School’s out, the clocks have gone back and Christmas has started arriving at Cheshire Oaks.

Santa’s older elves have arrived with one of their favourite cranes to start planting the centre’s iconic walkthrough artificial tree at its new location between Nike and Cafe Rouge on car park A.

Towering above the malls, the tree will offer shoppers the chance to marvel at its tens of thousands of twinkling bulbs and 21,000 baubles while inside becomes a magical world of its own.

Christmas Day 2016

Santa is coming in

The sparkling behemoth, close to the M53, is a familiar Christmas feature at the centre.

The 18-ton, £100,000 tree became the only walkthrough tree in Europe with visitors able to enjoy the enchanting lights in its interior for a donation to charity after entering through a decorated archway.

The Christmas tree at Cheshire Oaks is going up
The Christmas tree at Cheshire Oaks is going up

Its features include more than five miles of fairy lights with 100,000 twinkling bulbs, 1.2 miles of structural cabling and half a ton of nuts and bolts holding the tree together.

The big switch-on is planned for November 9 with the fun starting at 6pm.

Centre manager Kenny Murray said last year: “Our traditional and now iconic Christmas tree is always a real draw for festive shoppers.”

The malls themselves will have a new look with five new stores due to open including The Kooples, Hotel Chocolat, Paul Smith, Build-a-Bear and The Calendar Club adding more choice to the outlets and eateries on offer at the centre.