Lifestyle: Review Manchester’s Christmas Markets
Albert Square, the nucleus of the city centre attraction – which last year lured a record 1.7 million people on its own – features an enlarged two-storey Old Windmill House bar for the first time.
All the familiar faces are there, with stalls selling items ranging from cheese to babygrows, chocolates to woodcutters and soap to Lancashire hotpot.
A magnet for traders from across Europe – as well as the German sausage and gluhwein stalls, I spotted a Portugese pickle vendor, a Belgian waffle maker and French cheesemonger all within a few yards of each other.
Such is the success of the food and drink vendors that there is a five-year waiting list for food stalls.
According to Manchester City Council the economy was boosted by more than £70m in 2012 due to the Christmas markets alone.
Having originally begun in St Anne’s Square in 1998, the markets had expanded to eight locations by last year. This year there is a ninth location – Corporation Street, which is being used for the first time, reinforcing Manchester’s claim that its festive European markets are the UK’s biggest and best.
