Escape To Freight Island in Manchester - Phone Number, Reservations, Reviews

Great place to visit with a large group, especially when lots of people want different food from the same venue. Would definitely go again.

The place is huge! Nice atmosphere. I went with some friends for drinks and food, nice option. Good beer. Would go again!

Somewhat pricey but decent spot

Really good atmosphere, the sun was out and everyone was having a great time. The food and drinks were amazing. One of the best places in Manchester when the sun is shining.

I came to Freight Island for their Seconds Carvery service, and I had a fantastic time.highly recommend

Plenty of great events for kids and families. Baby rave

Had a fab time here with the kids. The burgers are massive!! U use the QR code on the table and choose what u want to eat - really easy to use. U can watch the match in sports bar bit. Just outside is a really good playback for the kids.

Second time I have been here and was very impressed again. One thing I will say is that I went on a Saturday afternoon a few of the places were closed including one of the craft beer bars which was a big shame. Am sure they had there reasons for being closed but none the less tainted the experience a little. But onto the good stuff, had a gyros that was absolutely phenomenal probably the best I have had outside of Greece, would recommend the Greek food outlet there to anyone. Also had a caramel chocolate brownie cup which was very good. There is a lot going on in freight island, lots of food and drink to be had in a cool looking space that has been done up well. The music in a few parts was a bit too loud though couldn't really chat to anyone if you were sat there. Will definitely go back though is a nice and unique spot.

Food is expensive and not necessarily delicious But variety of food choices The atmosphere indoors and outdoors is very good Great for group gatherings Sometimes there is a live DJ

What a wonderfully eclectic place with a fantastic atmosphere!

A great mix of food, lots of regulars, and some new experiences, music is too loud fir conversation in areas.

Went on a Sunday for a food event and the food stalls on offer were very good and if its food and a family event you want then its a good place to go. However its very expensive at almost £7 a pint and it was pretty dead when I went (on a Sunday TBF) 'Decent' venue but very expensive - Wasn't terrible but isn't somewhere I'd bust a gut to go is my opinion

Staff was helpful food was lovely

Place to be in Manchester, absolutely cracking vibes We sat in the plant room next to the bar & DJ Staff were great, food was unreal! Just a absolutely cracking night, will 100% be back

Really nice spot to chill grab some food..only thing missing is the pool hall..it wasnt open the last 2 times i went

Went to the British Street Food Awards and it was great! Loved the food stalls, Baldy’s Pies was our favourite, good music and great atmosphere!

I had a nice time but it's pricey, there isn't a massive selection of cocktails, but it's not bad for a drink or 2 with work mates.

Me and the missus went to get lunch before seeing the Batman exhibition. Put our orders in on their app, waited nearly an hour after they said we'd get a text to pick it up and heard nothing. Her food had been sitting there for 30 minutes and got cold, my money had been taken but the order never went through. Terrible order system, never going back. A complete waste of money and time.

Loved it. Had Venezuelan food..... delicious. I will certainly return.

We got 4 tickets to an event hosting free drinks and food. We waited for over 2 hours and didn’t receive a thing. While other tables were 4 drinks deep and beginning to receive the food. We were told that we missed the drinks and should have asked with more confidence to receive a drink. Absolute shambles. Waste of time and an Uber ride into town. Re think your options if you’ve planned to attend any events here.

Great place with lots of variety for food. Just wish there were more cocktails available!

Wowsers an Absolutely Amazing Vibe on a Summers Day 👏 turning left from Picadilly Street Station, certainly threw me .. then the short walk (5 mins) down some back street made me a little dubious .. but wow ... what a place .. what a vibe what a party atmosphere .. 🫶 .. street food emporium .. order from the table .. collect from vendors .. I can't comment enough on the positive vibe for this place. I can only liken it to Havana in Cuba or a Rio Festival .. booking advisable for larger groups as there were plenty of reserved booths/tables (noted for next visitation) 🍕🍾🥂🍹🌴🥥🎉

Spectacular leisure place to eat and rest

Our son took us today as part of his birthday celebrations. Great place. Great staff…everyone from the security guys on The gate who made such a fuss of my wife cos she was on crutches..to the bar staff. Food is great ..no end of choices. Love to come back again.

