Up Street, the entertainment district wrapped around the arena, is a mile-long strip of restaurants, bowling alleys, and a cinema so big it has its own VIP section. You could spend an entire weekend here and never peek inside the main dome. There’s even a climbing wall that’s 15 meters tall—perfect for pretending you’re scaling the outside of the O2 itself, but with safety ropes and less vertigo.
Oh, and have you heard about Up at The O2? That’s the little cherry on top. You can actually walk across the roof of the dome, strapped into a harness, 52 meters above the ground. It’s like hiking on a giant white muffin, but instead of blueberries, you get panoramic views of London. Seriously, how cool is that?
The O2: Just How Big Is It? | Londonist
Wait, is this thing actually bigger than the Millennium Dome it replaced?
Yep! The original Millennium Dome (which opened in 1999) was already huge—but the current O2 has been expanded with over 100,000 square feet of additional space. That’s like adding an extra shopping mall on top of an already enormous shopping mall. The venue now boasts three separate stages (one for intimate shows, one for everything else, and one that literally moves up and down), plus an indoor beach called “The Beach” that’s open in summer. Because why not have a climate-controlled seaside in the middle of a city?
