All events in Manchester
Pride in
Manchester's first Pride was a jumble sale - with an egg-and-spoon race, a tug of war and boat races on the canal, raising money for people with HIV, in 1985.
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Pride events cluster in the summer, but every city sets its own dates - Manchester often runs its march and its parties a month apart from the next city on this list.
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Pride in Manchester
It was held over the August bank holiday weekend in 1985, outside the Rembrandt Hotel, as a charity event for people living with HIV and affected by the AIDS crisis. The programme ran to a jumble sale, a "Gay Olympics", egg-and-spoon races, a tug of war and boat races down the canal. It had the backing of the new councillors elected in 1984, who appointed a lesbian and gay officer. Two things survived from that weekend: the August bank holiday date, and the charitable root.
Canal Street takes its name from the Rochdale Canal alongside it - the canal that carried materials and goods to and from the mills and factories of the Industrial Revolution. The buildings that now house the Gay Village's bars and clubs were warehouses where merchants kept cotton, cloth and building materials. The neighbourhood runs year-round, and not only as a nightlife strip: it is the city's community space. Right beside it, in Sackville Gardens, stands the memorial to Alan Turing, the mathematician prosecuted for his homosexuality, and in 1999 Queer as Folk, set on Canal Street, made the neighbourhood famous across the country. The list here shows LGBTQ+ friendly events as a whole and not only the Pride weekend.
Common questions
When is Manchester Pride?+
Over the August bank holiday weekend, in the Gay Village around Canal Street - the same date the first event had in 1985.
How did Manchester Pride start?+
As a charity event in 1985 outside the Rembrandt Hotel, for people living with HIV, with a jumble sale, a "Gay Olympics", egg-and-spoon races and boat races on the canal.