On 1 January 2009 sponsorship was taken over from Carling by telecommunications company O2 and the venue's name changed from the Carling Academy to the O2 Academy.

[1] The venue was originally part of Mecca Leisure Group's New Entertainments Centre and was an ABC Cinema.

Opening in 1966, it included: a dozen licensed bars, an ice rink, bowling lanes, the Craywood Club casino, a night club, a grand cinema and the ballroom with an illuminated ceiling.

[2] Only the ice-rink and the cinema survived, the rest being demolished in 1998 and subsequently the site given over to student accommodation.

[3] The cinema closed in 1996 and was converted into a nightclub in 2000, originally called "Rock".