The Coca-Cola Christmas truck tour is ready to head to both Baldock and Manchester tomorrow, as the latest two places to be announced on the roadshow are revealed.
The festive jaunt will stay at the Trafford Centre in Manchester on Monday, before rolling on to the Co-op at East Leake in Nottinghamshire for a second visit on the same day.
The annual trip began on November 25 at Bluewater shopping centre in Dartford, Kent, going on to visit Renfrewshire in Scotland, London, Manchester, Bristol, West Yorkshire, Cardiff, Leeds, Bradford and Coventry.
Belfast is set to play host to the iconic red lorry on December 16 and 17 and there are still more stops to be confirmed over the coming days, Coca-Cola bosses said.
Previously, the fizzy drink company teased its 2022 return on Twitter, responding to a user with a winking emoji: "Christmas is coming but is the truck tour? You will have to watch this space."
Brits are usually able to enjoy a can of Coca-Cola Zero Sugar, Diet Coke or Coca-Cola Classic in a 'winter wonderland' setting.
The tour was cancelled in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, but returned last year on a smaller scale than usual, with dates and destinations only announced a day or so before to avoid Covid-related cancellations.
Back in November and December 2019, it stopped off at 19 locations - starting at Edinburgh and ending in London. It was the truck's ninth tour of the country.
In 2017 it visited a total of 42 locations across the UK.
The 2022 dates so far
- November 25 - Bluewater Shopping Centre, Kent
- November 26 and 27 - Sainsbury's, Beckton
- November 29 - Linwood, Renfrewshire
- December 1 - Wembley Park, London
- December 2 - Eastlands Asda, Manchester
- December 3 - Cribbs Causeway, Bristol and Morrisons, Bradford
- December 4 - St David's Centre, Cardiff and Asda Morley, Leeds
- December 8 - Market Square, Wolverhampton and Beefeater, Coventry
- December 9 - Meadowhall Centre, Sheffield
- December 10 - Tesco, Watford
- December 11 - Tesco, Baldock
- December 11 and 12 - Trafford Centre, Manchester
- December 12 - Co-op, East Leake
- December 16 and 17 - Belfast
The Coca-Cola truck tends to visit some of the same locations each year. In 2021, the iconic red visited the following locations:
- Edinburgh
- Cardiff
- Taunton
- Newcastle upon Tyne
- Leeds
- Cribbs Causeway, Bristol
- Pudsey, Leeds
- Portsmouth
- Gainsborough
- Manchester
- London
- Watford
- Intu Trafford Centre, Manchester
- Dudley
- Sainsbury’s Beckton, London
- Basildon
- Liverpool
- Intu Lakeside
- 02 Arena, London
Last weekend a Coca-cola truck burst into flames on the Romanian leg of its tour across Europe.
Nobody was hurt in the fire that ripped through the legendary festive vehicle in Bucharest ahead of its weekend visits.
Horrified onlookers could be seen standing on the side of the road helplessly watching the lorry roll down the road in flames.
Thankfully, towards the end of the viral clip the blaze can be seen to have been extinguished, as smoke continues to billow into the night air.
Footage posted by TikToker Stan Dumitru Arthur showed people desperately trying to control the smoke.
The good news is that the show will go on - Coca-Cola own a number of the trucks and the company are hopeful they won't have to disappoint hundreds of thousands of people.
The soft drink firm told local media it was taking measures to prevent further incidents.
