00:00 Ladies and gentlemen, the bars are now open!
00:07 Can I ask for a favour of people? You'll see me on all the chocolate stalls, can you just
00:14 push me away from chocolate stalls because otherwise I will look like Father Christmas.
00:19 I mean, it's ridiculous. I've got such a sweet tooth that if you see me at any of them sweet
00:23 stalls, just push me away and say, "Grow up."
00:26 The time has finally come. The Manchester Christmas Markets have opened for 2023.
00:31 The 225 stalls across nine areas of the city centre have officially started serving customers
00:37 with delicious food and drink and offering unique Christmas gifts and trinkets.
00:42 This year's Christmas mugs are a perfect keepsake to remember the festivities and can be bought
00:47 from one of the many bars with attempting hot chocolate or mulled wine.
00:51 We headed down to the markets on opening day to check everything out for ourselves.
00:55 It's a fantastic milestone. When you think we came from 16 stalls in St Anne's Square,
01:01 how embarrassing that was being. I don't know if I opened them, I can't remember, but 16
01:05 to now 225, the biggest in the country and we've just been given this award last week,
01:11 the best in Europe as well. And it's Santa's favourite city, so Mancunians love Christmas
01:18 and that's what makes it all work. Because we're expecting thousands of visitors over
01:22 the next few weeks from the Midlands up to Newcastle and all over the place and Mancunians
01:28 just welcome them and you just have a great cheerful time on these markets.
01:31 The Manchester personality and spirit is on these markets. People come and they come back,
01:36 they really have a good time. Basically it's a playground for adults over the next few
01:40 weeks because once you grow up, what's left at Christmas really, basically you want to
01:45 come out and enjoy yourself. And the biggest growth is after work parties. You just see
01:49 loads of after work parties, having a great time. This is a multi-million pound boost
01:54 to Manchester's economy. Jobs depend on this. It spreads out not just from the markets itself,
02:00 it spreads out to all the restaurants, all the bars, all the cafes in Manchester and to
02:04 us Christmas is always about keeping people in jobs. So although a lot of us clown around,
02:10 I put on these silly jumpers and behind all the tinsel and behind all the hoopla is a
02:15 very serious economic project in Manchester. There is so much effort in creating the market
02:20 over here and I think the people really notice that and this is why they come back again
02:25 and again and this is why it came to the number one. We started with selling glue wine, but
02:31 we do have like several types of fruit wines. Our newest product is a honey wine which you
02:37 can have with a shot of brandy and it's called Manchester Bee and we also do some cocktails
02:44 right now and the Feuerzangenbowle. I don't know if you know what that is. It's like a
02:49 glue wine where you have like a cone of sugar on top of it and then there's spiced rum and
02:55 then it's going to be in flames and then the sugar drips into the cup. Yeah, it is. It
03:01 does something special. Strong.
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