Manchester Christmas Markets

17 November to 23 December, 2012

New Cathedral Street - one of Manchester's newest thoroughfares - runs down to meet two of its oldest buildings, and is a great place to get your fairly traded goods, handcrafted, ethnic styles and one-off gift items. For 2011, the houses have taken on a 'new look' and with several additions to the array of craft stalls, there is more than enough to choose from when it comes to filling those stockings!

Leather-bound books and boxes, glass and semi-precious stones, pearl and silver jewellery, African crafts, wooden and metal boxes, Moroccan artefacts, money boxes, designer glass-blown ornaments and wooden puzzles are all piled high. There are also natural beauty products on offer, including seaweed body lotions - for those who want to pamper themselves.
If you get tired after all that shopping, there's a handy Gluhwein house, which also serves hot German food.

New Cathedral Street - now one of the city's most exclusive shopping streets - links St Ann's Square with Exchange Square. Names like Lacoste, Louis Vuitton, Reiss, Henry Lloyd, Massimo, Cecil Gee and Burberry have opened shops there, and the street finishes at The Shambles: the site of Manchester's last two remaining original timber-framed pubs - Sinclair's Oyster Bar and the Old Wellington Inn.