Amazing place , amazing atmosphere, great park next door

Quirky street food style venue overlooking the beautiful mayfiled park. You would be forgiven for thinking it was not in manchester

But why is the music so loud? No chance you can chat or even hear each other.

Amazing venue. Security staff on polite and on point which is rare. Beautful layout.

I absolutely love it here. Loads of choices for food and drinks and in a perfect location. You can literally spend all day here!

Great atmosphere, reasonable prices, excellent food

We went to Freight Island for the England vs Switzerland Quarter-Final, an event that the location had made a ticketed event. We had sorted tickets for our group, however when we arrived at Freight Island, 1 hour before kick-off, we were told that it was full and we would not be allowed to enter the site. This was highly disappointing, as a set number of tickets had gone on sale, and we had been lucky to get some. As such I cannot provide a review on the food, but unfortunately it has to be a 1* review as the staff on the gate were not accommodating and clearly the people that run the site didn't have control over what was a large event.

Amazing place to watch the footy.. Fantastic atmosphere.. But mad busy

Great venue for the masses, lots of choice of food places and drinks. It caters to most people, the gardens around Depot Mayfield are beautiful amd open to the public. The whole area is clean and tidy. We had some Chicken for a quick Pit Stop before going to the Batman exhibition inside. They also have live acts on here at weekend too.

Great place to visit, lots of food and drink choices. Dj playing tunes while sport on the screens. Definitely worth a visit

Great night , good range of beers and the Bao buns were excellent

Planned a visit on Sunday months in advance for a birthday and a leaving do only to be told 2 DAYS BEFORE that the reservation was cancelled because the venue "didn't know that England would be in the final". I paid £40 for 20 tickets, but had an alternative offered by Freight Island management which was £40 per person - evidently a ploy to make more money, and one that spoilt the day completely for 20 people travelling from different countries and cities. The worst customer experience I've ever had after being promised two phone calls - none of which were made - and with absolutely no reasonable solution provided over email. Seemingly from other reviews and a lack of any social media content - the Euros Final day was severely mismanaged. A great shame as the venue would have brilliant potential with the right management.

Obvious the management put 0 effort into preparing properly for the euros events this year. Bars were all understaffed and underequipped, spoke to multiple people who waited over an hour for a pint. Food selection is alright though, is worth visiting on a normal night for a drink in the sun.

Euros Final tickets were given out for free via QR code after semi final game and then cancelled and put back online for £25. ‘Rooftop’ was basically a yard with 10 Porta loos for 500+ people and multiple bars selling cans of Amstel for £6 Huge fight broke out with minimal security The game was shown on BBC iPlayer on two small screens and commentary couldn’t be heard, plus iPlayer kept buffering This place has always been and always will be a glorified canteen that focusses on £££ over people

