The Manchester Christmas markets are often bemoaned as too expensive, but trust us – if you know where to look, there are actually quite a few places to grab a bargain.
Some people just can’t help complaining about the cost of food at the Manchester Christmas markets – and to be fair, on some things, we’re absolutely behind them.
That said, we’ve done a good rekkie of the stalls this year and discovered spots to get food and drink for £5 and under located in pretty much every corner of the city.
Keep reading to discover where to grab a bargain at this year’s Manchester Christmas markets – from the biggest (and cheapest) portion of chips to the best-value sausages, vegan food, booze and more.
The Festive Vegan Dawg at Panc is £5 – loaded with onion, mustard and more / Image: Panc
Piccadilly Gardens
The new heart of this year’s Manchester Christmas Markets, the Winter Gardens at Piccadilly prove pretty expensive overall – but you can find some bargains if you know where to look.
Vegans can pick up a multicoloured vegan soya burger at Panc (£5) loaded with onion, pickles, ketchup and PANC sauces on brioche, or opt for either their classic or festive brat dawg – also priced at £5 and served in either a spinach or beetroot bun.
There are also fries at Panc from £3, with sweet potato fries setting you back £4.50 and vegan dips from £1 if you’re feeling like more of a snack.
If you’re feeling something a bit more traditional, over at Clowbecks Market Stall you can grab a Lancashire cheese potato scramble (£5).
Black peas, meanwhile, are priced at £3 – a northern delicacy.
Piccadilly is the home of this year’s Christmas Markets, the Winter Gardens / Image: The Manc Group
Piccadilly is also the home of this year’s most-hyped market food, the Korean potato dog. Whilst you can’t quite get these for under £5, the stall also selis spiral potato twists on a stick (£4.50) which are well worth a try.
Hot mulled drinks meanwhile start at £4.50, with draught beers and wine priced from £5. You can get a piste lager for that price, or a house red or white wine.
We also spied mugs of hot Vimto, if you’re after a little alcohol-free sugar boost.
Image: The Manc Group
King Street
You can get your go-to bratwurst down on King street, with a choice of cheese sausage (£5) or white sausage (£5) available – and wash it down with a £4 Kronenburg beer.
Ther best deal on King Street, though, has to be the Sicilian street food stall flogging big square sourdough pizza slices from £3, various stuffed balls of arancini from £3.90, and a coppo misto (a selection of fried specialities like arancini, panzerotto, panelle and crostini) for £5.
An absolute bargain.
Cathedral Gardens
The first markets to open in Manchester this year due to their proximity to the ice rink, at Cathedral Gardens you can grab loaded mini pancakes and sugar waffles for under £5.
Topping choices are vast and include the likes of caramel sauce, chocolate sauce, whipped cream, apple, strawberry and cherry, as well as more simple classics, like lemon and sugar.
Drinks-wise, those on a budget can also grab a mug of mulled wine or spiced cider, both £5, to wash it all down.
Image: The Manc Group
The Corn Exchange
Jammy Dodger-loaded cupcakes, Nutella-topped confections, and more covered with pick and mix sweeties, chocolate Oreos, and golden pretzels can be found at Zara’s Cupcakes market stall, priced at just £3.50 each.
There are also cake jars (£5) and old-school puddings (£4) on sale here – perfect for a mad-dash shopping pick me up.
At the Corn Exchange, you’ll also find pie stall The Crusty Pie Company selling every filling variation you can think of, starting from around £2.50. There’s pork and black pudding, Hunstmans pies, chicken and leek, wild boar and mushroom, turkey and cranberry, chicken and chestnut stuffing pies, broccoli and stilton flavours and loads more.
You’ll also find some great gourmet sausage rolls here (£4), as well as giant pigs in blankets (£3) and bags of traditional pork scratchings (£2).
Image: The Manc Group
Exchange Square
Get stuck into caramel cider (£5), classic English mulled wine (£5), and non-alcoholic ginger and honey with orange juice and cranberry (£5) to keep you warm over on the markets at Exchange Square.
You can pick up a portion of dutch fries for £5 here, but be warned – toppings like mayo and ketchup will cost you extra.
