Summer may sort of be in the air but the winter news is coming as fast as the sun keeps disappearing from our city. The latest wintery announcement is that Manchester will see the return of the Christmas markets once more for 2024, and the location has been confirmed.
Many have been hoping that Manchester Christmas Markets would be making a return to a sparkly new Albert Square for 2024, but unfortunately council bosses have revealed that this will not be the case as the project is “taking longer than initially anticipated”. Instead, the main hub for the Manchester Christmas Markets will once again return to Piccadilly Gardens for this year’s event.
Albert Square, along with Manchester Town Hall, has been undergoing redevelopment, with parts of the square still inaccessible to the public and the town hall building covered in hoardings. The last time Manchester Christmas Markets were held at Albert Square was back in 2019, which saw an illuminated Zippy Santa overlook the square.
Cllr Garry Bridges, Deputy Leader of Manchester City Council, said: “The original schedule for the Our Town Hall project, which includes transforming Albert Square into a world-class events space, envisaged the square returning to full use at the end of 2024. But challenges beyond our control including the global Covid pandemic mean that the project is taking longer than initially anticipated.
“This isn’t just about reopening the square but transforming it into a civic square to rival the best in Europe. The transformed square will be significantly bigger – about 25% larger due to the incorporation of the pedestrianised sections around its edges.
“We’ve already started to see improvements to the square – with new trees and a significant chunk of the square already returned to public use. It is already proving popular – with businesses nearby improving their offer and attracting customers. We want to see more of the square open as soon as possible- including for our fantastic Christmas markets – at the earliest opportunity.”
However, Manchester City Council has said there will be a magical return of the Christmas Markets elsewhere in the city centre, with Piccadilly Gardens confirmed as the main hub. The wooden stalls will once again be spread across the city centre, including the likes of Cathedral Gardens, Exchange Square, Market Street, King Street and St Ann’s Square.
The official dates for the 2024 Manchester Christmas Markets are yet to be confirmed, but last year saw the markets run from November 10 until December 21, with the market stalls at Cathedral Gardens opening earlier on October 26.
Cllr Pat Karney, Christmas spokesperson for Manchester City Council, said: “I’m personally very disappointed that due to circumstances outside our control we won’t be back in Albert Square this year as we thought we would be. Whilst we would have loved to have brought Christmas in all its Mancunian magnificence back to Albert Square this year, the ongoing work to restore our wonderful Grade 1 listed Town Hall means this just won’t be possible.
“Rest assured however, Christmas in Manchester will be fabulous. We’re working flat out right now putting in place all the finishing touches and last bits of sparkle to our festive plans for the city, and will reveal all in the coming weeks. We’re really pulling out all the stops to make sure that Christmas in Santa’s favourite city is once again the best of the best Christmases anywhere in the world.”
The council has also confirmed their will be measures in place to ensure the space at Piccadilly Gardens is restored and brought back into use as quickly as possible once the Christmas Markets end.
Stay tuned for more Manchester Christmas Markets updates.