first direct bank arena

You can run a conference for a few dozen people or several thousand under one roof in central Leeds, with your breakout lounges, catering and exhibition floor all inside the same building. The arena publishes conference capacity from 10 up to 12,000 delegates, seated dinners for up to 1,200 in its Main Auditorium, and a 2,200 m² exhibition floor. first direct bank arena opened in 2013 on Arena Way, just off the A58(M) inner ring road, and is run by Legends Global.

Event spaces and capacities

You get five published spaces, so a plenary, a lunch and a breakout can all happen without moving delegates across the city. The Main Auditorium is the largest at 2,250 m², with a conference capacity the venue gives as 500 to 12,000 and a 60 m by 24 m modular stage. For exhibitions the venue offers 2,200 m² of floor for hire, plus 400 m² of ancillary exhibition space and an outdoor plaza at the entrance.

Capacities as published by the venue on its conference page, with The Mixer from its dinners page, checked 5 November 2026. Other hire pages describe the Black & White Lounge as taking 10 to 100 or 40 to 300 delegates and The Mixer 10 to 40 for meetings, so confirm the figure for your layout in writing.

Getting there and parking

Your delegates can arrive by rail, coach or car without the venue needing its own car park. The arena says Leeds City Station and the Dyer Street coach station are each about a 15 minute walk away, and Leeds Bradford Airport is 7.5 miles off. Drivers leave the A58(M) at the Claypit Lane junction, which links to the M621, M62 and M1.

There is no on-site car park. The venue counts over 7,500 spaces within a 15 minute walk, including Woodhouse Lane car park (1,272 spaces) and the Merrion Centre, the closest, where it warns of delays leaving after events. It says it has arranged discounted Q-Park rates for event bookings, and the nearest car park with EV charging is on Albion Street. Blue badge holders can be dropped off at the turning circle on Elmwood Close, and a hackney taxi rank is signposted from the main doors. Once your conference is confirmed, the venue says it issues a code giving delegates 25% off LNER train travel to Leeds.

Catering, AV and accommodation

You deal with one team for food and production. Catering is in-house, with menus the venue says use local, seasonal ingredients, and it offers a tasting before your event. Its technical crew handles microphones, screens, staging and lighting, and can source extra kit. The venue says most spaces are air-conditioned with free Wi-Fi as standard. Branding options include signage, digital screen takeovers and coloured lighting. The arena has no bedrooms of its own and points to nearby city-centre hotels.

For a smaller showpiece, the Dinner on the Stage package seats 100 to 200 guests on the main stage, with a private entrance, a drinks reception in the artist dressing rooms, a three-course meal, half a bottle of wine each, a DJ and a screen, projector and PA. On access, the venue reports step-free routes, lifts to every floor, a quiet room, a Changing Places toilet and a Silver Attitude is Everything accreditation. On sustainability, it says it holds greener venue certification, sends no waste to landfill and can assign a sustainability adviser to large events.

What to ask before you book

• Which capacity applies to your layout in the Black & White Lounge, given the venue’s pages quote 120 theatre, 360 dining and ranges of 10 to 100 and 40 to 300?
• How is the Main Auditorium divided for a conference of 500 to 2,000, and how much of the 60 m by 24 m stage is included in the hire?
• For an exhibition, what are the loading arrangements, floor loading and power for stands on the 2,200 m² floor, and can the outdoor plaza be used for vehicles or displays?
• Which car parks carry the Q-Park discount for your dates, and can you book blue badge drop-off on Elmwood Close for speakers?
• Can you see every space you are considering on the password-protected virtual tours (access via [email protected]) before an in-person walk-through?
• Which of the sustainability goals in the brochure will the adviser measure for your event, and will you get a report afterwards?

Related on Events Review

• Conference venues in Leeds
• Conference and exhibition venues
• Royal Armouries and New Dock Hall, a Leeds exhibition hall option
• Leeds Town Hall
• Horizon Leeds
• thestudio Leeds
• Cloth Hall Court
• Headingley Stadium
• The Queens Hotel, a Leeds conference hotel for delegate bedrooms
• AO Arena and Utilita Arena Newcastle, other northern arenas that take conferences

Sources: conference venue hire, event spaces, exhibition hire, meeting rooms, dinners and awards, Dinner on the Stage, getting to the venue, accessibility and sustainability pages on firstdirectbankarena.com, checked 5 November 2026.