It’s that time of year again – the Manchester Christmas Markets 2023 are on the way, with dates and opening times confirmed.
It’s one of the biggest events in the city’s calendar, drawing in thousands of visitors every year eager to sip on mulled wine and scoff down bratwursts.
Things are about to get pretty festive in Manchester, as the return date for the city’s legendary Christmas Markets this year has been announced to spread some cheer right across the city centre.
This means that the city centre’s main hubs and streets, including Exchange Square, St Ann’s Square, King Street, and Market Street, will be lined with wooden huts right selling festive food, handmade gifts, and so much more before we know it.
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Cathedral Gardens is once again playing host to the iconic Ice Rink, with a range of food and drink stalls alongside it, and that’s already open for business. That Christmas Markets site started on Thursday 26 October.
How long are the Manchester Christmas Markets 2023 on for and what date do they close?
The Manchester Christmas Markets will be open for six weeks this year, between 10 November and 21 December.
But the Cathedral Gardens site, which is home to the ice rink, will remain open right through to Sunday 31 December.
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That’s plenty of time to get to grips with all 225 stalls across nine sites.
What are the opening and closing times for the Manchester Christmas Markets 2023?
These are the opening and closing times for each of the Manchester Christmas Markets sites:
Piccadilly Gardens, aka The Winter Gardens – Open daily from 10am to 9pm (street food stalls open until 6pm, craft stalls open until 8pm)
King Street – Open daily 10am to 9pm (Craft stall open until 8pm)
St Ann’s Square – Open daily 10am to 8pm
New Cathedral Street – Open daily 10am to 8pm
Exchange Square and Corn Exchange – Open daily 10am to 9pm (Craft stalls open until 8pm)
Market Street – Open Monday to Saturday 10am to 8pm. Open until 6pm on Sundays
Cathedral Gardens – Open daily 10am to 9pm (Craft stalls open until 8pm)
Confirming the Christmas Markets’ return, Councillor Pat Karney, who is Manchester City Council’s Christmas spokesperson, told the MEN: “With the last rays of summer sun now fading fast, it’s time to track down the tinsel and get ready for Manchester’s favourite time of the year.
“And with only 8 weeks to go until the opening of Manchester’s world-famous Christmas markets it will be glühwein and bratwurst time before we know it.
“Mark it on your calendars with 10 November – Christmas starts here.”
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Festive cheer will soon be lining the city centre streets once again / Credit: Manchester City Council
Cllr Karney had already previously confirmed that the Christmas Parade will also be back this year after it proved to be such a smash-hit success during its inaugural year in 2022. You can expect to see runaway Christmas presents, Jack Frost, Snow Queens, and of course, Santa, make their way through the city centre’s streets once again.
Dates for this free family-friendly event are yet to be confirmed, with the Council telling residents to keep their eyes peeled for more announcements in the coming weeks.
11 arrested and £70k cash seized during early-morning police drug raids across Greater Manchester
Emily Sergeant
11 people have been arrested, as well as a large amount of cash and drugs seized, during early-morning raids across Greater Manchester.
The raids took place during the early hours of the morning yesterday (Thursday 19 March 2026), where Greater Manchester Police (GMP) successfully executed eight warrants simultaneously across Tameside, Oldham, and Rochdale to tackle a ‘suspected criminal network’ involved in the distribution of class A drugs and firearms.
Officers from Tameside Programme Challenger team, the District Intelligence Unit (DIU), and GMP’s Tactical Aid Unit (TAU) were deployed to each of the addresses.
Following weeks of intelligence gathering and preparation, a total of 11 people – each aged between 24 and 77 – were arrested on suspicion of drug-related offences during the raids.
Eight men and three women were arrested on suspicion of a range of offences, including conspiracy to supply class A and B drugs, being part of an organised crime group, possession with intent to supply, money laundering, and possession of an offensive weapon.
They all remain in police custody for questioning at this time, GMP confirmed.
During searches of the addresses, various class A, B and C drugs – including crack cocaine, heroin, cannabis, and nitrous oxide – were seized, while further recoveries of £70,000 in cash, a zombie knife, a BB gun, and four vehicles were also made at the same time.
Speaking following the success of the raids yesterday, Chief Superintendent Shan Nasim, District Commander for Tameside, said: “[This] operation has been a powerful example of our continued, determined effort to dismantle organised crime in our district and Greater Manchester.
“We have 11 people in custody being questioned by our investigation teams in relation to an organised crime group (OCG) that have been causing widespread harm across our communities.
“This action caused significant disruption of an organised crime group (OCG) and has prevented drugs and weapons from reaching the streets, as well as the associated harms that come hand in hand with organised crime.
“Organised criminals exploit vulnerable people and blight our communities; we will take robust action to catch offenders, keep our communities safe, and protect vulnerable people across Greater Manchester.”
Featured Image – GMP
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The Premier League is keeping its crucial cap on away game ticket prices – for now
Danny Jones
The Premier League has announced it is extending its crucial price cap for away games, as the general cost of match tickets continues to creep up all over the country.
Most season card holders, be they here in Greater Manchester or elsewhere, are likely looking at their annual spending going up simply, so steps like these are key in keeping first division football as affordable as possible.
And that’s just the ongoing cost of living, let alone the clubs that are continuing the trend of charging more each year and, unfortunately, even pricing some supporters out entirely.
With that in mind, the news of England’s top-flight sides voting unanimously to keep the £30 cap intact for at least another two years comes as relief to those who spend most of the year putting their hard-earned cash towards following their team home and away.
BREAKING: The Premier League extend £30 cap on away tickets for another two seasons 🚨 pic.twitter.com/L336aZwmn3
Now confirmed to remain in place until the end of the 2027/28 campaign, travelling fans obviously still spend plenty of money on transport and so on every year, but at least they don’t have to worry about rising general admissions.
At least not for the time being…
Writing in a statement, the Premier League said: “Away fans help create the incredible atmosphere Premier League matches are renowned for. Since the cap’s implementation in 2016, it has contributed to attendance at away games increasing from 82% to 91%.”
They also acknowledged the significant and regular funds that supporters still spend on these trips, with plenty of people online also praising the Football Supporters’ Association (FSA), which helped spearhead the campaign over a decade ago.
With so many other obstacles still getting in the way of fans making it to games either at their usual stadium or on an away day – not least of all the constant and increasingly frustrating rescheduling of fixtures – it’s good to see this isn’t an area the Prem are trying to target.
As always, the multi-billion-pound business can always seek out other, newer money spinners, and we’re absolutley certain they will. For instance, there’s at least one happening over in Spain that we’d happily see carried over here.
Following the news, this now means that fans will ultimately have enjoyed 12 back-to-back seasons of the benefit, and long may it continue.
Nevertheless, the biggest barrier for people to watch the beautiful game at its highest level in the UK remains the cost of standard tickets.
The likes of Manchester United, Arsenal, Leeds and more have already let matchgoers know that their season ticket prices will be going up, and the likes of Man City have already seen backlash for increasing rates amid the expansion of the Etihad Campus.
Emily Sergeant -
15th September 2023 
