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Manchester gets its skates on for Christmas

26/10/2007

Manchester City Council is gearing up for the Christmas season and has announced the return of the city centre ice rink and a new eco-friendly Santa for the town hall.

A bigger-than-ever ice rink will be built in Piccadilly Gardens and will be opened in time for the Christmas lights switch-on, which is due to take place on November 8th.

This year, up to 250 skaters can be on the rink at any one time and the council is expecting "many thousands of people" to visit the skating arena.

The centrepiece of Manchester's Christmas light display will be a new ten-metre tall Santa covered in 100,000 low-energy lights. He will be perched on a platform over the town hall's main entrance.

Councillor Pat Karney, city centre spokesman, said: It's a top-class Santa for a top-class city and will make our Christmas even more special than usual.

"And combined with the open-air ice rink in Piccadilly Gardens, the fabulous Christmas Markets [...] and the Wheel of Manchester, it makes our city the place to be this Christmas."

Last year marked the end for the enormous inflatable Santa that had sat on top of the town hall for the past 21 Christmases.