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Hello,

“It’s quite high, Pat,” says Adam Maidment, standing beneath an imposing cherry picker.

“I’m having second thoughts.”

It’s a Manchester Evening News tradition to haul a reporter several feet into the air to conduct an interview in front of the giant Santa. But we haven’t been able to subject anyone to that custom for quite a while.

Zippy - as he is affectionately known - hasn’t been in the city centre for six years.

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Too big, too heavy and too expensive to construct each year - he was last seen at Piccadilly Gardens in 2019. View 8 Images

He was replaced by the 12-metre high 'Big Santa', but is now back by popular demand.

The new Zippy - which

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