Ordinarily, the opening weekend of a food destination as ambitious as Escape to Freight Island would have been a circus. The pre-launch publicity would have drummed up such anticipation and queues that, even for those disappointed and turned away, the scrum at the door would have only added to Freight Island's legend.
But that was pre-Covid-19. The seated, open-air food market the first phase of a 2,500-capacity food, art and music complex was due to open this weekend in Manchester's abandoned Mayfield train station. It will now open on Friday 24 July and, for the first month, only to pre-booked parties of up to
