As the UK approaches the scheduled easing of restrictions which will allow large scale events to take place for the first time in 18 months, The Warehouse Project, Escape to Freight Island and Depot Mayfield as a combined entity are poised to make a crucial positive impact on the city and local economy of Greater Manchester.
Since its inception back in 2006, The Warehouse Project has established itself as one of the most recognisable and significant music brands to come out of the UK in recent times. After 16 years’ operating in Manchester, the cultural importance of this much-loved series of music events has grown year on year and continues to shine a spotlight on Manchester as one of Europe’s hottest destinations for electronic based music. For the eagerly anticipated 2021 season, almost 300,000 people are expected to attend The Warehouse Project’s events at Depot Mayfield.
The economic and social impact for this will be key in the recovery for the night-time industry. In addition to each ticket holders spend on every event ticket and within the venue itself, it is calculated (using the metric from Deltic) that each person will bring in £35 revenue during their time in the city, injecting an estimated total of £10.5m into the local economy of the city and Greater Manchester for Q4 of 2021. The Warehouse Project series is on track to sell out, highlighting the demand for people to enjoy music experiences across the UK, with Manchester at the epicentre of talent and events.
This influx of revenue is critical and will feed into the city’s hotels, bars, restaurants, taxi firms and many other businesses operating in and around the night-time economy, many of which have been hit the hardest during the pandemic. Giving a much-needed boost from the start of ‘normal’ operations.
Alongside The Warehouse Project will be Escape to Freight Island, which has been one of Europe’s most successful food and drink markets operating during the pandemic, and is set to become, off the back of its carefully designed structure and operating methods, one of the most visited destination tourism locations in the UK.
As the restrictions are lifted, Escape to Freight Island will begin to operate fully and at capacity for the first time, and in addition to the spend for each visitor within the venue, it is expected that with an estimated footfall figure of around 10,000 visitors per week there will be over £2.4m spent within the local economy.
Both hugely important and successful operations will operate within Depot Mayfield. This world-renowned entertainment space has truly made a global impact since it first began welcoming people through its doors back in 2019.
Simeon Aldred, of Broadwick Live who operates Depot Mayfield said; “We are exceptionally proud of the success that has been made at Depot Mayfield, and especially as a partnership collective with The Warehouse Project and Escape to Freight Island, working under the most challenging of times, we have been able to establish Depot Mayfield as one of the UKs venue success stories of recent years. The combination of the operations within the venue, the total of which is expected to bring in over £13m additional spend to the local economy in Q4, I believe is one of our proudest achievements of Broadwick Live since we began to work within the great city of Manchester.”
Arlene Van Bosch, Development Director for the Mayfield Partnership, a public-private organisation leading the decade-long £1.4bn redevelopment of Mayfield, said: “During the industrial revolution Mayfield was world-renowned for innovation and industry.
“This incredible pioneering spirit of enterprise is being reborn at Mayfield today thanks to the outstanding efforts of the Broadwick, The Warehouse Project and Escape to Freight Island teams, who have created a best-in-class destination which is not only making a crucial contribution to our city region’s visitor economy after such a challenging time, but reconnecting hundreds of thousands of people with Mayfield Manchester.”
The collective partnership of The Warehouse Project, Escape to Freight Island and Depot Mayfield will also support as part of their operations companies in Greater Manchester including bar and venue staff, security contractors, DJs, bands, production management, food and drink suppliers and many more. Overall, it is an exciting time for Greater Manchester as the recovery of its economy begins, and this collective is proud to be at the forefront.
