Bath’s Christmas market, acclaimed in recent years as one of the UK’s best, is also one of its cheapest for revellers, according to new research.
The iconic market, pictured, which opened for business nearly two weeks ago, offers the best value mulled wine while the cost of a pint of beer is the second cheapest, a price comparison survey has found.
The same research also found that Bath’s market is in the top three most popular for online searches – an indication of its huge success in attracting visitors to the city.
The analysis, carried out for mobile food trailer firm Diamond Trailers, used Google Trends and search engine tool Ahrefs to identify the UK’s 20 most searched-for markets.
Bath racked up 17,000 searches, placing it joint third with York and behind Edinburgh, in second, and London’s Winter Wonderland in first place.
The finding echoed research carried out by Google itself last December which showed Bath’s Christmas market coming second only to Lincoln’s in the number of searches made by people looking for the best places to find quality Christmas gifts.
Diamond Trailers said it was prompted to compare drink prices across the UK’s Christmas markets following complaints from people going to Winter Wonderland, which is currently underway in Hyde Park.
The £5 that visitors to Bath’s market for mulled wine is pretty much matched across most rival markets – although anyone tempted to go to those in Bristol, Nottingham or Manchester will fork out £5.50 for the same drink.
The priciest mulled wine is served in Edinburgh (£7) and Birmingham(£8), according to the survey.
When it comes to beer, Edinburgh is the cheapest – at £4.50 a pint – while Bath is on par with most other markets, setting revellers back £5 for a pint.
Bath’s Christmas market delivered a £50m-plus boost to the city’s economy last year – a 61% increase on the last time it was held in 2019 and making it the most successful in its 20-year history.
The city’s regular success in annual Christmas market surveys was not, however, reflected in this year’s Top 10 ranking produced by London Northwestern Railway.
It puts Bath in last place.
