£2m investment in second phase of entertainment development
Escape To Freight Island has invested £2m into the latest phase of the integrated food destination venue – The Ticket Hall.
The investment is focused on expanding the space into the building’s interior, at Depot at Mayfield – part of the £1.4bn transformation of Manchester’s Mayfield district.
The newly-opened Ticket Hall has given the inside and outside venue a joint capacity of 1,200.
The development has created more than 1,000 jobs including full-time hospitality staff, on-site builders, event crew, artists, DJs and performers, and has seen more than 80,000 visitors since its launch in July.
The expansion of Escape to Freight Island is set to continue into 2021, giving the food hall and market a genuinely exciting future.
The creator and owner of Freight Island, Gareth Cooper, said: “We are really proud and excited to have taken on this ambitious project in the middle of a pandemic.
“Part of the adventure was to create something totally unique, but also it was very important to me that we always had an eye on helping out Manchester and its people.
“It did feel like a responsibility that whilst the world was doom and gloom and shutting up shop and waiting for the end, that I got out there and took the challenge on and went forward with the total belief that what was at the end of the journey would be an epic venue for Manchester and the North West.”
He added: “We needed to create something that shone out, that moved the marker forward and with the help of huge amounts of people we got there and we are well proud of what we’ve done.”
Arlene Van Bosch, development director for The Mayfield Partnership, said: “Gareth and his visionary team deserve incredible credit for their creation of Freight Island and now The Ticket Hall in these unprecedented times of challenge for the hospitality sector.”
