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Oldham's winter skyline will be redrawn next month when the Illuminate Light Night spreads more than 40 glowing installations across the town centre, turning familiar streets into a free, walk-through gallery that runs from dusk until 10 pm each evening.

Council electricians began rigging the first pieces this week: a 12-metre tunnel of shifting colour on Parliament Square and a sound-reactive wall on Yorkshire Street that flashes in time with passing music. The set-up borrows kit normally reserved for Blackpool's seafront, but here it is threaded between the Old Town Hall and the Spindles shopping centre so residents can reach every piece without leaving pavements they already know.

Last year's switch-on drew an estimated 18,000 people, filling cafés on Union Street until after midnight. Traders reported their best January Saturday in five years, and the council's night-time economy officer says the 2026 route has been stretched two streets wider to spread the footfall further.

Meanwhile, Northmoor Library will stay open late on both Fridays to act as a warm indoor stop. The newly refurbished building, which received £168,000 in lottery funds last spring, will host shadow-puppet workshops for children and project local history photos on its outer brickwork so that the archive faces outward instead of sitting in drawers.

No tickets are required, but volunteer marshals will hand out simple maps marking the brightest clusters and the quickest bus stops for anyone who needs to peel away early. The lights go off for good at 10 pm on Sunday 2 March, and the normal orange street glow returns the same night.