Well it’s that time of the year again where stall holders set up there pimped up garden sheds in the squares & side streets of Manchester & fleece the general public…. Yes it’s Christmas German Market Time.

After ensuring we were well wrapped up for the weather & had a plentiful supply of money ( you’ll need lots of this as every things so fcuking expensive) we ventured into town on Sunday morning, arriving at St Annes Square to be greeted by the larger than life Zippy Santa Claus which has for many years adorned the top of the entrance into the Town Hall.
No sooner had we arrived we had our first experience of stall holder fleecing, 4 x small mugs of Hot Chocolate set us back £18, though to be fair £8 of that was the deposit for the mugs which you got back upon returning them, even so £2.50 for a small cup if Hot Chocolate is taking the piss a little me thinks.
After warming ourselves on our expensive cups of chocolate we began checking out the stalls, which to be honest were the exact same stalls that have been there the previous years we’ve gone, which in some ways wad extremely handy as it saved us quite a bit of time by not having to look for the cheese, the bread, the meat, the olive stall respectively, though I really do think the council need to maybe one year consider mixing it up a little to make it seem a bit more varied & interesting.

All in all we spent about 2-3hrs wondering round the various streets that were playing host to the markets until we eventually got to the North Pole bar, where we rested our weary feet & sampled some beer, place was fairly empty when we got there, but has apparently been rammed most evenings, so may consider checking it out one night over the coming weeks.

Anyway by this time we were all feeling a bit peckish, so after hearing many good things about the Common Bars House Burgers we headed into the NQ for a bite to eat, luckily the place wasn’t to full & we managed to get seated & place our order & when it arrived shortly later I began yo understand why people rave about the burgers there… the one I had affectionately known as the Common Burger was absolutely scrumptious & I could easily have forced another down.

Well after that delightful meal, we thought it best to head home, even though I may have bitched about the German Market as I do every year, it is a good way to spend an afternoon, just wondering around taking in all the sights and yummy smells of food being cooked/baked, so if you’ve got a few hours free at the weekend check it out & see if you can find a nice bit if cheese for that after Christmas Dinner cracker….