Manchester’s giant food hall and music venue Escape to Freight Island is switching things up this spring by moving in a host of new food traders.
Dessert shops Choo Choo eclairs and Soft Boi are going, as is Baratxuri’s basque country-inspired grill from the award-winning Ramsbottom restaurant and burger joint Patty Queen.
In their places will come some exciting new additions – such as Carnival, a brand new meaty grill concept from Hawksmoor co-founder Richard Turner; and Lucky Foot, a chargrilled and deep-fried chicken offering from the same team behind popular Liverpool spots Belzan and Madre.
With all the new traders due to all be in place by mid-May at the very latest, the revamped food market will open five days a week from Wednesday to Sunday.
Keep reading to find out who’s moving in – and what to expect from their menus.
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Carnival
Image: Escape To Freight Island
Carnival is a new collaboration concept from food writer, butcher and restauranteur Richard Turner, a co-founder of some of the best grill restaurants in the country including Hawksmoor, Pitt Cue Co, Blacklock and Meatopia Festival.
Turner and the team will be taking over the grill of what previously was Baratxuri, following the departure of Rachel Stockley at its Ramsbottom site. The brand said on its departure: “After almost two years we have decided it is the time to move on to explore some new opportunities for our family-run restaurant so watch this space.”
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Using the finest produce from a single producer farm, Carnival menu highlights will include fine cuts of premium rib, porterhouse and T-bone steak, as well as pork chop with apple tamarind ketchup, lobster with wild garlic, smoked beef short ribs, crispy fried scampi and potato gratin with anchovy and parmesan.
There will also be a limited ‘Front Row Seat’ chef’s table-style tasting menu available to those who like to see all of the action. Bookings will open later this month.
The team behind Belzan refresh their current counter this month with a brand-new deep-fried and charcoal-grilled chicken offering called Lucky Foot. Serving first-class birds, there’s no need to feel guilty about where your chicken is coming from here.
As for what’s on the menu, think fried chicken burgers, different salted fries (chicken, spicy, seaweed and plain), plus massive chicken tenders and sweet potato chunks – and that’s just for starters. We’ve had a little sneak peek, and already can’t wait to go back.
Gooey
Gooey’s most recent cookie special was inspired by Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. / Image: The Manc Eats
Known for their outrageously rich (not to mention ginormous) cookies and doughnuts, Manchester bakery Gooey will move into Freight Island as part of a new 2022 dessert offering.
Fans can expect to find specials like hot cookie dough and ice cream here, as part of an exclusive offering for the market, alongside the other tasty products they’ve become so well known for.
Batard
Image: Batard
Manchester bakehouse Batard will join Gooey this April in catering to Freight diners with a sweet tooth, serving up dessert pies and ice cream to the masses.
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Pitching up outside the Plant Room, the bakehouse will have its very own diner in partnership with Wildfarmed, a community-led farming system on a mission to fix soil through regenerative farming co-founded by Andy Cato of Groove Armada.
Burgerism
Image: Burgerism
The one and only Burgerism will take over from Patty Queen at Escape to Freight Island in May, bringing what are widely considered to be the best smashed burgers in town to this corner of Piccadilly.
Fans of the brand can look forward to the famous ‘Cheesed’ burger with two smashed patties, cheese, lettuce, tomato, pickle, onion and Burgerism sauce in a brioche bun, alongside the mouthwatering chicken burger.
Escape to Freight Island’s opening hours are Wednesday and Thursday (from 4pm to 11pm), Friday (from 4pm to 1am), Saturday (from 12pm to 1am) and Sunday (from 12pm to 10pm).
Feature image – The Manc Eats / Batard / Burgerism
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Trafford Centre announces opening hours for 2025/26 festive season – including Boxing Day
Emily Sergeant
Trafford Centre has published its full list of opening hours for this current festive season.
We all know that the Christmas period is one of the busiest times of the year for the retail industry, with people flocking to the shops in their millions to snap up festive gifts for their loved ones, and it only gets busier from Boxing Day onwards too when all the sales launch, offering shoppers some unmissable deals and bargains.
