'I took three kids to popular UK Christmas market and was staggered by the bill'
As soon as Halloween was over it felt like the festive season had firmly started. Supermarkets started dropping their festive adverts, and many of the UK's Christmas markets have already opened their doors.
Because Manchester's Christmas markets had already started pulling in the crowd's, and she was already going the city's Cathedral Gardens for ice skating, one mum decided to head down early to see what all the fuss was about, and bring her three children with her.
Manchester Evening News' parenting editor Emma Gill enjoyed looking in all the stalls but there was one thing that stood out in particular, and that was how shockingly expensive everything was. She said: "There aren't loads of stalls - the majority open across another eight sites from November 10 - but there's still a fair bit to choose from. And all the festive favourites are available such as sausages, Yorkshire wraps and pancakes, as well as mulled wine and hot chocolate. I think everyone knows by now that the markets aren't particularly cheap, you're paying for the experience as much as the food itself."
Yorkshire pudding wraps cost £10 eachChristmas markets are known for being expensive, but when you bring children along, there's no escaping it. Emma explained: "But when I took three kids along for a bite to eat, I wasn't expecting the bill to come to almost £60 - without drinks! The bill for three hot dogs and two portions of chips (one with cheese) came to £30 and then one Yorkshire wrap added another tenner - although it was highly praised as 'the best I've ever tasted'.
"The portions of Dutch Mini Pancakes aren't huge, you get 10 altogether, but we decided to share three portions rather than get one each. That added an extra £18. So without even thinking about drinks, it came to £58 altogether. Thankfully only one of them wanted a drink and chose a bottle of water, which was £2 and the cheapest drink available."
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A portion of Mini Dutch Pancakes is £6 with a premium toppingThere's no escaping the fact that prices have skyrocketed this year, and MEN previously reported how the Yorkshire wraps are up from £8 last year. That's for chicken, beef or minted lamb. If you want a mixed meat one, those have risen from £10 to £12.
Mulled wine is up by 50p, to £5.50, and the deposit for the collectable mugs has risen from £3 to £3.50. You either get your deposit back in full when you return your mug, or can keep it to take home. So a hot chocolate will set you back £7 - and it's up to you whether you keep your mug or not.
It's better news for sausage fans however, as they've remained the same, at £7 each, as have the Dutch Mini Pancakes, which are £5 a portion, or £6 with premium toppings such as Biscoff and Nutella.
Obviously prices differ across the markets and we won't know whether there are price increases across the board until the other stalls open next week. If Cathedral Gardens is anything to go by, it's likely there will.
Councillor Pat Karney, Manchester City Council's Christmas spokesperson, said: "We don't set the prices on our market stalls and nor could we as we don't know the costs involved in producing the goods on sale. Whilst we'll always check out any complaints that are brought to us, it's down to individual traders to set their own prices that reflect their overheads and the quality of what's on offer.
"Stallholders are however obviously subject to the same market forces as other retailers in that if what they're selling is too expensive, customers won't buy their products."
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