Father Christmas will visit Manchester’s Science and Industry Museum on selected dates from 21 November to 23 December.
The new experience will take place inside Power Hall, where children will be able to meet Father Christmas and receive a gift.
Tickets will cost £15 per child and include admission for up to two accompanying adults.
Visitors will meet Father Christmas and an elf inside Power Hall, with the hall’s locomotives illuminated in Christmas colours.
Each child will receive a gift selected according to their age, which the museum says will be worth at least £12.
Families will also be able to take their own photographs during the visit.
Tickets include a 20 per cent discount in the museum café and a 10 per cent discount in the museum shop on the day of the visit.
The experience will run on 21 and 22 November, 28 and 29 November, 5 and 6 December, 12 and 13 December and daily from 16 to 23 December.
A relaxed morning with additional time with Father Christmas will be held on Sunday 29 November and Friday 18 December.
A British Sign Language interpreted afternoon will take place on Saturday 12 December.
Victorian-costumed carol singers will also perform at the museum on 21 November and 23 December.
Other activities during the Christmas period will include crafts and demonstrations exploring snowflakes and light.
From 19 December until 3 January, the museum will also run winter-themed craft activities and demonstrations.
Power Hall was originally built as a shipping shed for the Liverpool and Manchester Railway and now houses working machinery and locomotives from the museum’s collection.
Gina Cooke, public programme producer at the Science and Industry Museum, said: “Manchester is always a magical place around Christmas, and we’re so excited to be adding to this by bringing the opportunity to meet Father Christmas to the city centre. It’s going to be a festive experience with a difference, where the magic of Christmas meets Manchester’s industrial past.
“Power Hall was once a place full of deliveries, so it makes sense that it’ll now be receiving its own very special delivery from the North Pole! It’s going to be a really unique opportunity to feel festive among our world-class collection of locomotives and working machinery, and the gifts Father Christmas gives his guests have been inspired by this, chosen to encourage problem solvers, creators and engineers of the future.”
Tickets must be booked alongside a free museum admission ticket.
More information is available at www.scienceandindustrymuseum.org.uk/whats-on/father-christmas-at-the-museum.
