How Manchester's restaurants really feel about the Christmas Markets

Love them or loathe them - and Mancunians seem pretty split down the middle on the subject - there's no escaping Manchester's Christmas Markets for the next eight weeks.

Millions of visitors will pour into the city to shop, eat and drink in the warren of wooden stalls now filling the main squares and shopping streets - but how many make it past the Bavarian beers and bratwurst and into the restaurants and bars here all year round?

Some restaurant owners welcome the extra custom they say the crowds bring - but others claim the stalls take away from their trade at what should be their busiest time of year.

On the opening day of trading on Friday, Exchange Square is packed at lunchtime with queues snaking around the side of the Porky Pig stall for its Yorkshire pudding wraps, and shoppers huddled around The Mill Exchange bar clutching mugs of gluhwein.

Behind them, hidden behind the blue wooden hoardings that surround the faulty fountains still waiting to be fixed, is family-run Italian restaurant Salvi's.

Owner Maurizio Cecco is broadly supportive of the markets but says he had his worst day's trading all year, earlier this week, while the markets were being built.

Access to the Corn Exchange restaurant was obstructed by vans and lorries during the set-up, he claims, compounding problems created by the delayed fountain repairs.

"There were vans all on the other side of where the pub is, plus with all the fountains not being finished we have a massive wall up by Selfridges overlooking us," he said.

"Down here nobody can see us. It feels like we're not part of the city anymore.

"Now they've put the markets on it looks better than before.

"At least we haven't got a blue wall around us, we have nice huts bringing people in."

While Maurizio welcomes the extra footfall the markets bring when they are open, he says his takings earlier in the week suffered.

"On Monday I had to pay my staff for no reason at all.

"It wasn't what we usually take," he said.

"I was struggling to get in and I own a restaurant here.

"People who come for shopping, they won't bother with it, they'll go somewhere else."

He added: "The council need to respect the businesses here first. 

"It seems like when November comes they don't care about us anymore, they only care about the markets.

"I'm happy they are here because they bring a lot of people in and it's good for the city.

"I'm not knocking it, saying we don't want them, but they need to respect us."

Maurizio believes the council should also be more mindful of existing businesses when considering the traders for each location; he is currently competing for custom with two cheese stalls and an Italian street food operator serving pizza and arancini in the square.

"I'm here all year selling cheese and once a year they are coming in and serving cheese and pizza and things like that," he said.

"Our restaurants are here all year.

"They don't need to sell pizza.

"They should involve us more because we could be part of the market as well - we've all got seating outside."

He adds: "There's nothing wrong with the markets. It's good they are coming, it's good for the city. But they have got to consider we are here all year."

Also based at the Corn Exchange is pan-Asian restaurant Tampopo.

The Manchester-based chain also has sites in two of the other main market locations, in Albert Square and Piccadilly Gardens.

Founder David Fox was vocal in campaigning for the markets to remain in Albert Square , when it had been proposed to move them to make way for refurbishment work on the town hall.

He said at the time that events in the square could boost trade by 30 to 40 per cent.

"There is an access issue," he acknowledged.

"But I think they generally do it quite quickly.

"I think people who live and work in Manchester are starting to love to hate them a bit.

"But what I do think is it brings a lot of people who will perhaps only visit Manchester once a year.

"They are hopefully not just spending on overpriced sausages but in bars and restaurants as well.

"We definitely see an uplift in Albert Square, which isn't traditionally a shopping pitch, so we're pessimistic as to what would happen if the markets weren't there."

Peter Kinsella, who owns Catalan deli and restaurant Lunya at Barton Arcade with wife Elaine, says the markets are a 'double-edged sword' for food businesses like theirs.

"It brings so many people and we benefit greatly from that," he said.

"Sales are up when the markets are on.

"Our experience is people might go - the mulled wine's rubbish, the sausages are rubbish, but whatever Christmas spirit is, it's got that - and then people might come to us for a drink or some tapas."

