All the winter and Christmas markets happening in Manchester 2021
From the 'world famous' Christmas markets to various indie pop-ups at venues around town, discover all the brilliant places to get festive in Manchester this Christmas
Christmas only starts when Manchester says it does – and our world-famous Christmas markets moving into town is confirmation winter is coming.
Manchester is the UK’s capital of Christmas and we sure do it right. People travel from far and wide to catch festive feelings in our bustling streets, with thousands pouring into the city every year for the occassion.
The Manchester Christmas markets are the perfect place to complete your Christmas shopping, fill up on on the best food have a laugh with the littl’uns, or marvel at the lights over a steaming cup of mulled wine.
A maze of the best street food, retailers, and roasted chestnuts; the markets can seem overwhelming – but fear not, simply follow our lead.
We’ve made a list of all the greatest market spots in Manchester – noting when they start, and the treasures they offer, to help you get planned ahead of the festive season.
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Our list includes markets across the whole of Manchester, but will also run you through the six city centre locations.
Keep reading to discover all the markets to discover in Manchester this Christmas.
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Ramona and the Firehouse winter village
Ancoats, 4 November – 31 December
Ramona will be hosting winter parties through to the new year in its fabulous Winter Village.
Created in honour of the festive season, the whole of Swan Street, the walled garden of Ramona, and the Firehouse are being transformed into a festive Christmas market.
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Colorado-style log cabins, a sparkling winter terrace, tepees, tequila cabins, and pop-up stalls from independent traders, are just a taste of what you can expect.
A huge outside sitting area is covered and heated by open fires creating a cozy winter feel, whilst a mix of artists brings the party firmly outdoors at the campfire stage.
Edwardian Christmas markets at The Refuge
Oxford Road, November and December
Escape the Christmas chaos of Oxford Street and browse Refuge’s large gin selection in the shelter of their leafy winter garden, created as part of the venue’s new Edwardian Christmas market.
The best place to go if you want to spend a classy afternoon tucking into mini cakes or sipping on a cocktail while the snow falls outside, up until Christmas you’ll also be able to find festive stalls selling goods from local traders – perfect for picking out locally-made Christmas presents.
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The Refuge also offers a Christmas program of events including wreath making sessions, running from 12 November up until New Year’s Eve itself.
Hatch Christmas markets
Oxford Road,15 November – 20 December
Hatch has announced the arrival of their ‘Urban Narnia’ – a festive wonderland market packed with local retailers and street food kitchens.
Set to double in size and add a brand-new stage, Hatch is transforming for Christmas – bringing its entire Manchester family together for the season.
Head down to find some of Manchester’s best independent retailers and street food traders, with special appearances from the likes of NQ bar Cottonopolis selling their belly baos, plus Chorlton’s Electrik bar, which will offer craft ales.
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Elsewhere, Cayuco will bring authentic arancini and cannoli to the party. Festive cocktails, meanwhile, include mulled plum sake, hot toddies, and hot buttered rum.
Crazy P’s Danielle Moore is gracing the decks on the new stage and performing live is Manchester’s Jenna G. Get there quick – because the first 200 guests get a free cocktail!
Makers Market
Deansgate, 9 November – 22 December
At the Maker’s Market, you find independent local traders, local products, local ingredients, and materials – it’s a real salt of the earth stuff.
Pop down to this alternative Christmas Artisanmarket happening every weekend at the same location, Great Northern Warehouse, throughout November and December.
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Choirs sing, DJs mix and artists perform live providing the perfect accompaniment to your Christmas shopping. It’s a unique Christmas market without the mad crowds and provides the perfect sustainable and eco-friendly gift for a loved one.
There’s no better way to support your local independent traders and help the planet this Christmas.
Victoria Baths Festive Winter Fair
Hathersage Road, 13 – 14 November 11 am – 4 pm
This historic venue was once home to pools and Turkish Baths, but this Christmas will be swimming in everything from ceramics to stocking fillers, all made by local craftspeople.
Manchester’s water palace is about to become Manchester’s gin palace as Victoria Baths collaborate with Cheshire-based Winding River distillery for the launch of Victoria Baths Gin at its Festive Winter Fair.
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It all makes for the perfect pre-Christmas shopping experience, equipped with a Tea Room, mince pies, mulled wine, and apparently, Santa will be in the Grotto – if you’re good, that is.
Manchester city center Christmas markets
Manchester’s world-famous Christmas markets are back and found in six different locations across Manchester’s city center. Opening from 12 November to 22 December, the Christmas markets brighten up the city with fairy lights and cheer.
Follow this list on what there is to do and how to navigate the big six.
