Manchester Christmas Markets

Last year I did a piece on Birmingham's Christmas Market, so as a Mancunian I decided that this year I should go back to my roots and feature the Christmas Market in Manchester. There's Christmas Markets in Brazennose Street, Albert Square (above), St Ann's Square:

Exchange Street:

and New Cathedral Street. The Manchester Christmas Markets were established in Manchester in 1999, but have their roots in the Frankfurt Christmas Market which was apparently established in 1393!

There's a stall selling cheeses:

from Holland

and Bavaria, but regular readers of this blog will know that I went straight to Mrs Kirkham's:
who were selling Cropwell Bishop Stilton, Vintage Lincolnshire Poacher and of course their own Tasty Lancashire cheese.

There's stalls selling chorizo and salamis:

and pretzels:

and there's sweets:

for those that miss Woolworths you can pick and mix

and try German sweets.

Some of the stall are really attractive

This one was selling toffee apples and chocolates:

You can also buy German biscuits and stollen

although the stollens didn't weigh 36 pounds like the one here!

Apparently you can also buy the best macaroons in the world:

Trevor Duerden sells his fudge using recipes which date back to the 1800s:
As a child I remember people selling hot chestnuts in the street in the run up to Christmas:
If you want a hot meal, there's paella:
or you could go to the Austrian Kitchen:
and wash it down with something from the German Beerhouse:
The Bavarian Swing Grill seemed to be one of the busiest stalls:
It's not just food, you could buy a non edible duck from the World of Ducks:
But any self respecting Mancunian would head straight for Manchester Gifts:
and buy some Duerr's Manchester Marmalade:
and a very fine And on the 6th day God created MANchester mug to go with it!
Web: www.manchester.gov.uk/info/200066/markets/1654/christmas_markets