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Manchester Christmas Markets have been named the best in the UK for 2023

But was there ever any doubt?

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant - 20th November 2023

It’s official… Manchester Christmas Markets have been named the best in the UK, according to a new analysis for 2023.

Of course, us Mancs already knew this, but it’s always nice to have it confirmed, right?

In case you hadn’t heard, Manchester‘s flagship festive event has officially returned to spread some cheer right across the city centre for another year, as the annual Christmas Markets opened to the public on Friday 10 November.

The iconic annual event is an absolute staple in Manchester’s festive events calendar, and always draws in thousands of visitors from all across the globe each year.

More than 225 stalls have now popped up across nine sites throughout the city centre, with iconic ski chalet-style market stalls having taken over Piccadilly Gardens – which has once again been transformed into the ‘Winter Gardens’ – as well as Market Street, Cathedral Gardens, Exchange Street, New Cathedral Street, St Ann’s Square, Exchange Square, The Corn Exchange, and King Street.

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The little wooden huts lining our streets give visitors the chance to tuck into a wide range of festive foods and drinks, and shop for Christmas gifts from countless independent traders.

Manchester Christmas Markets have been named the best in the UK for 2023 / Credit: Flickr

It’s not uncommon for Manchester Christmas Markets to regular feature among the conversation when it comes to naming the country’s best Christmas markets, but this year, a new analysis by online car-buying platform, cinch, has seen our city’s annual festive event come out on top as the absolute best the UK has to offer.

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The team over at cinch looked at looked at TikTok popularity, average hotel costs, predicted days of snowfall, and the duration of 35 different market events to come up with a top 10 list that determines the best Christmas markets to visit for a festive road trip this year.

Manchester has taken the top spot on the list, and is closely followed by the Scottish capital of Edinburgh, and fellow North West neighbours Liverpool.

It’s according to a new analysis by cinch of 35 Christmas Markets nationwide / Credit: Manchester City Council

#ManchesterChristmasMarket is the most viewed hashtag on TikTok, with a whopping 13.3 million views, while the analysis found that the average cost of an overnight weekend stay is £246.84 during December.

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Due to Manchester’s average of 1.3 days of snowfall in December, there’s only a 0.042% chance of snowfall at the markets.

Manchester markets last 42 days, making it the 13th longest of the markets in the study.

Top 10 best Christmas Markets in the UK for 2023

  1. Manchester
  2. Edinburgh
  3. Liverpool
  4. Glasgow
  5. Aberdeen
  6. Birmingham
  7. Hyde Park (Winter Wonderland)
  8. Leicester
  9. Belfast
  10. Canterbury

Glasgow, Birmingham, Belfast, Canterbury, and London’s iconic ‘Winter Wonderland’ in Hyde Park are some of the other cities to claim top 10 spots.

Speaking on the findings of the new analysis, Sam Sheehan – who is the Motoring Editor at cinch – said Manchester is “the place to be” for anyone looking for “the ultimate Christmas market experience” in the country this year.

He explained: “According to our findings, Manchester is home to the best Christmas market in the UK.

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“Receiving a whopping 13,300,000 views on TikTok, as well as offering festive food and fun for 42 days, it’s no surprise that Manchester’s Christmas market stands at the top of our merry list.”

Featured Image – Manchester City Council

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A completely objective ranking of every Quality Street sweet

Gareth Lloyd Gareth Lloyd A completely objective ranking of every Quality Street sweet

It’s Christmas Day and dinner is done. 

Dad is sat there snoozing with his mouth ajar, a glass of red wine hanging loosely between his fingers. Mum is tapping away on her phone, probably doing some intel as to how her gifts went down with relatives. An aunt, uncle and or grandparent is propped up in the corner, frowning in confusion at the “rubbish” playing on the television. 

The rest of you are eyeing up the purple tub of chocolates sitting on the dining room table. Dad’s spilled drink will wake him up at any moment. Mum has nearly finished finding out if her pressies were a success. And the aunt/uncle/grandparent will soon want a distraction from that “stupid” programme they can’t understand. 

Someone is about to lift the lid off the Quality Street, and then it’s game time. With a belly already fit to burst, you need to choose wisely. Not all of these chocolates are created equal, after all. 

For 85 years, ranking Quality Street has proven more problematic than naming a round piece of bread (is it a barm, bap, bun, breadcake cob, roll? One problem at a time…), but we reckon we’ve cracked it. 

