Dome is renamed as phone firm strikes £6m-a-year deal

The rebirth of the Dome as a vast entertainment venue got under way yesterday as plans were announced to give Britain's most unloved tent an ice rink, restaurants and a new name.

The rebirth of the Dome as a vast entertainment venue got under way yesterday as plans were announced to give Britain's most unloved tent an ice rink, restaurants and a new name.

The £800m Millennium Dome complex on the Greenwich peninsula, which has been mothballed at a cost to the taxpayer of £14,000 a week since closing five years ago, will be known as The O ₂ after the mobile phone company, O ₂, struck a £6m-a-year sponsorship deal with the American billionaire who owns the site. The £500m redevelopment of the structure, owned by the American magnate Philip Anschutz and his conglomerate, Anschutz Entertainment Group, will see a series of self-contained facilities built inside the dome, including a 23,000-seat performance area that will host up to 150 music, entertainment and sports events a year.

By the expected opening in April 2007 the building will also feature 10 restaurants, eight bars, a museum of British music, a street of jazz and blues venues and a 10-screen cinema.