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Zippy used to sit in front of the town hall, but the latest ‘Manchester Giant Santa’ now is on top of the central library(Image: Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\nAnd he’s from a familiar ‘family’Zippy used to sit in front of the town hall, but the latest ‘Manchester Giant Santa’ now is on top of the central library(Image: Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n
Manchester will get a new giant Santa for this year\u2019s Christmas<\/a> celebrations \u2014 and it\u2019s from a familiar \u2018family\u2019.<\/p>\n The city will host its biggest-ever festivities this Christmas, as Albert Square returns to the celebrations<\/a> for the first time since 2019.<\/p>\n Closed for the long-running town hall refurbishment, it is making a spectacular return to the Christmas party with a market and ferris wheel.<\/p>\n Get news, views and analysis of the biggest stories with the daily Mancunian Way newsletter – sign up <\/strong>here<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n It\u2019s not the only new addition to 2025\u2019s festive season, council Christmas spokesperson Pat Karney revealed on Wednesday (October 1).<\/p>\n \u201cI can reveal Manchester is going to have a new Santa this year,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have a new Santa, he is from the Zippy family. I will say no more.\u201d<\/p>\n Zippy was an inflatable Father Christmas that sat on the town hall for years, who Mancs took into their hearts.<\/p>\n Manchester\u2019s latest giant Santa \u2014 not-too-imaginatively called \u2018Manchester Giant Santa\u2019 \u2014 has been placed on top of the central library in recent years.<\/p>\n The \u2018new Zippy\u2019 will live in the same spot this winter, as the town hall refurbishment is not set to finish until summer 2026, the Local Democracy Reporting Service understands.<\/p>\n Coun Karney made his comments as the council launched a new campaign to \u2018celebrate pride in Manchester\u2019.<\/p>\n The drive includes \u2018a brand-new community events programme that celebrates every local area in our city\u2019 off the back of Harpurhey<\/a> Together, which held its inaugural neighbourhood parade in June.<\/p>\n There will also be a \u2018flagship Pride in Manchester Awards\u2019 which will \u2018recognise champions in every ward of the city\u2019, with winners nominated by Mancs themselves.<\/p>\n Next year\u2019s Manchester Day will be the culmination of \u2018the biggest celebration of Manchester we have ever seen\u2019.<\/p>\n Council leader Bev Craig said the plan is not \u2018frivolous fun\u2019 and can genuinely bring the city together.<\/p>\n She explained: \u201cThe spirit of the city is not to ask for permission to change the world. We crack on and do it.<\/p>\n \u201cTo be able to say you are from Manchester is to be proud of Burnage or Moston<\/a>, or Moss Side<\/a>. To be proud of where you are from.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is what this city is about. It recognises everyone has a role to play and everyone will be celebrated in what they do.\u201d<\/p>\n The city already hosts a variety of celebration parades for St George\u2019s Day, LGBTQ+ Pride, and the city\u2019s Italian community among others.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"And he’s from a familiar ‘family’Zippy used to sit in front of the town hall, but the latest…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":465878,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8813],"tags":[138437,748,393,4884,2465,146045,8086,8828,141334,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-465877","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manchester","8":"tag-albert-square","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-manchester","13":"tag-manchester-christmas-markets","14":"tag-manchester-city-centre","15":"tag-manchester-council","16":"tag-manchester-town-hall","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115299201369292039","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465877","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=465877"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465877\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/465878"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=465877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=465877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=465877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/0_MWDEC18-149234JPG.jpg\")
Albert Square was the focal point of the Christmas Markets in previous years(Image: Mark Waugh Manchester Press Photography Ltd)<\/p>\n