Here’s a definitive list that ought to put you in pole position during the annual Christmas Day race for the best chocolates in the tub.

11. Toffee Penny

Chowing down on a Toffee Penny is like listening to an elderly family member trying to read aloud a long joke from a Christmas cracker.

On and on it goes, getting more tedious and uncomfortable by the second, and just as you think it’s all over, you realise it’s only getting started.

Chewy, sickly and sticky, Toffee Pennies are always among the last choccies remaining in any depleted Quality Street box. And that’s no coincidence. 

10. Toffee Finger

A completely objective ranking of every Quality Street sweet. Toffee Fingers
Toffee Fingers. Credit: The Manc Group

A little less chewy and a bit more flavoursome than the Penny, the Toffee Finger is a familiar and distinctive Quality Street staple… but it’s still not something to get particularly excited about. 

Maybe one is fine when it’s getting late, the layers are thinning out and you’re left staring into that abyss of scrunched-up wrappers, but otherwise, you can do far better.

This is one of the few instances in life where you should not go for gold. 

9. Coconut Eclair

A completely objective ranking of every Quality Street sweet - coconut eclair
Coconut eclairs. Credit: The Manc Group

It’s funny how some flavours have an incredible ability to get people riled up to the point of boiling hot anger. Take coriander, for instance – a herb despised so much that someone actually made a Facebook account titled ‘I Hate Coriander’ that has since grown into a community of a quarter of a million members. The page even sells merch nowadays.

Coconut is another ingredient that seems to stir up similar sensations in certain members of the population, and a lot of people find Quality Street’s blue-wrapped choccies borderline offensive as a result (the coconutty Bounty gets the same treatment when the Celebrations come out). 

Indeed, in one YouGov poll, the Coconut Eclair ranked as the least popular variety of all. 

As coconut fans, we’re actually ok with it, but we appreciate there’s no way to talk anyone into giving the Eclair a second chance. The hostility towards coconut is just too strong. The people who hate it, really hate it. 

8. Fudge

A completely objective ranking of every Quality Street sweet. Fudge
Fudge. Credit: The Manc Group

Fudge’s are fine. Absolutely fine. It’s just that over the years, we might have had way too many of them. 

Consumer group Which? conducted research into chocolate tubs that found that Fudges are the most common flavour in any typical Quality Street box – with an average of nine appearing amongst the multicoloured rubble. 

That’s a lot of fudges. And whilst they might be pretty decent, it’s just like anything else: Too much of the same and it gets a bit… meh. 

7. Orange Crunch 

A completely objective ranking of every Quality Street sweet. Orange crunch
Orange Crunch. Credit: The Manc Group

The Orange Crunch boasts a nice blend of textures and to be fair, it’s pretty damn good.  

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It’s got zest, it’s got bite, and it’s got a few very, very loyal fans – some of whom will shamelessly bat away the hands of others to snap up all the little orange hexagons from the moment the Quality Street is opened. 

If there’s one going spare, it’s worth grabbing. Just make sure you don’t have any die-hard Orange Crunch fans in the house. Otherwise, Christmas could get ugly.  

6. Milk Choc Block

A completely objective ranking of every Quality Street sweet. Milk Choc Block
Milk Choc Block. Credit: The Manc Group

The chocolate box equivalent of a Yorkie bar, the Milk Choc Block requires a bit of effort to actually eat – so it may not be the wisest choice immediately after a gluttonous Christmas dinner. But when things have settled and you’re finally sensing a bit of wiggle room, it’s worth plucking one of these dark green wrappers from the tub and getting stuck in. 

These beasty blocks are a cracking accompaniment for your afternoon/evening cuppa, and whilst they can take a while to break down, they won’t lose their flavour. 

A perfect option when you’re not feeling too adventurous. 

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5 & 4. Strawberry Delight / Orange Creme

A completely objective ranking of every Quality Street sweet. Strawberry and orange fruit cremes
Strawberry and orange fruit cremes. Credit: The Manc Group

We’re into the upper echelons of the Quality Street rankings now, and whilst some will be loathed to admit it, the fruit cremes definitely belong towards the top end of the table. 

Eating Strawberry Delights or Orange Cremes is like sipping a strong, exotic cocktail. The distinct flavour and strange texture takes you by surprise at first, and you can embrace or reject it. We recommend the former. Once you’ve had one or two and you’re on board, there’s no going back. You’ll realise just how good these things are. 

We’re cheating here and ranking these two choccies side-by-side. They’re just too tough to set apart. 