One of my favorite places in Manchester, you must try arepas from Venezuela

Prepare for a wall of text about the 2024 Euros. TL;DR is at the bottom. TVs During the Slovakia game England scored at the start of extra time but the TVs were still showing ads, so everyone missed it. Initially I thought this was ITV’s error but during the final which was on BBC, I realized the ads were FREIGHT ISLAND CHOOSING TO PLAY ADS FOR THEMSELVES, not the broadcaster. The 3000+ attendees seemingly weren’t making them enough profit, leading them to play so many ads that people missed a goal. Door Staff At the door there was a guy who on both the Slovakia game and the final wouldn't get your attention, mutter something, and then when asked what he’d said would borderline yell at you. Completely uncalled for and an extremely bad way to represent a place you haven’t even been in yet. More importantly during the Slovakia game just after England scored in extra time (which everyone missed due to the above point about the TVs) a fight broke out and turns out it was two bouncers FIGHTING EACH OTHER, not patrons. This was in the “sports bar” area near the smaller screen closest to the main room. Random patrons had to intervene to break up the two door staff fighting, which was quite literally unbelievable. Bars This issue alone will deter most people who came for the Euros from ever returning here for a big event. Every single queue had a minimum wait of 20 minutes. It's unbelievable that they would choose to put only 6 people on a bar to cater to an area of easily 500+ people. I joined a queue in the “sports bar” area at 19:20 thinking I’d easily get drinks in time for the 8pm kick-off, but it took 55 minutes causing us to miss the first part of the game. Multiple people in the queue said they’d been waiting over an hour. Additionally due to the waits people were understandably ordering more to “stock up” to avoid another queue, which then created more queues. The bigger problem was that the bar staff were just insanely slow. It’s hard to explain, but compared to other bars, they just seemed very slow. Possibly the most annoying thing was them stopping to have banter which is fair play when quiet, but when people are missing the Euros final because of the wait you’d think they could focus on serving. One person was to be fair being inappropriately rude to the bar person and the bar person said it was their first day. Having worked in bars, I worry that this is the classic toxic bar manager thing of letting more experienced staff have it off. I have huge sympathy for the individual staff as it’s not their fault that there weren’t enough of them and that they were under-trained. It wasn’t fair that people were being rude to them, but it’s indicative of a wider management problem for allowing this situation to happen. Toilets Far too few for what I assume is easily a 3000+ person venue. I visited a couple of years ago and remember a huge room of unisex cubicles, which seemingly no longer exist. Now there’s just one tiny set for men, some portaloos and urinals. The main issue here is when coupled with the slow bar service, you literally felt like you couldn’t get either a drink or use the toilets without missing part of the game. Tickets The tickets for the final mentioned a 4pm final entry for an 8pm game. I understand not wanting everyone to show up at 7pm and create massive queues but 4pm felt cheeky, as if they were trying to force people to come early and spend money. Furthermore, the 4pm entry time was only mentioned on the tickets and not in the ads. I saw on social media that multiple people were asking for clarification on this, understandably citing that they were intending to go after work and wouldn’t make it for 4pm, and Freight Island of course didn’t respond. Summary / TL;DR Absolute shambles of a venue. How a massive venue like this which has been open for multiple years couldn’t prepare for a massive event is insane. Completely understaffed, rude door staff, appears massively over-profit-hungry, and completely unfit for purpose.

Came for masseoke, which was amazing so my stars are not a reflection of that. However the drinks bar at the stage area was very misleading. Ordered 2 ginbull cocktails which were on a slide show above the bar. Priced at £9 on one slide and £10 on another. I was then charged £24 for the 2. When I asked about being over charged, and the two different advertised prices, I was told that it is freight island that decides the deals and dont tell them when its changed? Surely I can't be the only person to have realised this, or a lot of other people had been overcharged aswell and not noticed.

Last entry to free to air football game is 4 hours before kick off??? How can that possibly be justified?

We booked months in advance ahead of a friends leaving do, only to be told 2 DAYS before that our reservation has been cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances. We were then offered the same tickets we had originally booked for 20 times the price which is completely ludicrous and utterly disgusting. Clearly an attempt to try and maximise revenues at the expense of their valued customers.

Paid for a ticket for the Euros final and they announce the night before that last entry is 4pm… That’s 4 hours before the game kicks off. Complete disregard for people who have work or prior plans. Feels like a huge money grab.

Great venue ruined by bouncers. Tale as old as time.

Food/drink prices extremely high,standards are 5/10 chicken,burgers,pizza, minimum seating area inside,outside area seating is full an plastic cups poor beer .

