One of Manchester’s best-loved Christmas experiences has returned, and this year Bar Hutte has TWO locations.
The apres-ski-inspired huts have reappeared this week, back at Great Northern as well as a new site at Kampus.
Positively dripping in festive cheer, here you’ll find a twinkling winter wonderland full of fairy lights, fur throws, and plenty of warming tipples.
And arguably the best bit? Each one of the charming wooden huts is kitted out with its own karaoke machine.
Don’t worry if the thought of your own dulcet tones brings you out in a cold sweat – you can swerve the karaoke and listen to professional musicians performing in the courtyard instead.
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With its new location at Kampus, Bar Hutte has created a new alpine experience to explore to mark its seventh year in Manchester.
The row of eight Christmas cabins (including a special Bark Hutte for your furry friend) at the canalside neighbourhood surrounds a heated and sheltered courtyard.
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Bombardinos, Bark Hutte, and slices from Nell’s at Bar Hutte Kampus. Credit: The Manc Group
Then upstairs in the Bungalow – the neighbourhood’s landmark building on stilts – you’ll find an indoor drinking den with plenty of extra seating, and decor including faux fireplaces, sleds, bells and wreaths.
Drinks on offer include mulled wine, festive cocktails like the Merry Kissmas and the Bauble-ini, legendary ski shots and Bombardinos, a warm alcoholic drink popular on the slopes. There’s even boozy Biscoff hot chocolate and gingerbread Old Fashioneds.
As for food, Bar Hutte customers can order pizza from Nell’s via a QR code on their table, or tuck in to treats from Great North Pie Co and Beeswing.
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Adam Higgins, co-founder of Capital&Centric (the developers, along with HBD, of Kampus), said: “Kampus and Bar Hütte is the perfect festive match. People are so used to seeing the lush Kampus garden full of life throughout the summer, so it’s brilliant to see it packed out with the wooden hüttes for winter.
“Whether belting out karaoke in private huts and ordering eats from Kampus’ finest, or soaking up the alpine vibes of our Aprés Ski Bungalow, the neighbourhood takeover will have something for everyone.’
Booking is advised, especially for the private Bar Hutte Kampus cabins, but walk-ins are welcome, particularly for festive drinks in the courtyard.
Across town at Great Northern Square is Bar Hutte’s second location, where once again its cosy Huttes are beneath a heated stretch tent, with entertainment including a schedule of love singers and DJs.
This site has a party lodge for up to 20 people, as well as family-friendly Santa Claus club sessions at the weekends.
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Events at both sites include wreath-making sessions, complete with a complimentary glass of prosecco or mulled wine.
Bar Hütte pop-up will wrap up on New Year’s Eve. You can make a booking now at www.barhutte.co.uk.
Featured image: The Manc Group
Christmas
Massive festive event dubbed the ‘Glastonbury of Christmas’ is returning to the North West
Daisy Jackson
The North West’s most extravagant festive event, with everything from a frozen skating pond to a snow-covered world filled with elves, will return just outside Greater Manchester this winter.
Dubbed the ‘Glastonbury of Christmas’, LaplandUK recreates the home of Father Christmas himself right outside Greater Manchester.
The event was so popular last year, organisers are expecting more than one million people will join the queue for tickets when they go live this week – with tickets expected to sell out in hours.
Families who book tickets for LaplandUK – which range in price from £60 to £195 – will be greeted by hundreds of elves and other performers in a snow-covered landscape.
You’ll be able to visit the Lapland Toy Factory to make a toy for Santa’s sleigh; decorate gingerbead with Mother Christmas in the Lapland Bakery, as well as skating on a frozen pond and travelling through the Whispering Woods.
Every child leaves LaplandUK with a gift from Father Christmas.
The immersive experience takes around four and a half hours from start to finish, but the magic begins way before – ticket-holders are sent personalised invitation boxes (which you can pop in the freezer for extra magic for the kids).
LaplandUK has invested an additional £30m into its Cheshire site, which is the second location after a long-standing residency in Ascot.
Keeping this impressive festive event running are more than 2000 members of staff across the two sites.
It’s drawn in some very high-profile guests, too, with previous visitors including the Prince and Princess of Wales, Sir Elton John, and the Beckhams.
The Lapland experience is based on eight best-selling books, written by founders Mike and Alison Battle.
LaplandUK will run from 7 November to 24 December 2026, with tickets ranging from £60 to £195.
Tickets for LaplandUK Manchester go on sale from 10am on Friday 27 March HERE, with the waiting room open from 9am.
How and where to recycle or donate your Christmas tree in Manchester | 2026
Emily Sergeant
The new year is here, and the ’12 days of Christmas’ are up… which means it’s time for a fresh start.
Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve both feel like things of the past now, and for most of us, this is our first proper week back at work too, which means (if you haven’t already) it’s time to tackle the task of taking down and putting away all the festive decorations – even if it is one of the dullest times of the year and it signals that the magic of Christmas is over.
For those of us that opt for a real Christmas tree though, the end of the year always brings one question – now what do we do with it?
Manchester City Council has aimed to answer that very question by providing residents with a handful of different ways to recycle their Christmas trees to make sure they’re put to good use and don’t go to waste or get dumped.
Here’s the different options.
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Recycle it in your food and garden waste bin
You can recycle your Christmas tree by cutting it up and placing it in your food and garden waste bin, but you’ll need to make sure you take the following steps before doing so.
Remove all decorations and fairy lights
Take off the base or wooden block if your tree has one
Make sure the trunk is not thicker than your wrist. Wood thicker than your wrist is too big and can’t be put in the garden and food bin. Large trunks and wooden bases can be taken to a recycling centre.
Donate it to charity
Did you know you can donate your Christmas trees to charity? That’s right – for residents living in Manchester, all you’ll need to do is register your tree with national charity JustHelping, along with a donation towards the collection, and you can help a local hospice or charitable cause in the city-region.
The money raised will go to good causes in the area, including Moya Cole Hospice (previously St Anne’s Hospice), Francis House, and We Love Manchester.
You can find more information and register your tree here.
It’s time to take down and recycle our Christmas trees for another year / Credit: Myriam Olmz | Tanbir Mahmud (via Unsplash)
Take it to a local drop-off point
You can drop your real tree throughout January at:
Angel Meadow Park (entrance Old Mount Street) – M4 4HA
Wythenshawe Park and Gardens Athletics Track – M23 0PH
Heaton Park (Middleton Road entrance) – M8 4NB
Boggart Hole Clough (near the Visitor Centre) – M9 7DH
Patchett Street, off Hyde Road in Ardwick – M12 4RY
Bring it to your local recycling centres
And finally, wherever you live in Manchester, you can take your real Christmas tree – and even your artificial tree that is beyond reuse – to your local recycling centre for free of charge, but it’s worth noting that if you’re planning on using a van, pick-up truck, or a twin-axle trailer to dispose of your tree, then you’ll probably need to apply for a permit.
You can find information about your nearest recycling centre here.
Are you elsewhere in Greater Manchester? Recycle for Greater Manchester (R4GM) has teamed up with local councils and charities across the region to provide Greater Manchester residents in all 10 boroughs with several different options for either recycling or donate their old Christmas trees.
Daisy Jackson -
9th November 2023 
