With only a month to go until the opening of Manchester's world-famous Christmas Markets, the locations have been revealed for this year's stalls. They will launch on Friday 8 November, with more than 200 of the iconic wooden ski chalet market stalls across nine locations throughout the city centre. Open daily for a six-week seasonal take-over of the city centre until Sunday 22 December, this year's markets will include seven weekends of festive fun for visitors and Christmas shoppers instead of the usual six, due to the way dates fall.
Taking place in the city now for over a quarter of a century, with the city's very first festive market held in December 1998, Manchester's annual Christmas markets are known across the globe, each year bringing millions of people into the city centre to spend time with friends and family and fill up on fantastic festive treats. New for this year is an expanded Winter Gardens at Piccadilly, with more space and stalls to enjoy along with two fabulous festive marquees fit for the Santa season and festooned with twinkling fairy lights, to provide more of the all-important under-cover space for Christmas shoppers to get cosy if the weather turns cold. Also new this year at the Winter Gardens is an expanded seasonal offer from next-door neighbours Piccadilly Street Food Market, with stalls there also staying open until 9pm each night, serving up their unique flavours from around the world - mouth-watering pictures of which are regularly to be found.