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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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 free stuff your mum can get in Manchester for Mother’s Day
Danny Jones
If there’s one thing we know for sure it’s that none of us would be lucky enough to be on this planet were it not for our mums, and we think the least they deserve is for things to be made easy, comfortable and, ideally, free wherever possible when it comes to Mother’s Dayherein Manchester.
Now, we don’t live in a perfect so unfortunately not everyone Manc mum is going to be able swan into their favourite place and expect a complimentary this and a gratis that.
However, there are guite a few places in Manchester city centre doing the right things and giving away some free stuff for Mother’s Day 2025, so we thought we’d round them up for you and, more importantly, the person who helped bring you into the world.
Let’s get into, shall we?
Six freebies mums can score in Manchester this Mother’s Day
Albert’s Schloss – Deansgate
What better to begin than with a top-notch breakfast spot? Albert’s Schloss on Peter St is not only one of the best places to start or end a day out but they also do brilliant early morning offerings. Plus, this Mother’s Day, you can wash down your Bavarian brekkie with a free spritz, because why the hell not?
And since you’ve started as you mean to go on, we’d say the only thing better than an early drink (and a free one at that) is a second one, so it’s a good job one of the newest additions to Manchester, The Trading Route, is offering a free cocktail to mums this Mother’s Day.
Best of all, the new S. John’s beer and food hall is located just down the road from the main Deansgate strip and is just next to Spinningfields, so it’s a short walk from Schloss. You can book HERE.
Speaking of which, if your and/or your mum resisted the urge to grab another bite at Trading Route (we wouldn’t blame them if they did), you could then head from St. John’s to Spinningfields and grab some a sophisticated bit of brunch as you grab your next freebie.
Habibi on Hardman Boulevard is giving away a complimentary luxury gift from home, body and beauty brand, Rituals, to those who book ahead. Consider that killing two gift-shaped birds with one stone.
Now, we’re not necessarily expecting you stop at every single place on this list – unless your feeling extravagant or your mum really is that mega that she deserves all of this and more – but you’d be a fool not to grab yourself a margarita on the house from any Nell’s location.
Besides, it wouldn’t be the worst thing to grab a slice to further line your stomach.
However, if mum hasn’t had a nibble in a hot minute then why not take her back in the direction you came from to beloved Polish restaurant, Platzki, who as well as serving an incredible main menu are also offering a free cheesecake or apple pie to all maternal diners this Mother’s Day.
Open for walk-ins as always, of course, but you can reserve your table HERE.
Credit: The Manc Group
House of Fu – Central
And last but not least, what harm would another free marg do? That’s what on the cards over at House of Fu, which just so happens to be up there with some the best ramen in Manchester if there’s still any room in that well-treated tummy.
Located on Portland Street, it’s also not too far from Picadilly, the bus station or St Peter’s Square tram stop when you and your mum are ready to call a day on this freebie parade… Or, you could always tie off the night with some karaoke downstairs. Now that’s how you put an end to a party.
We’d like to think that half a dozen options should just about do you and your mums in central Manchester, though we’re sure there’s plenty more free things to snap up this Mother’s Day.
The cynics might want you to believe that this date is just another annual observance created, or at least perpetuated by companies to sell cards, flowers, chocolate and son, but the truth is a special day that deserves to be celebrated properly.
In fact, the truth is that Mothering Sunday started nearly 120 years ago over in Philadelphia, when a woman named Anna Jarvis wanted to honour her mother who spent her life gathering groups to promote female friendship and health during a memorial service at her late mother’s church.
We think that’s wonderful and whatever your relationship with the mother figure in your life, we reckon it’s a sentiment and motivation worth sustaining much more than just once a year.
Much love to all our mums from The Manc, and sorry if we were ever a pain – hopefully a few drinks makes up for it.
A Salford student has made history as BBC Radio 1’s newest presenter
Danny Jones
A University of Salford student has made history after becoming the latest radio presenter for mainstream national station BBC Radio 1.
And he’s only 20 years old.
Matt Hallsworth from Harleston in Norfolk has become the first ever Salford student to sign a contract with the station whilst still studying, and is now set to join fellow alumni such as Vicky Hawkesworth and Katie Thistleton in working for the BBC’s biggest radio station.
If that isn’t hitting the ground running in your career, then we don’t know what is.
👏 We are delighted to share that BA Television and Radio Production student Matt Hallsworth has made history as our first current student to sign as a presenter for @BBCR1!
— School of Arts, Media & Creative Technology (@UoS_ArtsMedia) March 27, 2025
Set to host the spin-off online stream ‘Radio 1 Anthems’ – available via BBC’s digital Sounds platform, which hosts live and pre-recorded broadcasts, podcasts, music playlists and more – Hallsworth will be taking charge of several shows in the coming weeks.
The BA Television and Radio Production student, who is currently Head of Radio at the University’s in-house station Shock Radio, has already won a number of awards in his fledgling broadcast career and is now set to present a total of 16 shows through next month, starting from 8am on Tuesday, 2 April.
Matt has already had a glimpse of life at the BBC, having joined in as one of their Christmas Presenters back in December; he won the coveted slot after being crowned winner of ‘Best Presenter’ at last year’s Student Radio Awards (SRAs) and was the youngest out of a total 27 guest hosts that got the chance.
In addition to that accolade, he also collected the Gold Award for ‘Best Chart Show’ at the 2024 SRAs, with his on-air partner and fellow student Issy Brand also joining him in earning the title of ‘Best On-Air Team’ for the second year in a row in the International Student Broadcasting Championship.
Since then, he’s already enjoyed experience as a freelance presenter for nearby Hits Radio, working and is now the lead host officer for The Student Radio Association’s annual conference over in Salford.
Speaking on the unbelievable opportunity, the rising radio star said: “I am so excited to be joining the BBC Radio 1 Anthems family across April! Since the stream’s launch in October, it’s been evident the BBC is using it as a platform to nurture new presenters, and I feel thrilled to be able to join that.
“I was working on some university assignment work in January when I got the text and call from Aled [Hayden Jones, Head of Station at BBC Radio 1], with feedback from my Christmas show and offering the opportunity.
“The shows have the best playlists, full of songs that I grew up with, forgot about, and play anyway. I can’t wait for people to hear them.”
As for UoS‘s Programme Leader for BA TV and Radio Production, Louise Ready-Syrat, she says: “I’m hugely proud and pleased for Matt, he is such a lovely person and a huge talent that will be amazing in every capacity.
“Watching his development over his time with us on the BA Television and Radio Production course has been a privilege and a real inspiration to his fellow students.
“Always quick to help out on our Open Days, award shows and as Head of Shock Radio, he has proven himself to be a true professional and a genuinely great guy! Super pleased for him, he will smash this!”
Lyndon Saunders, Senior Lecturer and Subject Group Head for Broadcast Media, went on to add: “As soon as we heard Matt take to the student airwaves at Salford, we knew he would be snapped up by somebody big before too long. It’s just amazing to discover that he’s going national on BBC Radio 1.
“He’s so hard working, so determined, but so humble about his on air talent. I’ve worked with Matt in a producer capacity as well and he has an incredible work ethic – a gift for the journalism and storytelling side of radio too. In short, radio is in his veins, and we’re thrilled he’s making his dream a reality.”
You’ve done your department, Salford and Greater Manchester as a whole proud, Matt – we look forward to hearing you on the airwaves for years to come!
As far as universities go, UoS continues to be a brilliant proving ground for up-and-coming media talent.
Georgina Pellant -
2nd December 2021 