Haven’t tried the food. Cool place, the staff are super friendly. It was super busy and there were a couple of weird people there because of the euros. On a non-euros day, I think it’d be fun to go

Good atmosphere and great staff! Definitely worth visiting.

Went for the England game,great atmosphere and we won on pens 😁🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

Very special place! If you want to go out in Manchester, this is the place to be! Or if you want to watch football, that's possible too! Drinks and food are very expensive and especially very greasy.

Not sure why they allowed you to book tickets for the Euros then refused entry due to the venue being full, after allowing walk ins? Honoured tables (which were quite a cost) but not standing reservations. It's a shame because I've previously had positive experiences with the place but this has really given me a negative impression. I must say, security were extremely polite and respectful about it but just a shame with the organisation. Won't be coming to spend money here again.

Possibly the worst venue I’ve ever been to. If I had a wife she could have pegged me and I’d have been less violated! Over extortionate prices for food and alcohol, paid for a table in front of the football screen, thank the lord I have contact lenses we were that far away, this was after they turfed off a lady with crutches. People herded around like cattle as the toilets and services weren’t adequate. Ran out of beer at one bar 5 minutes before kick off! Avoid at all costs ……well unless you want bending over backwards and shafting!

What an amazing place and we even got to see the sunshine. Great venue, fab music from the dj’s, and great choice of food too. Lovely way to spend an afternoon/evening.

What a place. Came in for the Euro’s football and the place was jumping. Great vibe inside and out. DJ set, loads of dancing, plenty of big screens and easy to get served.

Bit over priced but decent enough

Very expensive, had to take out a second mortgage, £15 for a large glass of wine, never again.

I would like to give a huge thank you to Heather tonight. Myself, Partner and Three-Year Old Daughter visited tonight for the football. At first I realised I was unable to get tickets for the family zone and especially seating. I had been trying for hours to find somewhere that would accommodate seating as my Daughter suffers with Autism and being cramped really distresses her. From the Email sent until Arrival, we were treated very well and accompanied to a seat we had been told would be available, should we wish. The staff all night were great and I cannot thank Heather enough. (It's usually a night in as we live many miles from family) Regards, Dexter

Love this place, great for going out as a group, loads of choice.

Booked table for 90 quid and didn’t even show the winning goal! So disappointed! Didn’t even get a Guinness! :(

Excellent atmosphere for Euro 2024. Would like to commend staff for their support of my friend with cerebral palsy. One staff member at the first entry Checked very politely whether he needed a ramp or the stairs getting into the venue, and a second (stationed on the stairs to the sports bar) helped him with his drink. He doesn’t explicitly need the help but it’s so good to know people are on hand and are so willing to help. Thank you.

Dangerously overcrowded place for the England match, couldn't order anything. When trying to leave, no one could barely move for 20 mins. Best and safer to watch football elsewhere.

Went to a 90s do Great time Great atmosphere loved it

Shocking nothing like any of us expected 14 of us went ended up having one drink and leaving

When it opened food was really good and could get everything delivered to your table, now it's vast, you have to go up to get all your orders which are over priced and the music is so loud you can't talk over it. Went for a 40th Birthday and most of the parents with children left as the music was too loud. Not kid friendly and gone down hill

Great place with plenty of choice for food. Quite busy at 7pm so took a while to find a seat but a really good place. Difficult to carry all the food back to the table without a tray , but the food from the Greek was exceptional quality

Booking made months in advance for an outside table for a birthday; we were given an inside table. Half the food options were closed, those that were open, very expensive for what you got considering you have to collect anyway (which defeats the whole point of ordering from multiple places!) and ultimately gave up and left after one drink. Pointless gimmick.

