The intu Trafford Centre is officially marking the festival of Eid for the first time.

Richard Paxton, general manager said, “We are known all over the UK for our festive celebrations at Christmas and Chinese New Year, and recent experience tells us it makes complete sense to push the boat out for this major Muslim festival too.

Workshops “For the weekend of Eid-al-Fitr, we’ll have a host of entertainment, from a Bollywood harpist to sitar players and tabla drummers. Children will enjoy our Eid Cookie workshops on the bandstand, and shoppers can join in with our henna workshops to decorate their hands in the traditional way.

“Our usual live bands will all have a Bollywood spin, and many of our retailers will also be putting on special events and offers over the weekend, with some stores like Selfridges and Gap extending their opening hours to cater for the crowds.

"We’ve laid extra staff on to help customers find what they want quickly and easily, and of course our free parking is a huge bonus to families too.

“While some parts of Rusholme will be having wild street parties, we’re aiming for an altogether more refined affair - which suits our kind of customer".

In previous years, thousands of Muslim families have descended on the Centre to mark the annual religious festival, which is celebrated by Muslims worldwide and marks the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting.

But now bosses have taken notice of the Muslim community’s growing fondness for intu Trafford Centre, and laid on a host of traditional activity to officially welcome their Muslim customers during the special occasion.

intu Trafford Centre is popular for its annual celebrations such as the Christmas Lights Switch On, and a huge Chinese New Year arts show, attracting tens of thousands of people each year.

Paxton added, “With 5% of people in Greater Manchester being Muslim, we have a sizeable population of customers we’d like to cater for. We are proud to boast a higher population of Muslims here in Manchester than the regional or national average, and we would like to treat our local community to something special.

"Where better to celebrate a feast day than at the best shopping, dining and leisure destination in the region?

“We’d love to wish all of our Muslim customers ‘Eid Mubarak’ and assure all the visitors coming to Manchester that weekend will be given a warm, classy Eid welcome.”