Cheshire Oaks Arena

The Cheshire Oaks Arena is part of the wider Ellesmere Port Sports Village. It opened in 2015, replacing the Northgate Arena in Chester as the home for the Cheshire Phoenix . The team moved in for the start of the 2015–16 season and have not left since, bringing the British Basketball League (BBL) to the town. The stands are simple bleachers, folding down to hold 1,400 people for a match. The venue is not a cathedral of sport; it is a community hall that gets transformed. The architecture is functional, with high ceilings and industrial lighting. It is close enough to the designer outlet that visitors often mistake the location. They are unbeaten in five when they host the Sheffield Sharks or the Caledonia Gladiators . The line has barely moved since they arrived. The arena fell silent once when the Phoenix captain dragged them through it in overtime. It is a modest space, but it is the only one in Ellesmere Port for this level of basketball.