Sausages sit at the firm £5 mark, whether you’re after a German bratwurst, cheese sausage or a spicy one, whilst loaded sugar waffles with toppings like hazelnut spread, lotus Biscoff or lemon and sugar all come in around £4.50 – and it’s the same for pancakes.
You can also pick up some tasty nibbles to take home, ranging from various nuts and stuffed olives to multiple flavours of Turkish delight, for under £5.
Image: The Manc Group
Market Street
There’s not much to report food-wise here, with the majority of stalls focusing on selling gifts and other trinkets – it is a retail district, after all.
We did spy a massive stall selling pick and mix though, so if you’re looking for a mid-shop sugar boost we’d say you can certainly get your fill here for a fiver (and relive your childhood tuck shop nostalgia).
Exchange Street
With a big focus on beer and wine, Exchange street is dominated by bars selling all the usual suspects – plus Baileys, boozy coffees, gin and tonics, and other spirit mixers.
In terms of what you can get for a fiver, though, you’re looking at boozy coffees with brandy or rum (£4) and hot chocolate with whipped cream (£3).
Food wise, Prestwich restaurant Triple B (run by the Eat New York team) has a stall down here, and whilst the – frankly epic – bagels are well over £5, you can treat yourself to french fries with house seasoning for £3.50 or go for the ‘goofie’ fries with garlic and cheese for £5.
There’s also a stall down here selling wax-coated mini wheels of cheese for £5 a pop, and bratwursts again sit at the £5 mark – with a choice of either German or smoked sausages.
Image: The Manc Group
St Ann’s Square
Head to St Ann’s Square for square pizza slices and Peroni (£3-5), big portions of Dutch chips with two sauces (£4), and plant-based vegan cakes in flavours like blueberry lemon, espresso almond, and berry and lime from £2.50 per slice.
Wonderwurst is selling extra-large bratwursts down here for £5, in what might be the best value-for-money sausage deal at this year’s markets.
Elsewhere, you’ll find reams of German bratwurst and salami pre-packaged to take home (£3-5); a Spanish kitchen selling tapas and nibbles like serrano ham, pinchos, manchego, Catalan fuet, and Spanish chorizo for under £5, and sweet treats like apple strudel and kaiserschmarrn (scrambled pancakes) down by the church.
In the bars, Gluhwein sits around the £5 mark for flavours like cherry, original and raspberry, and you can also bag a cider for £5 here. Specials, however, cost slightly more.
Oh, and don’t forget the Lotus Biscoff cookie pies (£4) and giant truffles disguised as Christmas puddings (£4) over at Gingerbread House Confections – they can be eaten cold or easily heated up at home in the microwave.
They are easily one of our favourite finds at this year’s markets.
Featured Image – The Manc Group
News
The first new tenant of the old Debenhams department store on Market Street has been confirmed
Danny Jones
The first new resident of the Rylands Building on Market Street in central Manchester has been revealed, and it’s a foodie one.
Set to be the maiden opening inside the old Debenhams department store, which closed after more than three decades back in 2021, Rylands’ debut won’t be for another year or so, but it will soon welcome Mancs with an increasingly popular food hall operator making its way up north.
Simply called Market Place, the ever-growing brand is fast becoming a well-established name, with four venues in the capital already and a fifth coming soon.
Rylands will be their first location outside of London, and with 1,300 sqm of space at their disposal, Market Place Manchester is set to make a significant splash on the high street.
A look at Market Place Peckham.A rough idea of what the Manchester branch could look like.
Developers managed to green-light plans for the Grade II-listed building last November, sharing the first details and glimpses of their vision for the instantly recognisable city centre spot, including a whole new rooftop terrace.
Currently earmarked for a late 2026 launch, the former department store (previously Paulden’s) consisted of seven floors but is now set for a four-storey extension that promises to be a massive and varied retail, leisure and business destination that makes the most of the expansive structure.
Not to be confused with the famous John Rylands Library – a much older, more gothic, historic and hallowed hall over on Deansgate – this task of ‘revitalising a Manchester icon’, to quote property firm AM ALPHA, is a huge undertaking.