Piccadilly Gardens
For the first time ever, Piccadilly Gardens has been crowned the central hub of the Christmas markets, or winter gardens, as they are known during this festive period.
For the first time in the market’s history, the hub will have a live music stage – plus its usual array of the best foodie and gift stalls.
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Bringing out a new side of Piccadilly Gardens, head down to enjoy a feast of the finest food and drink under the market’s marquee-covered seating and glittering festoon lights.
We can’t wait to see the central square, often unloved and tatty, finally brimming with festive joy.
Market Street
This year Market Street has been scaled down slightly to make sure people keep their distance if they want to.
Here, you’ll be able to find products from some of the top makers and traders in the region.
King Street
The French Christmas market of Manchester is one not to miss. Think the best gallic food, beers, wines and a huge gin bar with over 100 varieties to choose from all in Manchester’s Christmas Markets.
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Cathedral Gardens
Home to Skate Manchester’s ice rink and a proper family favorite of all the markets.
Skate round with the littleuns then pop off and browse the best food and drinks stalls while recovering from the ice.
New Cathedral Street
Down on New Cathedral Street, there is some smoking cocktails waiting at Bar No.3 allongside boozy hot chocolates and coffees.
You can also purchase some local vegan skincare products, jewellery, or other crafted produce for your nearest and dearest.
Exchange Square
Food heaven. King of the Manchester Christmas Markets, the very best Porky Pig’s Yorkshire pudding wraps will be back – bigger and better than ever.
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You’ll also find Tikka Kebab kitchen serving up their incredible curries and hot shawarma kebabs to spice up your Christmas.
Neighbourhood Festival 2024 Guide – tickets, lineup, stage splits and everything you need to know
Danny Jones
Manc music lovers and all those new to the city, feel free to do a cartwheel of sheer excitement because one of our favourite dates on the calendar just rolled around: Neighbourhood Festival is back for 2024 and we’re here to guide you through the jam-packed day.
The much-loved noon-until-night event is Manchester’s biggest multi-venue music festival and is returning after a year off and you best believe we’ve missed it like mad. Roll on Saturday.
With more than a dozen venues to be enjoyed and over 100 artists to choose from, the only problem you’re going to face is trying to cram all your favourites into 24 hours.
But don’t worry, that’s where people like us come in. We’ve put together a helpful guide full of important info about Neighbourhood Fest 2024; from ticket prices and those pesky stage splits to where you can pick up your wristbands, we’ve got everything you need to know. Let’s have it, shall we?
Are there still tickets left for Neighbourhood Festival?
First off, if you’re wondering if you can still grab a last-minute day pass to NBHD 2024 then you’re in luck because there’s still a wave of tickets left.
Early bird and the first tiers have inevitably sold out (it’s pretty popular this thing…) but if you’re willing to pay a few more pennies, you can still grab a third-tier wristband that will cost you just £43.45. Now that’s some seriously good value for money given the amount of talent on show.
You can pay an extra couple of quid to protect your tickets too and accessible passes also come with a plus one as part of the same price – a nice touch. You can grab your Neighbourhood tickets HERE.
NBHD Lineup 2024
As for who you’re going to be seeing at this year’s city centre festival, the Neighbourhood lineup is just as good as any year.
With the likes of Sam Fender, Pulp, Sundara Karma, Paul Heaton; The Kooks, Self Esteem, The Wombats and countless other top names having played the event in the past, they always have a job on their hands topping the year previous.
Luckily, with local acts such as Corella, Seb Lowe and Antony Szmeirek all playing big stages, not to mention other favourites like The Academic, Red Rum Club, The Sheratons lot from Leeds, and the returning Brooke Combe bolstering the all-day music festival, they’re not exactly struggling for talent.
Even some of the newer up-and-coming names like Manc raised Nxdia playing The Deaf Institute, Salfordian Issy Sutcliffe at hidden gem Lions Den, and the now Phoebe Bridgers-signed Jasmine 4.T grabbing the Gorilla spotlight,
You can find the full Neighbourhood lineup HERE. We even got to chat with local headliners Pale Waves before the big day too:
As mentioned, music festivals might genuinely be one of the best things on the planet but one of the prevailing drawbacks is that you can’t see everyone and sometimes many of the most exciting names have to fall by the wayside to make room for another.
The lineup is a gift and a curse in a way because although it does get you excited for the big day to come around, it’s also followed by the dreaded stage splits and the realisation that a few of your favourites clash with each other – a torturous tale as old as time.
We can’t avoid it, sadly, but what we can do is make it as easy as possible for you to build the schedule that works for you the best and rather than list them all out, it’s easier to just point you in the direction of the official Neighbourhood Festival app for 2024 which you can download now.
