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.
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.
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.
Credit: Facebook (Manchester Food and Drink Festival) Hatch’s ‘Urban Narnia’
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!
Credit: Facebook (Great Northern Makers Street)
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.
Credit: Facebook (Eventbrite) Festive Winter Fair at Victoria Baths
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.
Credit: Facebook (Christmas market Manchester) Manchester Christmas Markets
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.
Credit: Facebook (Christmas market Manchester) Piccadilly Gardens at Christmas
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.
Credit: Facebook (Manchester Christmas Markets)
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.
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.
Credit: Facebook (Nonna’s) A Yorkshire pudding wrap
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.
A huge festival dedicated to tequila and mezcal is coming to Manchester this month
Daisy Jackson
Manchester’s first-ever Mezcal and Tequila Festival is taking place this month, filling Manchester Cathedral with tastings, masterclasses, cocktails and street food.
The massive event will see the Grade I-listed building transformed into an agave spirits tasting floor, featuring more than 100 varieties of premium tequilas and mezcals from some of Mexico’s best producers including El Jimador, Ojo de Tigre, El Sueno, Los Arcos, Del Maguey, Cazcabel, Komos, Nixta, Tapatio, El Tequileno, Tiempo and many more.
Festival-goers will be able to gain exclusive insights into the craftsmanship behind these spirits, sampling (responsibly, of course) from dozens of stands.
All samples, plus a limited-edition clay tasting copita, will be included in the ticket price – there’s no token system here and no extra charges for samples.
The new Mexican-inspired drinks festival only debuted in Glasgow back in Spring 2023 but it unsurprisingly went down an absolute storm – after all, what’s not to like a big festival full of booze?
Bartenders will stir up cocktails at the bespoke cocktail bar while the crowds are kept fed by delicious street food, including Mexican-inspired Taco Or Don’t, previously featured at the British Streetfood Awards.
And it’d be remiss of you to leave the festival empty-handed when you can take a taste of Mexico home from the exclusive bottle shop provided by Drinkmonger on site (with discount tokens included in the ticket price).
A tequila and mezcal festival is heading on Manchester. Credit: Supplied
Colin Campbell, one of Copita’s co-founders said: “We’re really excited to be bringing Copita to Manchester. It’s gone down brilliantly in Glasgow the last two years so we felt now was the right time to take it on the road and we couldn’t think of a better place than Manchester to head to next!
“It’s a really easy-going event with a great atmosphere, lots of local street food, shopping and music, so whether you’re an aficionado or a casual sipper we’re confident you’ll have a great time.”
The Copita Mezcal and Tequila Festival will be at Manchester Cathedral on Saturday 14 September.
The best things to do in Greater Manchester this week | 9 – 15 September 2024
Emily Sergeant
We’re into our second full week of September now, and summer is already beginning to feel like a distant memory.
For many people, the end of summer can sometimes mean the end of all the fun and the start of the cosy season, but as we head into autumn, there’s still absolutely no shortage of things for all the family to be getting up to across Greater Manchester.
If you’re finding it a bit tricky to pick what to do though, we’ve chosen a few of the best bits for another edition of our ‘what’s on‘ guide this week.
Here’s some of our recommendations.
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Heritage Open Days 2024
Greater Manchester
Monday 9 – Sunday 15 September
Heritage Open Days / Credit: Chris Lacey | Paul Harris (via HODs)
The UK’s largest festival of history and culture has returned this week, and there’s thousands of free events on the lineup.
Back by popular demand, the National Trust’s ‘Heritage Open Days’ are run by thousands of local organisations and volunteers, and they’re all about bringing people together to celebrate their culture, community, and history.
From historic houses, factories, and museums, to music halls, formal gardens, and graveyards, countless of places and spaces across the country – including loads here in Greater Manchester – are open to the public, all without having to spend a penny.
Find out more about everything on the lineup here.