In charge of the redevelopment since 2023, the group have been outlining a pretty complete overhaul, with plans to convert the upper floors into premium office space, and the creation of a retail arcade at ground level, on which Market Place Manchester will sit.
This particular Manc corner was a bustling food, drink and shopping complex for the longest time, but has been derelict and covered up by boards for what feels like forever, with urban explorers even roaming the large, abandoned building.
Credit: Supplied
Now, though, the new long-term 15-year lease agreement will see the latest food hall kick off a new era for Rylands, delivering socially focused venues and the range of flavourful, vibrant choices of scran that Market Place have become known for.
With sites in St Paul’s, Vauxhall, Peckham, Harrow and soon Baker Street – as well as their eventual Manchester outpost, of course – the chain is getting bigger and better, meaning its arrival in the North West is an exciting one.
AM ALPHA manager Paul Hodgkiss said in an official statement: “Manchester is a city with a vibrant cultural scene – the perfect environment for forward-thinking concepts like Market Place Food Hall…
“The early commitment to Rylands is no coincidence: it reflects the strength of our strategic and forward-looking approach to development. We are not just creating high-quality space – we are setting new standards for urban mixed-use concepts. Interest from further prospective tenants is strong.”
It was only last week that Greater Manchester’s latest market hall, Campfield Studios, said hello to the general public and with House of Social also opening this summer, among several other similar projects, soon you won’t be able to move for more social hospitality scenes like this:
Manchester crowned one of the world’s best cities for music lovers
Emily Sergeant
Manchester has been crowned one of the world’s best cities for music lovers, even beating out New York along the way.
If there’s one thing Manchester is known and loved for over anything else, it’s music.
From Oasis and Joy Division, to Happy Mondays, The Smiths, The Stone Roses, The 1975, and even more modern-day acts, there’s no end to the amount of talented artists this city has produced or been home to over the years, all contributing to Manchester being one of the most prestigious music cities there is.
The city’s live music scene has always been thriving, and that continues right through to this very day, as you’ll see big-name musicians including Manchester as a destination in their UK tour schedules more often than not.
This summer is all set to be a sensational celebration of sound, as not only is an immersive art trail, Music for the Senses, taking over the city from this week, but this year’s annual Manchester Day will be music-themed too, marking one of the biggest years for Manchester music in a long time.
Manchester has been named one of the best cities in the world for music lovers / Credit: Manchester City Council | Eldhose Kuryian (via Unsplash)
Oh, and there’s also the small matter of Oasis reforming for a UK tour, including a run of gigs at Heaton Park this month.
So it’s no surprise that Manchester has been named one of the best cities in the world for music lovers, especially as the IFPI Global Music Report has revealed that the UK has the third largest music market globally – with the music industry’s contribution to the UK economy being £6.7 billion on average.
Taking this recent report into consideration, the experts over at SeatPick have collated data to uncover the best UK cities for music lovers, analysing factors such as the number of concerts, homegrown talents, music businesses, and the total number of music venues, to reveal each city’s overall music score out of 10.
Coming in at second place with a music scene score of 8.97/10 is Manchester.
2025 is all set to be a sensational summer of sound in our city / Credit: Supplied
“Manchester remains one of the UK’s most iconic music cities and with 1,204 concerts between 2025-2026, 116 live music venues, and 380 homegrown acts, the city’s live music offering is as strong as ever,” SeatPick said of its findings.
“2025 is shaping up to be a historic year for Manchester, with Oasis reuniting for the first time in over a decade, with a massive comeback show at Heaton Park – the very spot where they played their last hometown gig in 2009.”
While Manchester may have missed out on the UK’s top spot, with that title going to London, in the global rankings, our city has claimed an impressive sixth place, beating out New York’s influential music scene.
Liverpool and Leeds are two of the other northern cities in the UK’s top 10, taking fifth and sixth place respectively.
“Cities which have a larger number of music businesses are key in creating the perfect city for music fans, as this impacts the city’s cultural, economic, and social vibrancy,” explained Gilad Zilberman, who is the CEO of SeatPick.
“A thriving music scene within a city means it can provide more artistic expression, support a wider range of genres, and enrich the cultural landscape, as well as attracting creative talent.”
Georgina Pellant -
2nd December 2021 
