With a special preview evening for ticketholders only: Thursday 20 November, 5.00pm – 8.00pm
Christmas is coming early to People’s History Museum. Following the success of our May Day Makers Market, we are excited to host our Winter Makers Markets in November. The weekend event will feature over 30 stalls, and we are seeking applications to fill these with unique gift ideas and beautifully curated homeware edits created by local craft workers. The Winter Makers Markets kick off our festive season, with the opportunity to pick up decorations, gifts, cards, wrappings and tasty treats.
The stalls will be located inside the museum’s magnificent Grade II listed Engine Hall. Designed by Henry Price, the first City Architect, this incredible celebration of Manchester’s industrial heritage features a spectacular vaulted glass roof, original terracotta brick and elegant Pilkington tiles – offering an apt and unique backdrop for a makers market. The weekend will offer a festive and cosy winter vibe, combining the best of North West arts and craft workers with a stunning location.
The Winter Makers Markets will be supported by a programme of exciting workshops for people to enjoy trying new skills or making gifts for family and friends. We will also feature pop-up entertainment, including a live performance from the joyous Magic Voices Community Choir.
The Winter Makers Markets will run from 11.00am – 4.00pm from Friday 21 to Sunday 23 November 2025. Sunday 23 November will be pitched as a family day.
We will launch with a special preview evening for ticketholders only on Thursday 20 November from 5.00pm – 8.00pm. The event will feature live music, festive food and drink, and craft workshops.
Traders will have access to set up ahead of the preview, from 11.00am on Thursday 20 November. The space will be locked at closing time, so items can be left in the museum overnight.
Please note we can only accommodate drop off and unloading as there is no parking on site. The museum has excellent alternative transport options, see our website for more details: https://phm.org.uk/getting-to-peoples-history-museum/.
We ask all stallholders to operate for the duration of the full event (three days plus Thursday evening). We understand you may wish to co-host a stall with a fellow maker and are open to this in your application.
Each table stall will be 140cm x 70cm with two chairs. There are some spaces that can be used flexibly for clothes rails or shelving, etc.
There are corner spaces available which are double size spaces; please indicate on your application form if you wish to hire one of these spots.
Stallholders will be required to provide all dressing for their stalls, including tablecloths.
The Engine Hall will be dressed with festive decorations with a winter theme, to create a fun and celebratory feeling for the weekend.
We are seeking stallholders across the following categories:
This list is not exhaustive. If your category is not listed, please complete the form and get in touch. We are keen to showcase a wide range of different skillsets and materials and the very best of North West crafts.
Please note that the market will not offer stalls for multi-level marketing businesses and there will not be hot food opportunities.
Some top tips from stallholders at our May Day Makers Market – from stalls which attracted the most customers and sales:
A four-day standard pitch is £175 for all four days. A limited number of larger pitches are available for £225. All proceeds will support the museum.
Stallholders will be required to provide evidence of Public Liability Insurance of £5m and complete a risk assessment for the event.
We have a limited number of stalls available but will also operate a waitlist for the event.
Earlier this year we hosted our first ever two-day May Day Makers Markets which attracted over 1,100 visitors and had overwhelmingly positive feedback from visitors and stallholders. For the November event, PHM will support the market with press, marketing, and social media to attract a wide-reaching audience.
We will prepare a media pack to share with stallholders to support your promotion.
To help us, we ask all applicants to provide information about themselves and their work which we can use to promote the event and provide a platform for your work to be promoted. We also ask applicants to send us three good quality photos that we can use to promote you on our social media and through our event PR. Please note images must be in landscape, with minimum quality 300dpi.
Top tips for a good photo:
The deadline for applications is Monday 4 August 2025 at 11.00pm. We will notify all successful applicants before Friday 5 September. If you would like to apply, please complete this short form: https://forms.office.com/e/4gn22gs1GL
We are expecting high demand for this event and cannot guarantee a space for all expressions of interest. We will assess each expression and ensure a wide range of traders are featured across different categories to create the best mix for visitors and traders.
We will also operate a waitlist for traders, should stalls become available.
We also offer the opportunity to host bookable creative workshops on Saturday 22 November and Sunday 23 November afternoons. These will be held in one of our beautiful meeting spaces and can accommodate between 20-30 people.
Workshops can be between 45 minutes and 1 hour. We operate a ticket share pricing structure and will work to promote the workshops with you.
The workshops that work best have a clear product to make which is linked to the theme, e.g. make a Christmas banner decoration for your tree, or print your own wrapping paper.
If you are interested in offering a workshop as part of our programme please get in touch via this application form: https://forms.office.com/e/5B7U3wQDKw
If you have any questions please get in touch via shop@phm.org.uk
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