YOU may still be wearing shorts and soaking up the sunshine, but Christmas lights are already going up.

With 12 weeks to go and the clocks still to go back an hour, most of us have not given a thought to Christmas festivities.

But as our pictures show, festive decorations are already making an appearance in the city centre, with these stylish Christmas trees installed along a stretch of Oxford Road.

It's a move that is bound to re-ignite the debate about whether the countdown to Christmas is beginning far too early. However, those looking forward to catching a glimpse of the city's illuminations in full glow will have to wait until November.

A spokesman for Manchester city council revealed that the lights have started to appear in the city centre as part of a gradual plan to make sure everything is in place for the switch-on ceremony.

They added that making an early start would help to save money.

"Doing it this way makes the whole process as cost effective as possible," said the spokesman. "We had workmen in the area, so it's convenient to do things this way rather than have a last-minute blitz and risk delays."

A spokesman for the Manchester diocese of the Church of England said that although he did not know about the early appearance of Manchester's lights, he had been surprised to notice Christmas gifts on sale on a recent shopping trip.

"I was at a big department store and they were selling festive goods," he said. "It really surprised me - I wouldn't think there would be a market so early in the year."