He believes the markets encourage people to stay in the city centre longer after work as well as attracting visitors from other cities.

"What surprises us is the distances people travel," he said.

"Last year we had a group from Hull who'd come for the markets, they'd stayed in a hotel and then came for dinner here.

"We had maybe ten of them. And it brings lots of Scousers over.

"The numbers it brings over, most people must benefit financially."

Lunya's location on Deansgate is far enough removed from the markets that it isn't 'plagued' by stalls and crowds, he acknowledged.

"I imagine if you're on top of it, it's not great," he added.

"But our location is brilliant for it - it's close but also far enough away."

Further away, Masterchef winner Simon Wood says his First Street restaurant Wood suffers from the markets.

"My experience over the last couple of years is we definitely see a drop in numbers when the Christmas Markets are on," he said.

"It's frustrating because it's supposed to be your busiest time of the year but everyone wants to go and eat what I think is a substandard product.

"A hot dog has its place but, for what you pay, you don't necessarily get value for money."

Questioning how much of the revenue the markets generate actually stays in the local economy, he added: "I think there's a lot of greed around the markets.

"It's seen as a cash cow for everyone except the people who support the city day in, day out, all year.

"On a wet Tuesday in February there's nobody there from the markets.

"It's people like myself and other independents making a go of it and giving the city somewhere good to go."

While the markets have welcomed more homegrown local traders in recent years - adding food stalls from Northern Soul, Eat New York and Yard & Coop, to name a few - Simon says he'd like to see more of a local leaning to the event.

"You could have a Christmas market but use local independents to fuel that," he said.

"There's a way to integrate it within the city rather to give it to people who aren't here all the time.

"It's great to see people like Northern Soul here now, but when it's some random guy with a crappy sausage that's mass produced and who knows what's in it, there's nothing artisanal about that, no love or festive spirit."

Northern Soul are doing a roaring trade at their Albert Square stall on Friday lunchtime.

Owner Dan Place describes the Christmas Markets as 'the lifeblood' of the business he and wife Lissie established in a shack on Church Street, in the Northern Quarter, in 2014.

They've since opened a cafe outside Piccadilly Approach, just outside the train station, and their recently-launched restaurant on Tib Street - both funded by their takings from the markets.

"The first time we did the markets, on the first morning I had about £60 to my entire name after we'd paid the rent and got the equipment," said Dan.

"I remember counting down the days thinking 'we're going to go under'.

"Looking back now at where we were, we stuck our neck out for it big time, and it was at that time when the markets were getting hammered a bit for not being inclusive to Manchester businesses.

"Luckily for us, we were part of that conversation.

"The first one we did we literally just paid the investment back.

"The second one enabled us to redevelop the Church Street site.

"Then we put money into the Piccadilly site.

"The one we did last year, we kept every single penny and put it into Tib Street this year."

Dan says he and Lissie work 14 hour days seven days a week while the markets are on so they don't have to rely on bank loans to grow their business.

"We kill ourselves for about seven weeks. It's very, very hard work but it's been our lifeblood really," he said.

"I'd challenge anyone to come and run one."

Dan believes the council is steering the markets' food and drink offering in the right direction, with a growing number of stalls given over to independent Manchester restaurants such as Yard & Coop and Eat New York.

"The council get a bit of a bad rap, and they are hard to work with; it's notoriously their way or the highway," said Dan.

"But they've reacted to the street food scene and what's going on and strengthened the offering."

The council says the markets complement the high street and bring in visitors nationally and internationally, supporting the city and its economy.

Coun Pat Karney, Manchester’s Christmas spokesperson, said: “Christmas in Manchester is huge for the city at a time of year that is crucial to our economy, supporting thousands of jobs through the season.

The Christmas Markets complement the high street and offer a choice for shoppers between major stores and the independent traders on the market.

“The Markets in particular have grown to make Manchester an unmissable festive destination both nationally and internationally.

"Our hotels are full this time of year with visitors that the city would not get otherwise, and who would choose another city for their Christmas trip."

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