The opening dates and all-important details of the return of Manchester’s “world-beating” Christmas Markets for 2024 have now been confirmed.
It’s official… holidays are coming, and the countdown is on.
Just as we do every year, the Greater Manchester public has been eagerly awaiting news of when the city’s iconic Christmas Markets would be making a comeback for the 2024 festive season, especially as it was already confirmed last week that the massive outdoor ice rink would be returning to Cathedral Gardens for another year.
But now, Manchester City Council is announced that the famous wooden huts will be lining Manchester‘s streets once again from the first week in November.
Now in their 26th year, Manchester Christmas Markets are known and loved for delights local residents and visiting shoppers alike, bringing thousands of people into the city centre each year to fill up on the fantastic festive treats and to soak up all the Christmas atmosphere.
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The Manchester Christmas Markets 2024 return date has officially been confirmed / Credit: Flickr
Well over two hundred stalls will be spread across nine sites throughout the city centre this year.
Promising to be plenty on offer for seasonal shoppers of all ages, 2024 will see the iconic wooden ski chalet market stalls take over King Street West, St Ann’s Square, Exchange Street, New Cathedral Street, Exchange Square, Corn Exchange, and Cathedral Gardens, as well as Market Street and Piccadilly Gardens as usual.
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The stalls will be open daily from 10am – 8pm throughout the six-week run, the Council has confirmed, with food and drink stalls staying open until 9pm.
Due to the ways that the dates fall this year, 2024’s Markets run actually includes seven weekends instead of the usual six, before they officially wrap-up for Christmas at 6pm on Sunday 22 December.
The food and drink stalls at Cathedral Gardens, however, will stay open until 31 December.
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Festive cheer will soon be lining the city centre streets once again / Credit: Manchester City Council
Of course, it’s not just the Christmas Markets that are returning for 2024, as the Council has also confirmed that Manchester’s now-famous Christmas Lights Trail is set to make the city centre look its sparkly best for another year, as will the annual Manchester Christmas Parade in December, and, as previously mentioned, Skate Manchester will be back in Cathedral Gardens until the new year too.
“Everyone knows by now that Christmas is my absolute favourite time of year and Manchester is my favourite place in the world to be during the festive season,” Cllr Pat Karney said as the Christmas Markets opening dates were confirmed for 2024.
“Christmas is going to be wonderful in Manchester this year, with enough seasonal stalls across the city in our best-ever Christmas Markets to make sure that everyone gets their Christmas wrapped before the big day.”
Manchester Christmas Markets return for 2024 on Friday 8 November, and will run right through until Sunday 22 December.
Stalls in selected locations will remain open until the new year.
Featured Image – Manchester City Council
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Five Manchester bars have just been named in the UK’s Top 50 Cocktail Bars
Daisy Jackson
Five bars in Manchester have just received one of the industry’s highest accolades – a place in the UK’s Top 50 Cocktail Bars.
In a glittering ceremony down in London today, the best in the cocktail industry were crowned, and our city has a lot to be proud of.
Manchester now has five cocktail bars in the Top 50, with two new entries this year.
And while Schofield’s has been toppled from the top spot this year, this award-winning bar on Quay Street is still heading home with a podium finish, now ranked the third-best bar in the entire UK.
One of the new faces on the prestigious list is Stray, a beautiful cocktail bar tucked into a corner of Mackie Mayor.
Famed for its tomato vine margaritas, as well as the pain-staking effort the team goes to to infuse their own spirits and make their own cordials, Stray has deservedly debuted at number 25. And we have a feeling they’re just getting started.
Red Light is another new name on the list, after taking home the coveted ‘One To Watch’ award in 2024.
Red LightStrayBlinker
The gorgeous LGBTQ+ cocktail bar on Little David Street at Kampus has placed 40th.
Blinker has held on to a place in the Top 50 Cocktail Bars list, dropping down to 22nd – still a phenomenal achievement for the Spring Gardens boozer.
Blinker has a dedicated martini menu, and also serves them alongside retro Breville toasties.
And finally, Speak In Code on Jackson’s Row jumped up into 11th place.
There were also amazing results for our sister cities in Sheffield and Leeds, with The Pearl at Parkhill at 44 and Public at 39 for the former, and Tabula Rasa at 27 and Below Stairs at 11 for the latter.
A huge congratulations to all these very worthy winners.
Salford named one of the most expensive UK cities to rent in
Emily Sergeant
One of Greater Manchester’s major cities has been named among the most expensive UK cities to rent a property in.
It was just last week that the Greater Manchester town of Swinton was named a ‘property hotspot’ for 2025 by Rightmove, after house prices there increased by nearly 10% on average last year, and now, the city of Salford itself is also being put under the property spotlight.
That’s because the leading property listing platform has highlighted the city as being one of the most expensive for renters in the whole of the UK.
With 2025 set to be a year of relocation for many, Rightmove has looked at rental costs across more than 50 cities in Great Britain in a bid to find the cheapest – and by contrast, the most expensive – places to rent right now.
Salford has been named one of the most expensive UK cities to rent in / Credit: Benjamin Elliott | Pexels
When it comes to the most expensive UK city to rent in, we doubt it’ll come as a shock to you that the English capital of London takes the top spot.
Some of the other expected cities featuring in the top 10 list, according to Rightmove’s research, include Oxford, Brighton, Cambridge, and the Scottish capital on Edinburgh, but a more surprising entry for Greater Manchester residents is the fact that Salford takes up the eighth spot – with an average monthly rental price of £1,739.
Top 10 most expensive UK cities to rent in
London (£2,695)
St. Albans (£2,330)
Oxford (£2,041)
Winchester (£1,985)
Brighton (£1,880)
Cambridge (£1,870)
Chelmsford (£1,857)
Salford (£1,739)
Milton Keynes (£1,641)
Edinburgh (£1,620)
What's happening in the rental market? 🏡
👉 The average advertised rent of properties coming to market outside of London has fallen for the first time since pre-pandemic 2019, dropping by 0.2% to £1,341 per calendar month.
On the other end of the spectrum, the cheapest UK city to rent a property in is Hull, with the average monthly rental price there being £799, while some of the other North West cities featuring in the top 10 include Preston, Lancaster, and Carlisle.
When taking a look nationally, the average advertised rent per calendar month stands at £1,526, as of January 2025 – which is up 4.3% compared with this time year last year.
But Rightmove says that price changes, as well as average rental prices, vary significantly depending on the location.
Take Salford for example, which is one of the most expensive cities for renting, the monthly cost of renting has jumped by 30.5% in the last year, whereas in Dundee, prices have dropped by 3.7% during the same period.
Emily Sergeant -
23rd September 2024 