Simply go through the lineup and the schedule on your phone, favourite the acts you want to see and then you can look through the set times tab to figure out which acts clash with each other. Simple.
But you should definitely come and spend most of the day at ours – not that we’re biased in any way.
If you were wondering which Neighbourhood stage is the best, it’s this one, obviously…
Neighbourhood 2024 map – venues and where to pick up wristbands
Now, with a whole host of gig spaces to shuttle between, it’s handy to get a lay of the land – especially if, say, you’re a first-timer at NBHD Fest or a student new to the city and not yet familiar with where you’ll hopefully be spending many more nights filled with live music.
You can find the full list of venues, all of which are only a short walk away from one another, down below as well as a little bit of information about each of them:
O2 Ritz – Audio North’s official stage, capacity of 1,500, sprung floor for proper dance vibes
Gorilla – Legendary small-cap venue that can squeeze in around 550, one of the favourites
Albert Hall – As legendary as its counterpart in London, two tiers and fits roughly 2,290 in total
The Deaf Institute – Spread across three floors, each with plenty of character. Max cap of 300 (The Music Hall – other rooms are smaller).
The Bread Shed – Just opposite Deaf; popular student spot which can hold 480 at a push.
Revolution – Oxford Road staple bar with a gig space suitable for more intimate gigs.
Lions Den – Tucked away in the somewhat hidden Deansgate Mews neighbourhood. Just great, even with only 200 people in the gaff.
YES – Another student favourite. Multiple floors but the basement and ‘Pink Room’ will be hosting 60 people and a further 250 gig-goers, respectively.
Mother Mary’s – The old Font site, now an Irish bar with the live stage still intact. State-of-the-art sound system and can hold up to 200 people standing.
Manchester Academy 1 + 2 – Hosting the headliners and some of the bigger acts over at the student union. The second floor holds 960 and the big room over 2,500.
As for the wristband exchange, you can present your e-tickets to receive your full day pass to all of these venues at the Symphony Park reception over at Circle Square on Oxford Road. After that, all you need to do is flash it on entry to access any of the above venues. Bob’s your uncle.
Albert Hall is one many iconic gig spaces taking part
And that should be just about everything you need to guide your way through Neighbourhood 2024; just make sure to keep your eyes on their socials as well for live updates on the day.
Whether it’s your debut festival or you’re a regular returning for the umpteenth time in a row (guilty), we can guarantee you one thing: you’re going to have an absolute blast.
Oh, and make sure to come say hello to us here at Audio North over in the Ritz – we’ll see you out on the dancefloor!
Featured Images — Press Images (supplied)/The Manc Group
What's On
A new festive light maze is heading to Cheshire for the first time this December
Thomas Melia
A brand new attraction is making its way to Cheshire for the first time ever this December with the hopes to get us all into the festive spirit.
Just outside of Manchester, titled‘Spectrum: A World of Illumination’, this spectacular never-seen-before trail is lighting up Cheshire with a month-long residency in Knutsford.
Running every day in December besides Christmas Day, plus a few extra dates in November, the spectacular display will be inviting guests along for 30 out of 31 days in the yuletide month.
The immersive maze will feature moving giant candy canes, overhead Christmas-inspired installations like a laser show, and tunnels of light.
Visitors are encouraged to get stuck in with hidden objects and handles and buttons which lead to secret rooms and festive treasures to be found and explored throughout the attraction.
You can even create a Christmas carol medley of your own and sing to your heart’s content with a section of the trail featuring sound tubes.
There’s a mostly open top too, so you can look up into the night sky as you explore the maze.
There’s not only a feast for your eyes but also for your Santa bellies too as a selection ofhand-picked food vendors will be supplying tons of festive goodies to warm your soul.
A new festive light maze is heading to Cheshire for the first time this December. Credit: Supplied
Spectrum: A World of Illumination caters to everyone offering spaces for guide dogs, quieter time slots for those wanting a calmer experience and accessibility all-round where possible.
This is expected to be one of the best Christmas activities of the year, designed by specialists Access Events, who have some impressive feats behind them.
The multi award winning company has had involvement and created some of the most impressive light features to date including the Weather Project at the Tate, the e-Sports arena build, and turning the Berlin TV Tower into a football.
They’re so certain this event will do well there’s already news and information about a 2025 event between Access Events and Royal Cheshire Show Grounds.
Tickets for ‘Spectrum: A World of Illumination’ are already on sale and those of you who are eager to start planning your Christmas calendar can get tickets from Eventbrite.