Escape to Freight Island opened a new indoor Ticket Hall this weekend

Escape to Freight Island opened its Ticket Hall doors to the public for the first time this weekend, a socially distanced indoor village filled with a spectacular mix of food, drink and entertainment. Despite the announcement of the second national lockdown from Thursday, the new indoor venue was a huge hit with visitors this weekend.

Following the success of the first phase of Escape to Freight Island with the Platform 15 bar, Voodoo Ray’s pizza and Krum doughnuts on the outdoor concourse, the Ticket Hall is now situated inside the Depot Mayfield building – just in time for the winter months.

Photo Credit: Dan Hope, Plant Grill.

The Ticket Hall has refreshements available from some of Manchester’s newest food and drink traders including Plant Grill, a new vegan kitchen from Firebird Hope’s Dan Hope. Plant Grill are offering a 100% vegan menu, with an emphasis on vegetables and big umami-rich flavours.

"We had a brilliant first few days … the kitchen team were busy from the get go… we were astonished by how many people chose to eat vegan food" Dan said.

"Everyone should try our Tofu Pinger Burger! A seared piece of tofu, marinaded overnight in

soy, mirin, chilli oil and secret spices, we crumb the filler with panko and deep fry until

super crispy. Served on a custom black sesame seed bun with kimchi, cavolo and carrot

slaw, our mayo and alfalfa and radish sprouts. It’s a banger!" Dan recommended.

Other accomplished restaurants and bars from North West are also involved with the Ticket Hall, Northenden’s Vietnamese gem Mi & Pho and Ancoats cocktail bar The Jayne Eyre. Not forgetting the craft beer bar from Pomona Island Brew Co, a Camden Town tap room, and for the wine lovers an independent wine store called ‘Forever Changes.’

The entertainment was scheduled all weekend, line-up was full with artists and DJ, including Joe Packman, Midnight Riot and Kath McDermott.

Joe Packman, who performed a DJ set at the Ticket Hall on Saturday, explained how the first lockdown had been tough.

Joe said: "As soon as you walk in you can tell so much hard work has gone into it, it’s such a nice venue to be in."

"The venue being spaced out was my favourite thing about it… you could take your mind off of what’s going on in the world and just have a bit of fun for a while." Joe explained.

Joe got to enjoy some beer from the Camden Bar and some enormousslices of pizza Voodoo Ray’s pizza during the event which he described as "epic."

With the second national lockdown in place, Escape to Freight Island and the Ticket Hall will be closing its door on Wednesday evening until December.

There is still time to book a reservation for this week via the website https://www.escapetofreightisland.com .Last minute walk-ins are also welcome.