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Injecting Hope: The race for a COVID-19 vaccine
Science and Industry Museum
Monday 9 September – onwards
Injecting Hope: The race for a COVID-19 vaccine / Credit: Science Museum Group
More than 100 objects and stories collected during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic are now on display as part of a new exhibition at the Science and Industry Museum.
The groundbreaking new exhibition, titled Injecting Hope: The race for a COVID-19 vaccine, explores the worldwide effort to develop vaccines at pandemic speed, while uncovering the inspiring stories of scientists and innovators around the globe who collaborated to tackle the worldwide COVID-19 challenge along the way.
A groundbreaking new immersive exhibition exploring our relationship with the natural world is now open at Manchester Museum.
‘Wild’ look at how people are creating, rebuilding, and repairing connections with nature, and how the natural world has traditionally been presented and idealised through Western art, as well as looking at some unique approaches to environmental recovery too.
The exhibition will also crucially look at how we can tackle the climate and biodiversity crisis by making the world more wild.
50 Years of the Replica Shirt / Credit: National Football Museum | Admiral Sports
A new exhibition telling the story of the football shirt pioneers, Admiral, is now open at the National Football Museum.
50 Years of the Replica Shirt will take visitors right through the Admiral’s history, from their humble beginnings in a Leicestershire textile town, to the official kit manufacturers for the England national team – with key moments in the company’s timeline highlighted through a range of objects, photographs, and kit designs.
Manc visitors will be able to walk through the iconic Jurassic World gates, explore some richly-themed environments, and encounter a life-sized Brachiosaurus, Velociraptors, and the most fearsome dinosaur of all, the mighty Tyrannosaurus Rex.
You can be in with a chance of winning one of hundreds of free prizes just by heading down to Spinningfields this week.
In case you hadn’t heard, Spinningfields has just launched a brand-new app that’s now available to download, and in a bid to mark the occasion and properly celebrate this exciting launch, the city centre leisure and business district will be hosting an epic ‘Spin to Win’ event where “everyone’s a winner” on Tuesday from 8am.
There’ll be free coffee and free prizes to make the most of, all for just downloading a free app.
One of Greater Manchester’s best-loved outdoor dining concepts has returned for 2024, and there’s a proper tasty lineup of traders.
‘Kargo on the Docks’ – which is MediaCity‘s al fresco dining pop-up, in place of the former Box On The Docks – has had itself a bit of a “glow up” and has taken over the waterfront and gardens with a fresh wave of local food traders and stunning artwork by Salford-based creatives, all as the sun shines down on Salford Quays this summer.
Did you see that Bolton has launched its own ‘Hollywood of the North’ TV and film location tours around the town centre?
Merely months after being named Greater Manchester’s new ‘Town of Culture’, Bolton is already proving why 2024 is its year, as the town is celebrating its shiny new title by celebrating all the times it has been chosen as a filming location for dozens of major film and TV productions over the years.
These new behind-the-scenes tours are led by local historian and professional tour guide, Suzanne Hindle, and will feature all of the town’s famous filming spots.
Bolton Film & TV Tours / Credit: Supplied | BBC
Visitors will get to explore places such as court rooms, cells, and Crescent corridors whilst hearing tales of how the industry adapt these unexpected locations to set the scene.
Known and loved for being one of the best musicals the 21st Century – and one of the funniest of all time – having scooped up dozens of coveted awards both in the US and here in the UK in its time, The Book of Mormon is currently out on tour, and the Elders are set to arrive in our city this week for an extended stay.
The hilarious production will be taking over the iconic Palace Theatre stage from this Wednesday until early October, and there’s still chance to grab yourself some tickets too.
A new science and tech festival for all the family is coming to Cheshire this weekend to help “inspire young minds”.
Set to descend on the grounds of Bruntwood SciTech’s Alderley Park – a unique place where world-leading science, innovation, and stylish living all come together in the Cheshire countryside – SciTech Extravaganza will be a day filled full of fun science-themed shows, interactive activities, new skill-building opportunities, and more.
The brand-new family festival is designed to “spark curiosity” and “encourage engagement” through STEM-related learning.
Dolly Busby -
29th October 2021 
