O2 arena food and drink

[DanniMac1981]

I know the website says no food or drink!
But will they really take a bag of sweets of my boy? Or his water?
I don't want him to have a bottle without the lid.. x

Yes they absolutely will! O2 arena has some of the best security procedures of many live venues and do a proper bag search. I feel safest in that venue out of many I visit for that reason. Both sweets and water can be purchased for obviously a premium price!

They absolutely will. I had 3 lindt truffles confiscated last time I was there!

It's for everyone's safety....thousands of people...

They took my pretzel m and Ms, the bastards

Everyone has the lids taken of drinks to stop them being thrown about and used as a weapon your boy is not special

They'll definitely take the water if they spot it.

However, I've been 8 times in the last 2 and a half years and they've never discovered the small cans of Bacardi and Coke in the bottom of my handbag.

In fact when I went to see Elton John last year, they didn't even want to look in my bag, they just directed me and a few others straight through.

Thank you all... I know the security in place is for our safety and the person thinking I thought my son was 'special' isn't the case! Just a) didn't want to spend a fiver on a bottle of water when the night is already costing so much b) didn't want him to spill the fiver bottle as he's only little and no lid on it!

Some people and their comments - just no need!

But thank you everyone else - really helpful x

I went to O2 a couple of weeks ago and my 2 had a large bag of sweets each in their pockets and got them through.

You can take an empty water bottle and fill it up at the water stations inside the venue.

It's because they want to sell food and drink at a premium price to a captive audience. Your favourite artist may well have a % of those sales.

I went a couple of weeks ago and there were no manual bag checks where they riffle through, just arches to walk through. They watch you carefully and were pulling people out for extra checks. There was a police presence too.
Take an empty water bottle to refill (be prepared to queue at the fountains) and some sweets in an inner pocket, you haven't anything to lose by trying.

I'm pretty sure taking a bag of sweets away is to persuade you to buy their overpriced food and drink and nothing whatsoever to do with health or safety.
The drinks bottles I can understand but still feel aggrieved at paying over the odds for a drink once I get in

Take an empty water bottle with a lid and fill it up there. I'm sure you can sneak sweets in in your pockets

I have usually managed to sneak in some food, mainly if they are preoccupied with something else, but there are airport style scanners and bag checks so they are pretty thorough. As pp said you can take an empty water bottle and refill inside. If you buy water it will be £4 or 5 probably.

(I was typing quickly and first wrote vag checks!! 😳 they aren't that thorough!!)

I do exactly this when I go, and I have spent 25 years working in event/venue security.

Its naff all to do with health and safety and everything to do with making you buy their overpriced food and drink inside, which I point blank refuse to do. I wont make a thing of it if found, and will hand sweets and water over with good grace if they are found, but always (and so far successfully) put them in pockets where they don't look obvious - usually cargo shorts type of clothing.

Normal plastic lids on water bottles are not heavy enough to do any damage if thrown.

My tip is to take a spare lid in a pocket. They take the lid off the drink and then when you're safely through you can put the spare lid back on. That's what I always do when possible although I think sometimes they don't allow any drinks - even without a lid which is clearly a marketing ploy rather than a safety issue.