MANCHESTER, UK (CelebrityAccess) — The general manager of Manchester’s has reportedly resigned from his post after the recently completed venue was forced to delay its opening for a second time.
Earlier this week, Co-Op Live announced that its grand opening concerts, two performances by British comedian Peter Kay had been postponed by several weeks and on Friday, they announced that the shows were now postponed again and that the postponement had expanded to include an upcoming performance from The Black Keys.
An important update from Co-op Live pic.twitter.com/Yr9FQZajSf
— Co-op Live (@TheCoopLive) April 26, 2024
According to the BBC, Gary Roden, the General Manager of Co-Op Live also announced his resignation from his leadership role. In his place, veteran facilities manager Rebecca Kane Burton will serve as interim General Manager.
Roden’s exit follows his comments to the BBC that some of Britain’s small music venues were “poorly run.”
“Why is a small venue failing?” Roden told the BBC. “Absolutely, en masse bills are going up and this, that, and the other. But ultimately if there are 1,000 venues, one of them is going to be the best-run venue and one of them is going to be the poorly run venue, and where does the money go?”
Roden’s comment came in response to a question about a proposed subsidy on arena tickets that would provide £1 from tickets from large venues to support the nation’s small, grassroots venues.
A statement from the arena on Mr. Roden’s comments, provided to the BBC, said it did not “share the sentiment.”