And nowhere in Greater Manchester gets busier during the festive season than the Trafford Centre. After all, with more than 200 stores all under one room, it’s not hard to see why.
This year, shoppers can make the most of extended opening hours at the Trafford Centre right through to New Year’s Day – with late night shopping until 11pm on selected dates in December leading up to the big day.
Alongside being a one-stop-shop for gifts, there’s also dozens of festive events and new Christmas lights to enjoy at the Trafford Centre too, so visitors can tick everything off their list and have a great day out while they’re at it.
The shopping centre will be open from 9am – 5pm on Christmas Eve, so you can whip round and grab any last-minute presents, before it’s closed fully on Christmas Day, and then opens again bright and early at 8am on Boxing Day.
Trafford Centre Christmas Opening Hours 2025/26
18 and 19 December: 10am – 11pm
20 December: 10am – 10pm
21 December: 12pm – 6pm
22 and 23 December: 10am – 11pm
Christmas: 9am – 5pm
Christmas Day: Closed
26 December: 8am – 8pm (some stores may be closed, please check with individual brands)
27 December: 10am – 9pm
28 December: 12pm – 6pm
29 and 30 December: 10pm – 10pm
New Year’s Eve: 9am – 5pm
New Year’s Day: 12pm – 6pm
It’s also worth noting, however, that not every store inside the Trafford Centre will be open on Boxing Day, so you’ll need to check with individual brands ahead of time.
For the restaurants, stores, and leisure venues that are open, you can check their specific trading hours on the Trafford Centre website here.
When it comes to festive event, The Grotto is open until Christmas Eve for pre-bookings only, and the Christmas fairground and ice rink, Big Wheel, and Gandeys Snowstorm Firebird show are all open until 4 January (closed Christmas Day).
Featured Image – Trafford Centre (Supplied)
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Greater Manchester’s ‘clean taxi’ plans backed by government funding
Danny Jones
The Greater Manchester Combined Authority’s (GMCA) ‘clean taxi’ initiative has been officially backed by the UK government, with an extra boost coming from a leading electric vehicle brand.
Millions of pounds are set to be pumped into the scheme over the coming years as the North West at large strives to become greener.
The Mayor himself, Andy Burnham, has made environmentally conscious travel a core part of his plans for the city region ever since he took up the post back in 2017; now he and his team are helping link up with connections in the capital to secure further investment.
With the new £8 million Hackney Support Fund being put into action as we speak, a further £2m is now set to go towards Manchester city centre and its surrounding boroughs via LEVC.
LEVC (London Electric Vehicle Company) have done away with classic petrol and diesel engines in their particular corner of the automotive industry, setting a more eco-friendly example for metropolitan cities up and down Great Britain.
As a result, Manchester City Council and the GMCA as a whole are looking to take a leaf out of their book as part of their wider carbon reduction targets, with local authorities having recently reaffirmed their five-year ‘climate change action plan’.
For context, the Hackney Support Fund in question is a series of government-backed grants aimed at helping taxi drivers replace older black cabs with more modern, zero-emission capable vehicles.
Not only that, but LEVC will also be offering licensed carriage drivers extended warranties on new and used TX cabs – like their new ‘eCity powetrain’ pictured above – as well as taxi scrappage allowance on other models.
Like any part of the country, our region itself has its own clean air goals, and with the continued expansion of the Bee Network continuing to advance that progress, we’re heading in the right direction.
It goes without saying that adding a fully-fledged fleet of cleaner, more energy-efficient EV taxis into that mix could help benefit these greener pursuits.
Managing Director at LEVC, Chris Allen, noted that the company has “helped the capital achieve legal air quality targets for the first time” and strongly believes that they can do the same up North.
Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester, said: “Our taxi trade is a vital part of Greater Manchester’s transport network and supports the local economy.
“That’s why we’re working hard to secure funding and practical support to help drivers upgrade to cleaner, greener vehicles – improving air quality for everyone, while protecting livelihoods. By backing our taxi trade, we’re building a fairer, healthier city-region for all.”
Georgina Pellant -
4th April 2022 
