The Little Disco NYE Special at Escape to Freight Island

From the creators of La Discothèque comes The Little Disco, which returns to central Manchester’s giant food hall and entertainment venue Freight Island for New Year’s Eve.

Ring in 2025 with the ultimate disco experience featuring a DJ set from Girls of the Internet and support from Manchester’s own Mix-Stress and Nicola Bear, delivering the best in classic disco and party anthems.

Keeping the spirits up throughout the evening, Escape to Freight Island’s many bars will all be open, with our top tip being the all-new paloma bar, Casa Pomelo, serving up lip-smacking cocktails and frozen serves curated by premium tequila brand Casamigos.

And for those feeling peckish, you can dip into one of the many top-notch street food vendors dotted around the complex. Just inside the main hall, Mega Gyros serves up fresh, beautiful Greek cuisine. That’s just next door to Mia’s Arepas A Taste of Venezuela, offering traditional Venezuelan flat breads bursting with various fillings, from chicken to fish to vegetables. Patterson’s is your spot for gourmet fried chicken, Burgerism if you’re after lean, mean, burger cuisine, and Voodoo Ray’s for a slice of New York in Manchester.

‘How much?’ I hear you cry. Well, the curve ball with this one is that standing tickets are completely free, which is pretty unprecedented for New Year’s Eve, and especially for a night of this scale. You can upgrade to a table, if you want, from an also-very-reasonable £25pp. And then we realise why. There are a number of VIP packages available, the most eye-watering of which costs £1200pp. Shocking stuff, but hey, if they want to pay through the nose so that you can go free…

Something else Freight Island has up its sleeve this year is the Twilight Trail — a dazzling winter light show in Mayfield Park. Out here at 8.30pm you’ll find a 10-minute fireworks display, which will bring the curtain down on the trail until next year. This bit of the night is family-friendly, and if you just want to see the fireworks and do a last round of the trail, then you can buy tickets for this bit separately (from £11).

But back to the main event. The DJs will start spinning from 8pm, right through until close at 2am, bringing all the fire that New Year’s Eve deserves.

Expect a fun-loving night in one of the city’s very best large-scale venues — just try and ignore Manchester’s financial elite peering down at you from their special little VIP bar.