The Rugby Football Union (RFU) has renewed its bid to hold concerts for the world’s biggest artists at Twickenham’s Allianz Stadium – with some key updates.
The RFU wants to hold 15 major non-sporting events annually at the stadium, which has been the home of England Rugby since 1909, but this has faced opposition from residents. A petition raising concerns about the potential disruption to locals’ daily lives has reached nearly 2,000 signatures.
The 82,000-seat stadium currently has permission to hold three major non-sporting events each year, which can’t be held on consecutive days, and their capacity is capped at 55,000. It sits empty for around 340 days a year.
The RFU has been working with Richmond Council, the Met Police and South Western Railway (SWR) over the last 18 months to update its plans to hold 15 concerts at the stadium in response to residents’ concerns.
This includes new limits on crowd sizes for the proposed concerts – with a cap of 75,000 on weekends and a lower limit on weekdays initially, which has not yet been specified.
If the plans were approved, the number of concerts held at the stadium would be increased in phases until it hosted 15 a year – starting with smaller events and only progressing when local officials were satisfied the events were being well managed.
The RFU said it had also agreed with SWR for extra train services to be held at Twickenham Station during peak times on event days.
Rihanna performs live on stage at Twickenham Stadium in 2013 (Getty)
Residents would get priority access to tickets, with 1,000 tickets per concert made available through a pre-sale window.
The cost of each ticket would include a new facility fee to be put into a community enhancement fund to improve stadium operations and finance projects that support the local community. It is estimated this would generate up to £1million a year to be reinvested locally.
The RFU said the stadium was at a disadvantage when trying to attract global tours, compared to other UK venues, as artists typically wanted to play longer concert runs on weekends. It has only hosted one concert in the last six years.
Meanwhile other London venues are drawing huge crowds to see some of the world’s biggest artists. The O2 Arena hosts a six-day residency for Olivia Dean next month with every date sold out, while Wembley Stadium hosted Taylor Swift for eight record breaking shows during her Eras Tour in 2024.
The RFU said the move could unlock more than £500m of investment into rugby over the next five years. It is also seen as key in funding a planned upgrade of the stadium.
Bill Sweeney, the RFU’s Chief Executive, said the stadium – as the second biggest in the country – was best placed to capitalise on the success of the UK’s live events industry.
Mr Sweeney said: “The stadium is by far our biggest financial asset as a sport, but the fact that its use is currently limited to the short rugby calendar is in turn impacting the growth and potential of the game and its benefit to the local community.
“More concerts in Twickenham will generate tens of millions of pounds each year for the local and national economies, and hundreds more jobs here in South West London. It will also increase our ability to continue to work as a proud local neighbour, supporting local schools, charities and businesses across Richmond.
“Bringing the world’s biggest artists here to Twickenham will also secure the £500million of funding we want to invest into rugby over the next five years.
“I would like to thank Richmond Council and all the many stakeholders who have engaged with us to date, and we look forward to continuing to work with them over the coming months.”
The RFU’s renewed bid to hold 15 annual concerts at the stadium comes after it was dealt a blow in October, when Richmond’s licensing committee rejected its application to lift the restrictions only allowing it to host three concerts a year.
The committee said it had decided against lifting the restrictions “for the foreseeable future” and asked the RFU to “better engage with the local residents”, ahead of submitting any future application to increase the number of concerts.
While the number, size and type of events held at the stadium is a planning decision, the RFU also needs licensing approval to fully go ahead with the plans.
The RFU is set to submit a planning application with the updated proposals to the council soon, but it is holding sessions to provide residents with more information first. These events will be held in the stadium’s Clubhouse Bar and Kitchen on May 19 and 21 from 5pm to 7.30pm.
