Manchester has been crowned the most festive city in the entire UK

With its world-famous Christmas Markets and abundance of festivities over the Christmas period, most of us won’t be surprised to hear that Manchester has been named as the most festive city in the UK.

The results come courtesy of a new study, which took on the very important role of investigating where in the UK is worth a visit this Christmas.

The study ranked major cities on their overall festiveness by comparing factors such as the average amount spent on wine, spirits, and gifts, the chance of snow on Christmas Day, the number of Instagram hashtags for local Christmas markets, the number of nearby tree farms, and the total number of online searches for ‘Christmas’.

David Dixon / Geograph

And, incredibly, Manchester scored a massive 68 out of 100 for all things Christmassy, coming out on top as the most festive city in the UK.

The study revealed that the average Mancunian spends £56.96 on wines and spirits throughout the festive period, and a whopping £381.99 on gifts… Us Northerners are known for our generosity, aren’t we?

And while the study found that there was only a 16.70% chance of snow for a Mancunian Christmas, it discovered over 7,000 Instagram hashtags for local Christmas markets, which knocked London’s 2,800 hashtags completely out of the park.

BooHooMAN, who commissioned the study, said on our city’s festivity: “Manchester Christmas markets are definitely a must-see this year, with a whopping 7,700 hashtags on Instagram.

@mcrchristmasmarkets / Instagram

“The market is due to start on Friday the 12th of November and is set to stay all the way until December 22nd, meaning there’s plenty of time for those last-minute gift buyers in Manchester.”

Glasgow came second according to the data, followed by Liverpool, Leicester and London, with the rest of the top ten including Birmingham, Coventry, Leeds, Edinburgh and Sheffield. 

This comes after the Manchester Christmas Markets were voted as the best in the UK after independent holiday cottage agency My Favourite Cottages analysed thirty Christmas markets in major cities across the UK to see which one provides the best Christmassy experience.

The Manchester Christmas Markets came out on top after ranking highly across all eight factors analysed, including having 300 stalls and running for one of the longest periods of almost six weeks.