Edit: Yes this place definitely has changed. Booked a couple of months ago for my birthday today. Asked for outside seating. Got to the door at the booked time and they said no outside seating available. Sent us upstairs indoors. Disappointing. Then found that most food and drinks couldn't be ordered to the table but had to be collected yourself. Minimal options and saw that a lot of the bars and food places had closed since the last visit. Food from other tables smelled awful. We had one drunk and left. Never again 😓 very disappointing for what was supposed to be a special birthday celebration! Fantastic place. First time here, I booked in for my birthday and just want to say a very special thank you to the staff here. Just my luck - Saturday arrived and everything that could go wrong seemed to be going wrong - ran late, issues buying tickets at the tram stop, missed tram, a few people dropped out last minute - I called to say we were still on our way through but running late and huge apologies! I really HATE being late for anything and I was pretty panicked and close to tears. Staff were very understanding and very kind. We were made to feel welcome and I absolutely loved my food (Korean BBQ pork belly from Smokehouse BBQ) - others enjoyed their burgers! Loved that there were so many options to accommodate personal tastes and dietary requirements for friends (some vegan and some are gluten free) - we could sit at one table and order from different places which was brilliant! Cocktails were divine too! All in all a very special day despite the rough start. Thank you. It meant a lot to me. Will definitely be visiting again soon!

After my wife booked a month before and made sure to get an outside table we finally got to the place and told us no outside tables were available so much for customer service. The food places were mostly closed or had a wait time of over 1 hour for food that was pathetic, I've done Scotland highland games with more people and could serve faster. Over all the place has become a money grab place with prices for food fitting a fully serviced restaurant but you have to get your own food. Pathetic!

Great atmosphere for England game but unfortunately that’s good as it got, 45 min wait for drinks as they had only 3 staff on. 20 min wait to leave as folks were crammed in like sardines. Most items out of stock on various food places so really limited for choices

You’d think on match day they would be pouring beer for fun, but not here, expect a 40 min delay for drinks 🙄

Didn’t manage to get in because they let people without tickets in then turn away people with tickets

Very busy and trendy place best to reserve a table if going as a group.

Nice lively venue, visited on a Friday evening, plenty of room lots of food and drink options, very impressive

Brilliant place with a variety of food options, bars and seating areas.

Plenty of different food outlets and bars ,also sometimes has live music,good venue especially seen the sun is shining.

Great on a warm day if you want drinks and food. Good afternoon

A lovely place for the whole family. Kids had fun, a nice place to gather with friends, enjoyed the food and drinks and ice cream.

Went here for lunch on Sat at 2pm (ish). No longer have table service. Lots of food choices but average quality and overpriced. Atmosphere was ok but not many people were in. Die cast was better.

Freight Island - awesome place! 😍 Mega Gyros - great food but woman who works there should not be working there. Awful service. Careless attitude. Disgusting.

What wonderful, wonderful service!! Booked a last minute table with them on a Friday night for a large group of family and friends. The team here are the most perfect example of hospitality! Special thank you to Heather who led our booking from the beginning and tail-ended it with some personal service when we arrived.

SHOUT TO THE BOUNCER WHO LET US IN WE LOVE YOU !!!! That Teletubbie of a manager of yours shouldn’t of given you a yellow card for letting us in we didn’t have our IDs because WE WERENT DRINKING my friend is Muslim and it was her birthday we just wanted food. On the food NASTY that fuku place cooked a piece of hair into my chicken and my pizza was COLD and wasn’t ready when I went to collect it the chips were mediocre moreover the ice cream qr code made it so you HAD to get two scoops and furthermore there was a FAT HAIR in our water the atmosphere was so hostile with workers looking at us every minute and going on the radio when we went to the bar for WATER, I definitely will NOT be coming back here

Great time just needed better weather

Great place and atmosphere especially outside on a sunny day

Amazing place. So unique and different. Great atmosphere. Good food and pretty fast for table service. Cant wait to go back

Went here to watch the boxing. As you can imagine it was packed. Atmosphere was amazing. And friendly.

