It's become a sort of annual obsession for everyone to have a good old moan about Manchester Christmas Markets. "What a rip off" and "I'm not paying that for a sausage" being the two most common complaints swiftly followed this year by "It's just not very Christmassy is it?"
I've been attending Manchester Christmas Markets for way too many years to remember (OK, it's about 15 years). Personally I've always thought of them as a bit of festive fun to entice visitors into the city, and then get people to see all the other great stuff Manchester has going on like the brilliant bars, restaurants and shops too.
But I've heard every kind of moan possible about the markets over the years from those who are not keen. Although even fans of the Christmas Markets do seem extra miffed this year that there's not enough festiveness about Manchester's big festive event.
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Worried I was starting to get rose tinted glasses about Manchester Christmas Markets after so many years getting excited about their arrival, I decided to take MEN readers' advice about broadening my festive horizons. "Go to Nottingham," said many in our Facebook page comments, "go to Chester," said others and "Go to Birmingham it's much better than Manchester," said even more.
Well, with only one day available to squeeze in some sausage and gluhwein action over the weekend, I plumped for Birmingham. It's the most comparable city to Manchester in terms of size and scale of the Christmas Markets.
So could our Midlands rivals REALLY be doing Christmas better than us Mancs this year?
Well, I'm afraid to say (look away now Coun Pat Karney) I think they have. The first thing that hit me as I strolled along the start of the market stalls is just how FESTIVE it all looks.
In Manchester I suppose we've got used to the rows of wooden huts with maybe a sprig of fir tree and baubles here and there each year. But in Birmingham, I mean, oh my word it's another festive level.
It's as if a Christmas Market has been spewed out of a classic Disney movie and brought to life on the city streets.
There are adorable festive ornaments on almost every stall. Cartoon-like reindeers, happy leaping santas, jaunty waving gingerbread men, the occasional sinister elf.
There's that much fir tree sprouting out of every stall and little bar areas that I actually start catching my long hair in it as I walk around.
I mean, they've even got a singing MOOSE for Christmas' sake. He swings his (severed) head around above a gluhwein stall and starts singing Santa Claus is Coming To Town at you if you're lucky.
I'm later informed he's called "Chris Moose" and has his own Twitter account, because of course he does.
The next thing I noticed was, being a very busy Saturday afternoon, they had friendly-looking stewards leading the crowds along a one-way system on the busiest bits like New Street up to the main Victoria Square market. I mean, isn't this a revelation?
Anyone who's tried to jostle their way along Market Street or Exchange Square on a Saturday in December will wonder why on earth we haven't got something like this in operation in Manchester.
And as for Victoria Square itself, well, it just made me cry a little bit into my Bavarian beer as I remembered how good our very own Albert Square used to look when it was like this, pre-refurbishment works. We'll have to wait until 2024 for the historic square to be back in use for the Manchester Christmas Markets.
With Birmingham's Town Hall and historic buildings as the backdrop to their festive event, the main Frankfurt Market just looks so brilliant here. It's just picture postcard pretty and is packed with all ages enjoying the stalls on offer here.
It made me remember fondly the days of Big Santa clinging to the Town Hall, while sausages sizzled on the cobbles of the square below which would be packed with the European Markets in Manchester in years gone by. With the huge multi-million pound refurbishment of the Town Hall and square, Manchester has had to find a new temporary home for the Christmas Markets in recent years.
The main "hub" in Manchester is now Piccadilly Gardens which has become a burgeoning food and drink stall hotspot this year and it's great to see it so busy with revellers. But it is, let's be brutally honest here, somewhat lacking in the festiveness of the traditional Albert Square setting.
Victoria Square plays host to the traditional Frankfurt Market in Birmingham with a huge range of food and drink treats - but with an added splash of something so much more festive than the shipping containers and tipis of Piccadilly.
There's also a nativity scene here for us all to remember the real meaning of Christmas is not actually sausages and beer.
But yep, there are also plastic animal models a-go-go here too - even some you can stick your head in to pose for a festive selfie.
All around Victoria Square there's such an array of German foodie treats that my eyes near popped out of my head.
You can fill your boots with half-metre bratwursts, but you can also tease your tastebuds with Berliner doughnuts, mammoth pretzels, and freshly-fried poffertjes. Or how about joining the queue for a knoblauchbrot for your merriment?
On food and drink prices this is the one area Manchester does seem to have trumped Birmingham. I paid £11 for a litre of Bavarian beer in Manchester (plus £7 plastic glass deposit), whereas in Birmingham it was £12.50 (plus £7 glass deposit).
Gluhwein was £6, wherease in Manchester I've bought it for £5.50. Those extra large sausages that people can't get enough of are a mammoth £8 in Brum - on St Ann's Square in Manchester you'll find them for £6.
Personally, I didn't mind paying extra for my pint in Birmingham not least because you got it served in an ACTUAL glass as opposed to a plastic one in Manc. Not only that, it had a festive "Birmingham Christmas Markets" logo on it.
I thought Manchester's markets mugs were pretty special this year - with high-fiving reindeers and santas. But that's until I saw Birmingham's mugs, shaped like an adorable santa for your £3's worth.
People have complained about a lack of Christmassy stalls this year in Manchester, and about the markets themselves being "too spread out" across the city. Council bosses say they think people have perhaps not had chance to seek out the more "Christmassy" stalls, suggesting Market Street and those lining the Corn Exchange.
For me though, it's really the lack of that main German Market area at Albert Square that has lost the festive spirit in Manchester - and that makes me really sad. Because I can remember even in those "good old days" of Albert Square plenty of people moaned about there being "too many foreign stalls".
There was the faintly ridiculous suggestion that German sausage-sellers were somehow taking "all of our local money". As if none of us don't already willingly give "our local money" to Aldi and Lidl every week for the supermarket big shop.
Looking at it with fresh eyes, I can see it is the German Markets that actually make the Christmas event that bit special. Or at least on Birmingham's evidence, they know that sticking lots of plastic animals and fir tree fronds on top of their stalls makes it look a lot more aesthetically pleasing than shipping containers piled on top of each other.
In response to those moans about too many "foreign" stallholders at Manchester markets, in recent years there have been more and more local sellers than ever before - particularly among the food and drink operators. Naturally, it's great to mix things up and have a range of different stalls on offer for everyone.
I have also enjoyed the new free Festive Sundays events this year in Manchester that are great for those with families, with roaming street artists and performers bringing Christmassy spirit. There's also the prospect of the first ever Christmas Parade in Manchester on Sunday, December 11 with a procession of performers including a full Toy Procession which I'm sure will bring an injection of festive joy for the day.
But I, for one, cannot wait for 2024 and to have the sausages back sizzling on Albert Square once again. Manchester Council says there are big festive plans for that 2024 return - including the prospect of a return with the "biggest and best ever" Christmas Lights switch on event, which was cancelled again this year due to lack of anywhere to hold it in the city.
In the meantime, council bosses could do worse then heading out for their own daytrip to Birmingham, and see how they've got the festive sparkle really going. Either that, or trust me and get investing in some plastic reindeers, santas and a singing moose to stick on Manchester's wooden huts for the 2023 return.
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