Festive Winter Fair at Victoria Baths

Carmel Smickersgill, Tours & Activities Editor

Book now

Festive Winter Fair

Victoria Baths, Manchester
30 November 2025

Always double check opening hours with the venue before making a special visit.

A smiling market trader shows a customer a painting in Victoria Baths
Bernadette Delaney
Book now

Victoria Baths is welcoming alternative shoppers to their Winter Fair. Expect to be enveloped in festive cheer by the baths in their fully decorated seasonal state as you glide through stalls hosted by Manchester’s finest makers, crafters and creators. 

The 50 stalls feature everything from art, decorations, ceramics, clothing, glassware, jewellery and homeware. Giving you a wealth of inspiration to base your Christmas gift ideas on. If not, maybe too much choice. You can feel good about supporting local people in independent businesses while you shop at the Winter Fair. By buying gifts directly from independent makers you’re supporting the local economy and can trust in the sustainable practices of each artist. 

Some of the names among stallholders include AI Bishop Ceramics, the place to check out for giftable homeware and decorative baubles. Dappled Sky’s characterful hand cast ceramics are a perfect choice for the more alternative and quirky home makers in your life. 

Hoop and Thread will have sculptural arching embroideries for sale as well as do it yourself embroidery kits. A perfect present for curious young people, who don’t know where to start with a craft. Amongst the other artistic curiosities are Sunny Sunday with their crochet home décor that both practically and aesthetically fit well in any home. Or, Jon Paul Does Stuff’s Pop Art inspired sculpted paper plants, the ideal gift for those who struggle to keep real plants alive. 

To really get you in the spirit the fair, will be accompanied by Christmas choirs, mince pies and mulled wine. Making for a soul warming day to combat the ever growing cold outside. The day’s festivities will be held in the stunning pool halls of the baths whose glass roofs make the perfect filter for fresh winter air.

Accessibility

  • Relaxed

Where to go near Festive Winter Fair at Victoria Baths

Manchester
Gallery
Chuck Gallery

Chuck Gallery is the first private art space in North West England dedicated to the promotion of contemporary African art in Manchester and beyond. Our focus is the provision of a varied collection of high quality, original and exceptional artwork

Manchester
Museum
Elizabeth Gaskell’s House

Elizabeth Gaskell’s House has been lovingly restored; you can now sit at her desk, see where Charlotte Brontë hid behind the curtains, and have tea in the downstairs café. The Pankhurst Centre is also nearby.

Manchester
Library
Gaskell Society

These regular talks in both Manchester and Knutsford unpack the meaning and significance of Elizabeth Gaskell’s writing.

Manchester
Music venue
O2 Apollo

Originally built as a cinema in 1938, The Apollo is a majestic, Grade II listed Art Deco-style music venue.

The Giving Tree
Manchester
Restaurant
The Giving Tree

The Giving Tree is a cafe and community hub based in Rusholme, a short walk from the city centre.

Manchester
Restaurant
MyLahore

Modern cafe and restaurant on Manchester’s Curry Mile. encouraging

Pankhurst Centre
Manchester
Museum
The Pankhurst Centre

The Pankhurst Centre houses a small museum and heritage centre that remains as a legacy to the Pankhurst family and the Suffragette movement born in this city.

Manchester
Shopping Centre
Longsight Market

Sick of overpriced “vintage” markets? Try Longsight’s bustling neighbourhood market which, every Tuesday, lays on a thriving flea market that’s a miniature (albeit slightly less glamorous) version of the famous Les Puces in Paris.

What's on:

The Bob Ross Effect
TheatreManchester
The Bob Ross Effect at Hope Mill

One of pop culture’s more unlikely icons – the man with the famous perm and ‘happy little trees’ – gets a theatre show. Intrigued? Us too.

From £15.50
Food and DrinkAncoats
Gwafu Vegan Seasonal Supper Club

Cameroon meets Manchester at Ngwafu’s plant-based supper club. Held in July at Bridge 5 Mill, with an all-vinyl soundtrack from Bitter Leaf Industries.

From £22
DJ HELL
MusicTodmorden
DJ HELL at The Golden Lion

An electronic auteur, a veteran of the world’s major clubs, and the man who named electroclash – playing a pub in Todmorden.

From £13.20
Until
ExhibitionsManchester
Redactions at texture

For the four artists in texture’s reopening show, redaction is not absence but method – a way of exploring what’s been officially ignored, coded or suppressed.

Free entry

Culture Guides

Food and Drink in the North

It's heatwave time, so set your small talk phasers to 'weather' and get out there and grab some cold drinks and delicious food.

Theatre in Manchester and the North
Theatre

Discover the summer's most rewarding theatre in libraries, pubs, Fringe venues and unexpected spaces across the North.

“the ripple” artwork by Crowns & Owls courtesy of Good Machine.
Music

From post-industrial romance to experimental country, here's a hot new batch of weird gigs in small venues.

Blue triangles with white clouds on them against a beige backdrop. A gold sun is in the middle.
Exhibitions

Five exhibitions worth your time this month - and between them, a lot of ground covered.

A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night
Cinema in the North

There's no shortage of great films out at the moment, whether you're looking for the latest blockbuster, that hot arthouse flick fresh from Cannes or a cosy classic.

Emily Lloyd-Saini as Grace in Space and Harrie Hayes as Lieutenant Strong in Horrible Science
Family things to do in the North

Whether you’re after storybook theatre, museum wanderings or illusion-bending play spaces, there’s plenty to keep curiosity ticking through winter and beyond.