Dianne Bourne
·4-min read
A planned "big return" of Manchester's famous Christmas Markets to their landmark location on the city's Albert Square for 2024 is OFF.
Council bosses have now confirmed that the ongoing refurbishment of Manchester's historic Albert Square, part of the Our Town Hall project, will NOT be complete in time for the November return of the 2024 festive event. Instead, the main hub of the Christmas Markets will be back at Piccadilly Gardens again this year.
It had been hoped that 2024 would herald the triumphant comeback of the markets to their most famous location with a big Christmas Lights Switch On event on Albert Square with the backdrop of Manchester Town Hall to herald in the festive season.
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But the restoration, said to be the biggest heritage project in the UK, has been hit by a number of delays. Meanwhile costs have spiralled to £357m.
Back in 2022, councillors had confirmed a 2024 festive return to Albert Square, saying it "promised to be the biggest and best ever switch-on event in Manchester's history". The city's Christmas spokesman Pat Karney had added at the time: "Manchester's best ever Christmas switch-on event will be in 2024 when our wonderful Town Hall and Albert Square will be back in use again."
However, councillors have now confirmed the timelines will not work for that to happen as planned. They've blamed "challenges beyond our control" for the overrun of the restoration project.
Most of the Town Hall remains completely shrouded by hoardings. Albert Square itself is mostly fenced off to the public as major works continue, although part of it reopened as part of the pedestrianisation of the roads around the square last year.
It has now been five years since Manchester Christmas Markets were last held on Albert Square, when Zippy Santa was still a key figure in the festive celebrations back in 2019.
Cllr Garry Bridges, Deputy Leader of Manchester City Council, said today: "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 council bosses insist there WILL be a magical return of the Christmas Markets elsewhere in the city centre, with the main hub confirmed to return to Piccadilly Gardens. The wooden stalls now spread across the city, including at Cathedral Gardens, Exchange Square, Market Street, King Street and St Ann's Square.
The official dates of the 2024 Manchester Christmas Markets are also yet to be confirmed. Although they usually open on the second Friday in November, which this year will be November 8, and then run straight through to the week before Christmas.
Councillor Pat Karney told the MEN: "I'm personally very disappointed that due to circ*mstances 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."
A new date for expected completion of the works on Albert Square and Manchester Town Hall has yet to be confirmed by the council.
The council has also confirmed that mitigation measures will be put in place at Piccadilly Gardens again this year to ensure the space is restored and brought back into use as quickly as possible once the market ends.
