It’s that time again - the Christmas Markets are up and
running in Manchester City Centre. I’m
actually quite a big fan of the Manchester Christmas Markets, although year on
year it’s getting busier. As a result it
gets really uncomfortable to navigate especially on a Friday evening and the
weekends. So I thought it would be
useful to have a street by street guide to the Christmas Markets:
Albert Square is
the main draw for Christmas Markets, especially on a Friday evening when it
becomes a huge draw for the workers having their celebratory ‘thank god it’s
Friday’ drink. It does tend to have a
later closing time than the other markets, so you can understand the
appeal. The crepes stand appears to have
a permanent queue. Weirdly I find the
mulled wine not as good from here compared to the other markets across
Manchester city centre. I find it can be
really intense in here with the amount of people, so I don’t tend to spend much
time here as the other markets are easier to navigate and can be better than
what is on offer here
A quick tip, if you want cheap bulbs for the garden go to
the Dutch gardening stall on Albert Square two days before the end of the
markets as they do sell off their stock cheap.
Last year I went on the last day of the Markets and they had sold
out. My Dad’s garden has looked fabulous
year on year courtesy of this stall with the fantastic array of tulips you can
find here.
Brazennose Street
market is across the road from Albert Square and leads down to Deansgate and
Spinningfields. There tends to be more
craft and sweet stalls along here, but if you are looking for drink then there is a
seated Bavarian Bar which helps to keep drinkers safely away from browsers. It’s definitely more civilised along here
compared to Albert Square.
There is a stall along here my friend loves as they do
massive chocolate muffins which are covered in chocolate, mini rolls and
chocolate based sweets. I’ve tried one
of these and I don’t know how you can eat one in just one sitting and not be
sick. Definitely one to share.
Across the road from Brazennose Street is the start of the Spinningfields Markets. This isn’t part of the official Manchester
Council Christmas Markets. You can tell this
as, unlike the wooden stalls across most of the Christmas markets, they have
normal mobile stalls. You have to give
the stallholders credit for selling their goods exposed to the elements. These stalls tend to be artisan food from
local producers, crafts and vintage.
In the centre of Spinningfields there is an ice rink and on Friday
it was packed. Personally there is no
amount of mulled wine that would get me skating, but people seemed to be having
a good time. I did like the look of the
food stalls which tended to be more English BBQ in style and I did make a
mental note to go back and try something.
If you love Pringles crisps then your life would not be
complete without visiting the Pringles Christmas Tree (made out of green and
red Pringles tubes) and taking a selfie with it. Completely bizarre!
My favourite market is the one along King Street. It’s a French
themed market (but not entirely French) and quite frankly the best food you can
find across all the markets. We always
make an annual pilgrimage to the French food stall that does Provencal chicken
and garlic potatoes. They do a
vegetarian option too with garlic mushrooms, which is possibly one of the few savoury
veggie fast food options available at the markets other than the garlic bread
stall nearby. The crepe stall is good
along here, but I think the ladies at the crepe stall are getting fed up of
being asked for Nutella crepes. A friend
mentioned they had the best mulled wine at the French bar along here. I have to say the French bar is definitely
the most civilised of the bars at the markets.
It’s not all about the mulled wine here.
I love the French Soap stall along here opposite
Hermes. The fine milled French soap is long
lasting and smells great. You can get 5
bars of soap for £10 here and each year I stock up on this soap. Definitely better value than Lush or Body
Shop.
St Ann’s Square
is the second largest Christmas Market.
It’s not as cramped as Albert Square and in the main part focuses on
food, drink and traditional gifts. Small kids will be
entertained with the singing Christmas tree, although the nativity scene
opposite is very much overlooked these days.
You could almost say it is emblematic of the commercialisation of
Christmas.
The food choices tend to be more interesting here with
roasted chestnuts, chocolate covered fruit and massive marshmallow sweets. The mulled wine along here packs an added punch
with the option of shots - the raspberry liquor is fab but lethal.
The market moves seamlessly along to New Cathedral Street (between M&S and Harvey Nicks). It tends to focus on the arts and
crafts. Definitely the place to pick up Christmas
gifts for friends and family. There is a
German style enclosed bar along here for people who want to be out of the cold,
but it’s always packed.
Most years, Exchange
Square has always seems to be a calmer market option than most and the removal
of the stupid big wheel to Piccadilly Gardens has been beneficial. However with the road works along Cross Street
and the redevelopment of the Triangle means the market is much smaller this
year. The stalls that lined the length of
the seating area has gone, although the Dutch pancake stall is still there for
those mini pancakes, which are far easier to eat than the French crepes. The Hog Roast is still knocking out pork
sandwiches and mulled wine (very good) but on a smaller scale than last year. Mango
Rays cocktail bar is going strong too, which is great fun and an alternative to
mulled wine. Tampopo, whilst strictly
not part of the Christmas Markets, have an open air street food restaurant next
to the market, which is a welcome addition to the pork based food options
available.
Because of the works at Exchange Square, the markets have
extended into Cathedral Gardens
between URBIS and Cheetham’s School of Music.
It’s a pretty good space which isn’t too crowded. I noticed some the stalls which can normally
be found in Exchange Square have moved here.
My only disappointment with the markets this year is the
decision to have stalls along Market
Street. I find Market Street
hideously busy on the weekends without the addition of Christmas stalls. So I’ve purposely avoided them as I can’t
deal with the crowds along here at the weekend. Hopefully it’s just a one off because of the
road works along Cross Street.
Manchester Christmas Markets are ace, but each year they
grows bigger and bigger and busier and busier.
Timing is everything when planning a good trip to the Markets. Weekends and Friday evening you basically take
your sanity and patience into your own hands.
Personally I would recommend taking an afternoon off work and explore
the markets without being jostled and cursing drunk people. It is a much more pleasant Christmas shopping
experience, especially with a mulled wine to keep you warm.
These markets have evolved beyond their German origins and
embrace the whole of Europe and beyond.
It’s great to see local arts, crafts and food producers selling their
wares too as it’s important to support local businesses at this time of year. I do think these Markets are a genius idea to
keep the city centre alive, especially with competition from out-of-town
shopping centres. For me these markets
add that Christmas sparkle to Manchester and make the chore of Christmas
shopping a much more pleasurable experience.
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