Manchester’s sprawling Christmas Markets have been named the ‘most Instragrammable’ in the whole of the UK. They’ve beat similar festive markets in London, Edinburgh and Bath, thanks to the traffic seen online.
Pictures taken at the Manchester markets this year have attracted an enviable 54,573 hashtags in all, compared to 44,414 for Edinburgh’s markets and just 32,514 for London’s Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park. Bath’s Market got 29,418 while Birmingham’s got just over 17,000.
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The data was gathered up by consumer finance experts CashLady.com. Here is the top 10 across the UK in full:
1. Manchester Christmas Market - 54,753 hashtags
2. Edinburgh Christmas Market - 44,414 hashtags
3. Winter Wonderland, London - 32,514 hashtags
4. Bath Christmas Market - 29,418 hashtags
5. Birmingham Christmas Market - 17,039 hashtags
6. Lincoln Christmas Market - 12,178 hashtags
7. York Christmas Market - 8,538 hashtags
8. Belfast Christmas Market - 8,029 hashtags
9. Winchester Christmas Market - 7,921 hashtags
10. Nottingham Christmas Market - 4,853 hashtags
The Markets in the city are set to wind up this week, having had a bumper year compared to recent Christmases. While last year was the first since the pandemic, progress was hampered in the end by the reemergence of the Omicron variant of Covid.
But this year, crowds have flocked to the markets unabated, with its first ever Christmas parade taking place and numbers ‘exceeding expectations’, according to Manchester councillor Pat Karney.
"We're definitely back up to pre-Covid levels and it's clear that visitors are really enjoying having their freedoms back and are making the most of this,” he said.
"Despite a bit of a dip in numbers seen during the train strike days, our first-ever Manchester Christmas Parade and our Festive Sundays aimed at families really helped boost overall visitor numbers and helped create an extra bit of Manchester Christmas magic.”
The Markets close for 2022 at 5pm tomorrow (December 22).
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