Sanctuary Music Arena
The front of the Sanctuary Music Arena
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| Location | Milton Keynes, England |
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| Owner | Tony Rosenberg |
| Genre(s) |
Drum and bass Dance music Live music |
| Capacity | 3,500 Sanctuary; 3,000 Fastrack; 2000 Rollers |
| Opened | 1991 |
| Closed | 2004 |
The Sanctuary Music Arena was a 22,000 sq ft, 3,500 capacity music venue in Denbigh North, Milton Keynes in the UK. It opened its doors on 6 December 1991 to ESP promotions event called Dreamscape. It was also billed as the first and only designer dance venue in the country.
The Sanctuary saw some of the UK's first legal Raves and was pivotal in the development of numerous underground electronic dance music genres, subgenres and styles. Owned by Tony Rosenberg, The Sanctuary played host to the UK's biggest dance music promoters, including Dreamscape,Helter Skelter Rave, Jungle Fever, Slammin Vinyl, Gatecrasher, Hardcore Heaven, Cream, Slinky, Uproar, Sidewinder and Godskitchen. The venue attracted a national audience to its legendary 12-hour all night events.
As well as Dance Music events, several high-profile live music acts appeared at The Sanctuary, including The Cult,The Prodigy, Ocean Colour Scene, Brand New Heavies, Gary Numan, and Paul Weller.
From 1995 onwards various promoters would occasionally use the adjacent "Rollers UK" roller skating rink and the "Fastrack" go-karting area in conjunction with The Sanctuary, creating a 9,000 capacity multi arena venue, one of the largest of its kind in the country.
The Sanctuary's owner also partnered the venues main promoter for one of the earliest legal outdoor all night dance events "Dreamscape 20" held in 1995 at Brafield in Northamptonshire with event attendance reaching 20,000. This was followed in 1997 with "Helter Skelter Energy 97" held at Turweston Aerodrome in Northamptonshire with 16,000 up for it ravers in attendance.
The close association of Rave with drug culture resulted in the public entertainment licence of The Sanctuary being challenged several times. Generally the local council and in particular Milton Keynes Licensing were supportive as were Thames Valley Police, with the owner working alongside the authorities introducing harm minimisation for "ravers" (including drinking water fountains and on-site paramedic teams with private ambulances) but with parallel strong policing trying to prevent the sale of illegal substances within the venue.
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