You may have seen a poster floating about your Instagram feed, or on the walls of Manchester, telling you to ‘Escape To Freight Island’. Sounds intriguing, right? Upon a Google search, all is mysterious: A vision of our collective future. The journey starts at Platform 15, mid-July.
Already labelled as akin to Coney Island in New York, Escape To Freight Island comes amid the thrilling regeneration of Mayfield Depot, located on Baring Street. It will become a permanent urban market and festival space – an axis of food, drink, music, immersive entertainment, festival takeovers and family focused happenings.
It will be home to a number of different bars, restaurants, food trucks, with retail space and a bike park. There will be a 70s New York-inspired roller disco, a hidden hi-fi audio bar, which will transform into a karaoke venue called Queen Samantha’s, and a retro arcade games corridor. Escape To Freight Island will also host a diverse, ticketed events programme, with free festival-calibre entertainment 12 hours-a-day.
Among the first traders on board will be Madre, with its own non-traditional, upscaled, ingredient-driven tacos. The amazing Voodoo Ray’s Pizza will launch a northern outpost following success in Peckham and Dalston, and a favourite of renowned restaurant critic Jay Rayner, Ramsbottom’s pioneering Baratxuri will hold court in the outside space, with a wood-fired ‘Asador’ grill, to tickle your tastebuds.
Escape to Freight Island will be Camden Town Brewery’s biggest collaboration outside of London, launching a boutique craft ale bar in partnership with Salford’s inimitable Pomona Island brewery. This will run alongside a specialist wine bar, and a cocktail space from the team behind Ancoats’ favourite neighbourhood bar, The Jane Eyre.
The entire venue will be sound tracked by a visionary selection of music, festival takeovers and exclusive collaborations with the likes of Homoelectric, We Out Here festival, Festival N°6 and other iconic musical curators. Escape To Freight Island comes as a collaboration of individuals who have built a formidable reputation of food and culture throughout the UK. This includes Justin Crawford and Luke Cowdrey of Volta, Electrik Bar and The Refuge, Gareth Cooper of Festival N°6, event production veteran Jon Drape of Engine No. 4 and Managing Director Dan Morris, who launched leading Manchester music venues Gorilla and the Albert Hall, as well as some of the cities favourite bars and restaurants.
Electriks’ Luke Cowdrey, co-curator, said: “Escape to Freight Island isn’t your average food market. It’s a new and unique destination in Manchester, it is the next evolution in the food market sector that will fill a hole in the life of our city. Escape to Freight Island will take its place as one of the most exciting, forward-thinking and disruptive markets in the world. Escape to Freight Island is a game changer and most importantly to me, Escape to Freight Island has soul.
“Platform 15 will give a flavour of what is to come when we launch the full Escape to Freight Island experience, so let’s all meet at Platform 15 to begin our escape to freedom.”
James Heather, development director at U+I for the Mayfield Partnership, said: “Mayfield has over the last three years been re-established in the hearts and minds of both Mancunians and visitors to our city as an outstanding location for culture and entertainment. With Escape to Freight Island, our partners at Broadwick Venues have assembled an amazing line-up of operators, brands and innovators which will take this to the next level.
“This is an exciting new chapter in Mayfield’s regeneration story and one which raises the bar further still for our city’s visitor offering, underlining our vision for Mayfield as Manchester’s true commercial, creative and cultural nexus.”
Head to their website to sign up for access to reservations 24 hours early. You won’t want to miss this!