3. Caramel Swirl 

Caramel swirl
Caramel swirl. Credit: The Manc Group

Caramel Swirls feel like the desserts of the aristocracy. The wrappers have the shimmering, royal quality of a Ferrero Roche – except the choccies have got a gooey, gold, rich, creamy centre to match. 

Understandably, the Caramel Swirl can be a bit too much for some. But on a day when you want to indulge – there are few desserts more fitting. 

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Take a couple and treat yourself. You got through 2024, for God’s sake. You’ve earned it. 

2. Green Triangle

A completely objective ranking of every Quality Street sweet - the Green Triangle
The Green Triangle. Credit: The Manc Group

The Green Triangle is the Tom Hanks of box chocolates: It’s been around forever and no matter what the setting, it will never let you down. 

It’s reassuring, solid and reliable. It’s easy to love. And it makes ordinary movies more enjoyable than they should be. 

Good old Green Triangle. Never change. 

1. The Purple One

The Purple One.
The Purple One. Credit: The Manc Group

All hail The Purple One. God tier chocolate. The biggest, most beloved, and indisputably the best. 

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With handsome wrapping and delicious contents of milk chocolate, runny caramel and a crunchy hazelnut at its core, The Purple One appears on top of user polls time and time again. Because class is permanent. 

As soon as you open that Quality Street box on Christmas Day, get looking immediately for that purple wrapper. They won’t last long. 

Happy scoffing, folks.

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Featured Image – The Manc Group

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Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk separated during face-off after recording-breaking stare-down

Danny Jones Danny Jones Fury v Usyk 2 11-minute face-off

Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk managed to break a new record before the fight had even started during their face-off on Thursday as they engaged in an extremely intense stare-down – the longest in boxing history.

Fury vs Usyk 2 takes place this weekend, with both excitement and now tension around the eagerly-awaited rematch boiling over as the two fighters locked into respective thousand-yard stares as they met on stage in Riyadh ahead of their rematch.

The pre-fight press and build-up had felt a little quiet and understated up until the last couple of weeks but with the two division-conquering heavyweights now set for what looks to be a real battle and an actually believable feud, the anticipation and stakes have never felt higher.

Fury will have to wait until Saturday to get his second shot at beating the Ukrainian but it’s clear that both their heads are very much already in the ring as the pair ultimately had to be pulled apart after an extremely intense and, frankly, awkward 11-minute stare-down.

As you can see, the situation was an unprecedented one and neither Fury nor Usyk seemed willing to flinch or concede even a little bit of ground to the other, resulting in the longest face-off professional boxing has ever seen. It could have gone on longer by the looks of things…

More than 10 minutes passed before either party said a word to each other and it took various members of security, the promoters, Fury’s entourage and Usyk‘s to edge the two away from each other as the Wythenshawe-born boxer eventually appeared to lose his cool.

In addition to trading countless threats and insults as per, the Manc fighter looked visibly red-faced and began perspiring profusely as he became more mobile and agitated; in contrast, his Ukrainian counterpart barely moved an inch from the same spot.

Perhaps the most jarring aspect of the hot-blooded affair was the general pageantry and ceremonial stuff going on around them, as tonnes of Saudi locals danced, got up on tables and played music around them as the face-off came to its conclusion.

However, it was the scenes picked up by cameras as the two were finally separated that many fight fans think have proved most telling, as the 36-year-old launched into a torrent of verbal abuse and expletives after the fact. As they see it, Fury’s ‘meltdown’ shows he’s already lost the first round:

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Usyk didn’t get to enjoy his unified title for very long after beating Tyson the first time around but judging by the level of composure on display, he might already have a leg up in the rematch too.

‘The Gypsy King’ has also been criticised once again for his conduct during the aftermath for homophobic, discriminatory and generally offensive remarks (something he’s come under fire for in the past) though he is yet to address the accusations and is unlikely to with just less than 24 hours before the bell rings.

Fury claims he hasn’t spoken to his wife in three months amidst his busy schedule and strict training camp rules for this fight – another comment he received some flak for online. Whether or not isolating himself has helped his chance, only time will tell.

If you happen to have free time on your hands and nothing better to do, you can watch the whole 11 minutes and change stare-off between Fury and Usyk down below. Better still, give us your predictions: who do you think is going to win this one?

For all the latest news, events and goings on in Greater Manchester, subscribe to The Manc newsletter HERE.

Featured Images — DAZN/TNT Sports (screenshot via YouTube)

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