terms & Conditions of the Manchester Evening News Arena Box Office. Condition 7 states "If this ticket is re-sold or transferred for profit or commercial gain by anyone other than the promoter, venue management, Ticketmaster or one of their authorised sub-agents, it will become void and the holder may be refused entry or ejected from the venue".

Any customer who purchases tickets from these sources automatically loses their rights as a consumer and would be unable to obtain a refund from the venue should the event be cancelled or postponed or should their ticket be voided.

The largest and, probably most worrying, growth in 'secondary ticketing' is through internet auction sites: as with the apparently legitimate websites that advertise 'premium' tickets for sale, and the more obvious 'touts' selling outside the venue, there are no guarantees that the tickets purchased from these sites will guarantee the ticket holder entry into the venue.

At a number of events (particularly the high profile concerts) it is estimated that up to 30% of transactions conducted on these 'secondary ticketing' sites are either fraudulent or result in the ticket holder being refused entry into the venue.

Customers should ONLY purchase tickets from legitimately authorised outlets if they wish to ensure that they get in to see their favourite artist.

The Office of Fair Trading has a number of guidelines for those purchasing tickets, follow this link http://www.oft.gov.uk/ and enter "buying tickets" in the quick search box.

Alternatively you can seek advice on the Consumer Direct website http://www.consumerdirect.gov.uk/ticketscams