Whatever music was playing from 2:30-4:45pm today (26/05/24)was absolutely diabolical. Some sort of hippie, high pitched whale sound 30cm from my left ear canal while waiting 30 mins in a bar queue, leading to the inevitable choice of; do I collect my food that’s now ready and being text to collect or continue queueing for a further 20 mins at the bar?. Used to be a great place, what happened?. - is a shame as the food is superb.

Came here after the 10k run first of all they take water of the runners with medals on when they need it through dehydration then I ordered a tanqueray ten as on display that is 47% when I tasted it I knew it was not that so next round I watched what bottle they used from under the counter……it was normal tanqueray 41.3% I questioned it and was told this is what we always serve so £7 a shot for cheaper product.so you get checked to make sure you don’t bring your own drinks in then you get robbed with the wrong product there is no price for normal tanqueray gin let’s see what trading standards say they owe me money and I wonder how many other people have been robbed

Was so disappointed went with my daughter and her friends who had all ran the 10k . So Jobs worth on the gate .my daughter was told she couldn't take her jelli babies packet of sweets in plus when they asked to check her bag ,was told if you take the water out of your bag we will confiscate it .Honestly they were still in their running gear also to not go in with the energy drink and had that took off her . When we got there table booked for 3.30 still waiting at 4 for our table .You then have to que ages for the bar to be served a drink which you didn't ask for but charging you the higher price . I would not go her again stay away

I have given Freight Island 5 star because the place is lovely. Last night 26th would have been the first time visiting this place. My family attends and they love it. I am down from London for the weekend and planned to attend Freight Island because advertised it said it was a "Soul and RnB" day/night. Well if your going to advertise the music for the night can you please stick to it. All you last night was "House". I didn't go for house music. Continous all night. No happy music. Please stick to the theme. Can we have a "Motown" weekend.

The music was extremely loud - phone app measure 100 decibels. This is both illegal and unsafe, especially given there were children around.

Always busy with a pumping scene. New outdoor area for Summer. Wide selection of drinks, music and sections each with their own setting within the venue.

Ordered a Kopparberg from the bar and in my glass under all the ice was a massive spider as you can see in my pic! The reception lady was lovely but the manager told me 'it's good for my protein' which I think is really disappointing customer service. They did give me a replacement drink

Family friendly. Many big screens for the football

It was great! You'd think it'd be hot inside on a sunny day? Not so! Good Aircon, not cold, just right. Bars do get very busy but queues disappear quickly. Plenty of toilets for everyone. Go! Have fun.

Went for the football, they advertised it. No one in the venue knew which screen it was on. They refused to put the sound on it the screen in the main room despite hundreds of fans. When loads of fans moved they they then put it on. After the game they put music on and cleared the place in minutes. Do not ever go here to watch football 😒

Lovely food great atmosphere really enjoyed

We visited for a comedy evening in the plant room which was great. You scan your table QR code to bring up, order and pay for your food which is brought over to you. The food was on the pricey side for what you got but it was good though and I will eat there again!! The cocktails were super strong and nice but again on the expensive side but aren't they all? I just love them 🤣🙈 Security on the door and we were promptly asked to leave the plant room at 11am, all in all OK for a school night 🥴

Originally sat outside in the plant room but it is far too hot in there so moved indoors (they need to introduce air con to that plant room!). Food was ready quickly. Pizza was decent. I appreciate there is a lot of options for vegetarians and vegans! Was quiet at the time we went (3pm) which may have contributed to the quicker service. Would go back again as a group for food

£35 for a 22 inch pizza is an absolute rip-off! This cost didn’t include table service (we had to collect the pizza which was served in a cardboard pizza box and use paper plates and wooden knives and forks!) I can’t believe you are charging this much and ripping people off in this way.

Absolutely awful, my friend wasn’t allowed in eventhough he was just attending for food and he was 17. He got told his attitude stinks when he did nothing to provoke this, which I think is appalling. As a result of this, he left feeling upset as it was a celebration for his birthday. I think this behaviour is disgraceful, and I hope they sort their customer service out now, because I won’t be returning.