The Trafford Centre by limousine

The Trafford Centre is the single most requested shopping destination we drive to in Greater Manchester, and it is easy to see why. Around 250 stores under one roof, Selfridges and John Lewis as the anchors, the domed Great Hall and The Orient food hall for lunch, Barton Square alongside, and the cinema and bowling for the evening if the day runs on. It sits on Barton Dock Road between junctions 9 and 10 of the M60, which makes it a straightforward run from anywhere on the orbital – Bolton, Bury, Stockport and Sale are all twenty to thirty minutes away on a normal Saturday – and a long one on the Saturdays before Christmas, when the slip roads back up to the motorway.

A limousine takes the worst part of a Trafford Centre day out of it. There is no circling the car parks, no walk from the far end of the car park, no splitting the group across three cars. The chauffeur sets you down near one of the main entrances, agrees a meeting point and a time, and either waits or returns for you. Between stops, the shopping goes in the boot rather than round your feet; on a three-hour hire that often means a run to Selfridges first, bags away, and the afternoon free. For groups who want more than one destination, the Lowry Outlet at Salford Quays is ten minutes down the road, and the city centre is twenty.

A city-centre shopping day: the Arndale, King Street and the Northern Quarter

Manchester's own shopping district is compact enough to walk but far nicer to be driven around, particularly with bags. The Arndale on Market Street is the big one, with Selfridges and Harvey Nichols a few steps away on Exchange Square and New Cathedral Street. King Street and St Ann's Square are the boutiques and the quieter end of the day. The Northern Quarter is Affleck's – four floors of independents that have been dressing Manchester teenagers since the 1980s – plus the vintage shops, the record shops and the cafés on Oldham Street and Tib Street. A limousine cannot stop outside every door in the Quarter, so the chauffeur drops on Church Street or Stevenson Square and it is two minutes to anywhere. The Spinningfields and Deansgate end has the bigger restaurants and The Ivy for an afternoon tea stop, and the Midland Hotel is five minutes further for the classic version.

Most city-centre shopping hires follow a loop: collected at home, dropped on Market Street or at Exchange Square for the Arndale and Selfridges, a bag run back to the limousine, lunch, then King Street or the Northern Quarter for the afternoon and a collection outside the last stop. Three hours covers a focused trip; a full day gives you the loop and the afternoon tea without watching the clock.

Who books a shopping limo in Manchester

Hen shopping days

The daytime half of a Manchester hen weekend is very often a shopping day, and the limousine that does it is very often pink. The pink Hummer for sixteen and the pink Lincoln for eight are the most requested vehicles for a Trafford Centre hen: prosecco on the way there, bags in the boot, outfits bought for the night, and the same limousine collecting from the hotel at seven for the night out. For hens arriving from Leeds, Liverpool or further, the pick-up is usually Piccadilly or a city-centre hotel rather than a house.

Birthday shopping trips, including under-18s

A girls' birthday shopping day – a 16th or an 18th at the Trafford Centre with lunch at The Orient, a 30th in the city with afternoon tea at the end – is one of the steadiest bookings of the year. For younger birthdays the pink limousine with soft drinks, a loop past the city lights and a Trafford Centre drop is the standard children's party hire from about ten upwards; a parent or guardian travels with the group and nothing alcoholic goes on board.

Christmas shopping and the markets

December changes the maths. The Trafford Centre's car parks and the M60 slip roads are at their worst, the city centre is given over to the Christmas markets, and a chauffeur who knows the back way in from Salford or the Mancunian Way is worth more than any other month. A Christmas shopping limo – a family, a group of friends who do it every year, an office doing the markets after work – is also the booking most likely to run into a key date. Every Friday and Saturday in December is priced for the date in Manchester, and the weekends go six to eight weeks ahead; the Manchester limo hire calendar shows how the month fills.

Shopping day into night out: one limousine, the whole day

The hire that gets the most out of a limousine in Manchester is the one that starts at the Trafford Centre and ends on Deansgate. Rather than booking a daytime run and a separate evening car, the same vehicle covers both as a full-day or a day-plus-return booking, and the group never has to think about transport again. A Saturday version looks like this.

• 11.00am – Collection in DidsburyPink Hummer for fourteen, second pick-up in Chorlton. Prosecco opened, playlist on, M60 to Barton Dock Road.
• 11.40am – Trafford CentreSet-down near the main entrance, meeting point agreed. Three hours of shopping, lunch at The Orient, bags to the limousine at two.
• 3.00pm – Lowry Outlet and the QuaysTen minutes to Salford Quays for the outlet and a drink by the water. The limousine is released at four to take everyone home to change.
• 7.30pm – Back for the nightSame limousine, same group, collected from one address and dropped on Quay Street for dinner in Spinningfields, then Deansgate Locks. See night out limo hire Manchester for the evening half.

Which limousine for a shopping day?

Two things matter more than usual: the boot and the doors. An eight-seat executive stretch – the BMW X5, Audi Q7 or Chrysler Baby Bentley – has the luggage space and sits low enough for easy in-and-out at every stop, which is why it is the pick for a city-centre loop with several set-downs. The pink Lincoln does the same job with the colour. For a hen or a big birthday the sixteen-seat Hummer wins on atmosphere, and the bags simply travel in the cabin behind the seats. Groups above sixteen are better in a party bus. Whichever you choose, tell us how many stops you have in mind and whether anyone will be carrying more than a couple of bags, and we will suggest the vehicle that makes the day easiest.

What a shopping limo costs in Manchester

Limo hire in Manchester starts from £365 for a one-hour stretch limousine, which is enough for a group to be collected and set down at the Trafford Centre or in the city centre in style. From there, every shopping hire is quoted for the day you have in mind, because the price depends on the limousine, how many hours you want it – three, a full day, or a day that rolls into a return for the evening – the date, with December weekends and summer Saturdays priced for the date, and where we collect you and how many stops you add. Waiting at the Trafford Centre for three hours and running a loop of the city centre with five set-downs are different jobs and are priced as such. How those four factors move a quote is set out on limo hire Manchester prices; send us the plan and we will send one fixed price.