Britain has been copying Teutonic Christmas traditions ever since Prince Albert came home from a holiday in Germany in 1841 with a Christmas tree in his luggage. But this year Anglo-German relations have reached a new high as towns up and down the country have sprouted German-themed markets – some more than one – in the run up to Christmas.Birmingham's Christmas market – full of authentic German Christmas goodies with a few local adjustments, says pioneer Kurt Stroscher. Photograph: Alamy
The first of these Christkindlmarkt, introduced to Birmingham's New Street more than a decade ago, has this year mushroomed to 180 stalls, making it the sixth biggest German Christmas market in the world – bigger, according to Birmingham city council, than those in Dresden, Berlin and Nuremberg.
