Manchester is looking at its sparkly best as the city counts down to Christmas and the days become shorter, thanks to a Santa’s sleighful of new festive lights and light installations around the city.
Visitors to the city centre since Manchester’s legendary Christmas Markets opened six weeks ago, have been making the most of all the seasonal selfie opportunities presented by the brand-new lights – with those on St Peter’s Square and Albert Square proving themselves clear winners in the selfie stakes as people queue up for their chance to grab a snap and make a memory with their family and friends.
This year’s lighting scheme has been designed with Manchester at its heart, including as it does lots of new-for-this-year installations and displays that are themed around Manchester’s history and heritage, including bees, honeycomb patterns and warm golden honey-like tones to the twinkling lights themselves.
Visitors will be in no doubt about the city’s connection with the worker bee as they walk through the city centre – with a Honeycomb Tree, Walkthrough Honeycomb Arch, and lamp post motifs, along with Bee Merry motifs strung across city centre streets, and an enormous Worker Bee – the symbol of Manchester – who has settled in for the selfie season as the city counts down to Christmas.
A sparkling giant globe reflects Manchester’s standing and recognition around the world, whilst the city’s great industrial past and gothic architecture is celebrated through an enormous Steam Punk Reindeer and Snowman, as well as twinkling walk-through arches.
Trees throughout the city centre are also aglow with festive lights both on streets including St Ann’s Street, Peter Street, Brazennose Street and Deansgate, and in the city’s squares including Cathedral Gardens and Piccadilly Gardens – which both feature colour changing tree lights – as well as St Peter’s Square, St Ann’s Square, and Albert Square.
As well as giving a nod to Manchester in their design, in keeping with the city’s zero carbon ambitions, all of the lights have been designed with low energy use in mind, a long lifespan and maximum reusability.
Councillor Pat Karney, Christmas spokesperson for Manchester City Council, said: “Everyone knows this is my favourite time of the year and i just can’t get enough of all the twinkling lights we’ve got helping bring an extra special sprinkle of Manchester Christmas magic to the city. I’m pretty sure that if I stood on the moon right now, I’d have no problem at all spotting Manchester lit up in all its festive glory amongst all the other stars in the night sky.
“Star of the show back down here on earth of course has to be the iconic big red man himself, our fabulous Zippy Santa, who has featured in more selfies now than any of us could possibly count, and continues to bring a smile to everyone’s face when they spot him. With loads of other brilliant new light installations this year also for families to discover and enjoy, if you haven’t seen them yet, you’re in for a treat, so wrap up warm, come on down after dusk, and take a look!”
This year’s lighting scheme which is bringing all the festive feels across the city centre has been designed and delivered by local company MK Illumination, using lighting sculptures made from low carbon aluminium which translates to a carbon reduction of between 75-90% during the production phase.
Based in Blackburn the company also use local installation teams, transport and suppliers, helping reduce the city’s seasonal carbon footprint even further.
The lighting scheme they’ve designed includes 89 lamp post motifs, 15 cross street motifs, lights in 79 trees, 7 floor based light sculptures and the traditional nativity scene located in St Ann’s Square. With around 300,500 LED lights in the festive scheme it’s no wonder that Manchester after dark is sparkling this year.
Matt Couzens-Davies, Managing Director, MK UK, said: “We’re extremely proud to be a long-standing partner, helping bring festive light and joy to the heart of the city year after year. The festive scheme we’ve created across the city centre is about more than decorations – they’re experiences that bring people together, spark wonder, and celebrate the spirit of Manchester, and it’s a privilege to help make the city shine during the festive season and to help make magical moments for residents and visitors alike.”
In addition to all the bee-themed lights and installations, no visit to the city centre is of course complete without spending a few minutes appreciating man of the moment himself, Manchester’s iconic Zippy Santa, who is keeping a close watch over the city this festive season from his lofty perch on St Peter’s Square.
Delivered in partnership with Northern company Blachere Illuminations, and sitting on top of an enormous Christmas parcel, the big red man alone boasts more than 20,000 LED lights and will be twinkling his way through the night skies in the city until twelfth night in January, to help bring the Christmas magic and a smile to the faces of young and old as they visit the city.
Where to see Manchester’s festive light installations:
St Peter’s Square
Honeycomb Walk-through Arch with bees – a glowing 4.8m high x 3m wide archway visitors can walk through, celebrating Manchester’s iconic worker bee
Manchester Bee – a 3.3m high illuminated bee
Giant Light Globe – a 2.8m illuminated glob
Zippy Santa – sitting on high atop an enormous Christmas parcel keeping an eye on everyone down below
Albert Square
Honeycomb Tree – standing 10m high on a raised platform with warm honey-coloured illumination
Steampunk Reindeer – a 5.4m high x 4m wide installation blending traditional festive themes with Manchester’s industrial heritage
Steampunk Snowman – a 5.6m high x 3.6m wide illuminated feature in steampunk style
Bee Merry floor motif – 2.6m high x 3.6m wide freestanding festive message featuring decorative bees
Twinkling colour changing Walk-through Tunnel – 6.45m illuminated tunnel
MCR letters – freestanding illuminated letters spelling MCR and featuring the worker bee
St Ann’s Square
Traditional nativity crib scene – 2.4m high x 3m wide with a refreshed backdrop and lighting for this year
Piccadilly Gardens
Over-sized Manchester letters – colourful freestanding illuminated letters spelling MANCHESTER
Lamp post and cross street banners
King Street
Deansgate
John Dalton Street
Peter Street
St Mary’s Gate
Mount Street
Oxford Street
St Ann’s Street
Cathedral Gardens
Piccadilly Gardens
Find out more about Christmas in Manchester