YORK'S Christmas market is the third best in the UK, according to new research.

Thirty markets across the country were analysed against eight data points, including the number of stalls, running time, number of visitors, entrance fee and the likelihood of meeting Santa to provide an overall market score out of 10.

Manchester’s market came top, with an overall market score of 8.39, said a spokesperson for analysts at My Favourite Cottages.

It garnered the most online interest in the last year with over 114,000 Google searches.

Birmingham came second with 8 out of 10, while York's market, which opens on November 18 and runs until just before Christmas, was in third place with an overall market score of 6.68.

The spokesperson said York had just over 73,000 searches and was one of the longest running markets, being open for over five weeks.

They added that it had been calculated that the UK lost about £882 million from the 10 most popular markets being closed last year because of lockdown.

Director Harry Roberts said:“People have been travelling up and down the country to visit their favourite Christmas markets for years and it’s exciting to see our favourite cities come alive every winter."