Police are appealing for information after ayoung man went missing in Manchester this weekend.
20-year-old Charley Gadd was last seen in the city centre at around 12.30am on Saturday December 11.
He had initially attended a Warehouse Project event but was last spotted on St Mary’s Gate, near the Spar.
Charley is described as being a white male of skinny build, who was wearing a red jacket and blue jeans.
He is 5’9″ and has mousy brown hair.
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Hi close friends some had gone missing in Manchester last seen 2am Saturday very drunk wearing a red jacket pic.twitter.com/6TOtZwflSp
— Andy The Retired Right Wing Bricky (@NorfolkBricky61) December 12, 2021
A statement from Greater Manchester Police says: “Can you help police find a missing man from Manchester?
“Charley Gadd, 20, was last seen on St Mary’s Gate at around 12.30am on Saturday 11 December.
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“He is described as a white male of skinny build, 5’9, with mousy brown hair, wearing a red jacket and blue jeans.
“Charley had initially attended the Warehouse Project and was last seen close to the Spar on St Mary’s Gate.
“Officers are becoming increasingly concerned about him and want to make sure he is safe and well.”
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A widely-shared Facebook post from Charley’s family states: “He was last seen at around 2am in Manchester city centre on Saturday morning.
“He was very drunk and ran off having fallen over twice and has not been heard from since.
“We are very worried as he had dropped his phone (which we have) so is not contactable. It was a very cold night and he only had a waist length red jacket on which wouldn’t have been very warm.
“The picture of him below (in the red jacket) is what he was wearing on the night. As I write this he has been missing for around 34hrs.
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“Please message us if you have seen him at all. Thank you.”
Anyone with information about Charley’s whereabouts should contact police on 101 or 999 in an emergency and quote log 149 of 11/12/2021.
Featured image: GMP / Google Maps
News
Entertainment union Equity makes £1 bid for Manchester Pride to protect workers from ‘further exploitation’
Emily Sergeant
Performing arts and entertainment trade union Equity has made a £1 bid for Manchester Pride.
You may remember that, back in October last year, Manchester Pride – the charity / organisation that ran the Manchester Pride Festival – entered into voluntary liquidation, and news emerged last week that the assets were being sold off to the highest bidder by liquidators.
By offering a ‘symbolic’ £1 for the assets – which include the Manchester Pride brand name and associated domain names – Equity says its bid has been made to give workers the opportunity to ‘decide the future’ of the event.
The bid is also said to have been made to prevent a repeat of 2025 – which apparently left Equity union members more than £70,000 out-of-pocket in unpaid fees.
Equity’s variety organiser, Nick Keegan, warned that selling the Manchester Pride brand to a commercial buyer risks ‘undermining the values’ of the event and the community that built it.
He worried it could also leave performers and workers ‘vulnerable to further exploitation’.
“Manchester Pride is not just a city-wide party,” Mr Keegan explained. “Its roots in protest are as important today as then.”
He added: “Manchester Pride was built by the LGBTQ+ workers of Canal St and beyond who provide a space and a community for LGBTQ+ people all year round. The event should not be treated as a commodity to be bought and sold off to the highest bidder.
“The cultural workforce are at the heart of Pride, without them, there is no festival.
“After what happened in 2025, with members left tens of thousands of pounds out of pocket, we don’t want to see history repeat itself.”
Equity says that if its bid is successful, the workers will have control over who the ‘asset’ goes to.
“Our bid is about protecting Pride as a community asset, not a commercial one,” the union’s statement continued.
“Allowing the people whose labour was used to build this ‘asset’ to decide how the trademark of Manchester Pride is used in the future will help protect them from further exploitation, as well as preserve the values and the longevity of the event itself.”
Featured Image – Manchester Pride (Supplied)
News
New police hub to be set up in Piccadilly Gardens to help reduce anti-social behaviour
Emily Sergeant
A new police hub is set to be established in Piccadilly Gardens.
In case you missed it, it was announced last week that council tax in Greater Manchester could be increased to help fund improvements to policing, and that a consultation on it has been launched – with local residents urged to have their say.
The police precept helps Greater Manchester Police (GMP) to build on a range of improvements, including the speed of answering 999 and 101 calls, road and transport safety across Manchester city centre, and bringing more sex offenders to justice, among many other things.
Greater Manchester council tax is set to be increased again to help fund improvements to policing, and a consultation is now live. 🏘️🚔📝
But on top of this, Mayor Andy Burnham has also pledged to deliver a new police hub in Piccadilly Gardens as part of a wider drive to improve policing.
GMCA says its ‘top priority’ is to build strong communities where people feel safe, and it is Mayor Andy Burnham and his Deputy Mayors’ responsibility to enable GMP to be an ‘effective and efficient’ police force.
Local leaders say their ambition for 2026 is to maintain a ‘high-performing’ police service by tackling crime and anti-social behaviour, and protecting residents and businesses along the way – and part of this ambition is to increase police visibility in Piccadilly Gardens, which is a much-maligned part of the city centre, by launching a new ‘prominent’ police hub.
The increase in the police precept is also being touted to help increase ‘hot spot policing tactics’ in town centres and other key locations to help drive down theft and other violent retail crimes.
A new police hub is to be set up in Piccadilly Gardens to help reduce anti-social behaviour / Credit: Gerald England (via Geograph) | Rawpixel
“We need GMP to be properly funded if it is to continue to deliver an effective and responsive service for people in Greater Manchester,” commented Mayor Andy Burnham. “The cost of running a modern police force is going up and this is at a time when our city region has become the fastest-growing economy in the UK, with visitor numbers increasing year after year.
“So much is happening here and that includes a number of major and complex incidents over the past year, including a terrorist attack. These incidents added significant pressure to police resources.
“We recognise the ongoing impact of the rising cost of living and do not take the decision to increase the precept lightly. But right now, this increase is our only option to ensure GMP can continue delivering an effective police service that ensures that people feel safe in their own communities.”
Daisy Jackson -
13th December 2021 
