The incredible history of Manchester Pride (and how far it’s come)
From police raiding the village bars for 'licentious dancing' in the 80s to the famous footloose policewoman filmed on the parade in 2015, Manchester Pride has come a long way indeed.
Manchester Pride is today one of the biggest LGBTQ+ events in the country, bringing thousands into the city every year to celebrate love in all its forms.
Over decades, the festival has grown into one of the longest-running Pride celebrations in the country – expanding massively over the years, whilst doing its bit to raise awareness, acceptance, and huge sums of money for important charitable causes.
But it wasn’t always like this. Rather, when it began life in 1985 as the Gay Pub and Club Olympics, organisers had to deal with a lot of hostility from both the police and the public simply to put on some fun events like .boat racing down the canal, tugs of war, and egg and spoon races judged by local drag queens.
At that time, there was still a lot of institutionalised homophobia in Greater Manchester. Back then, the village was a secretive area that people visited covertly and most of the bars had blacked out windows so you couldn’t see in.
The community struggled with a lot of prejudice, as well as police raids to stop what was at that time termed as ‘licentious dancing.’
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Albert Memorial rally, 1988. 20,000 people were in attendance / Image: Manchester City Council / Manchester Libraries
An except from Mancunian Gay magazine in 1984 titled ‘Not tonight, Anderton’ tells the story of how one night 20 plain clothes officers stormed into Napoleons and forced everyone in attendance to provide their personal information before being allowed to leave – an incident that was later branded as “an obvious case of police victimisation” in a press release issued by the Gay Centre.
In spite of this, the first Gay Pub and Club Olympics event still went ahead on the August Bank Holiday weekend of 1985. Notably, the event had the support of a new generation of Labour councillors elected in 1984 – who gave the gay community their support and appointed a Lesbian and Gay officer in a move reportedly inspired by Ken Livingstone.
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Inspired by Livingstone’s ‘s early days on the Greater London Council, in 1984 those new Labour councillors created an Equal Opportunities Committee and appointed Lesbian and Gay officers Maggie Turner and Paul Fairweather in what would prove to be a landmark move for gay rights in the north of England
1986 saw things gradually improve for the community, as councillors ‘put their arms around’ the gay community and gave it their support, welcoming a Northern Pride event in 1986 and contributing public funds towards the previous year’s celebrations.
The late Tony Wilson is pictured here alongside Coronation Street’s David Neilson (Roy Cropper) and Councillor Pat Karney. / Image: Manchester City Council / Manchester Libraries
Paul Fairweather, Manchester’s first Gay officer, covered the 1985 event for Manchester magazine Mancunian Gay: That year, the council had donated £1,700 towards the event which was focused around fundraising for AIDS.
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“Some of the bars got together to raise money for AIDS organisations in the city. There was a lot of support from the gay community and a lot more hostility from people in the city.
“At the time it was a very small event but people really, really put their heart into it. I think underlying it was beginning of the AIDS epidemic – people were concerned about the future.”
As the ’80s continued, Manchester’s fight for gay rights continued with the Section 28 march in 1988 acting as a huge turning point as the Thatcher government’s draconian legislation brought people out onto the streets to protest in their droves.
At the time, Manchester was almost alone in voicing its opposition and those involved came under huge pressure both politically and through the media. However, the marches were huge in that for one of the very first times locals who weren’t part of the gay community joined in solidarity and allyship.
Although the exact date of this image is unknown, it depicts a familiar scene that takes place very year at Sackville Gardens and is one of the most poignant moments of the festival / Image: Manchester Council / Manchester Libraries
Ultimately, though, that protest put paid to the restrictive legislation, which had been introduced to explicitly discriminate against gay people and prevent them from discussing their sexuality with, say, teachers or social workers at the time.
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The march also did its bit to bring together different elements of the disparate tribes within the LGBT community, and the next year was followed by another event called Love Rights ’89 – which was billed as a “celebration of Lesbian and Gay Sexuality”.
Still, it wasn’t until the early nineties that the Gay Village welcomed its first openly-gay bar and even then police raids in the area continued right up to 1994.
The battles against institutional homophobia were still being fought, clearly, and some continued to call the Canal Street area ‘Satan’s Square Mile’ – but the opening of new nightclubs like Nightclub Cruz 101 and seminal events Electric Chair and Poptastic saw the community pushing back.
In 1991, the Village Charity was formed and the Manchester Mardi Gras, ‘The Festival of Fun’ was created – raising £15,000 that year alone.
A more recent image from one of the legendary parties held inside a car park in the village / Image: Gpphotography / Manchester Pride Festival / Down At The Social PR
That year, there was a ‘street market’ in Sackville park (instead of on the road outside the Rembrandt Hotel) soundtracked by DJ Mike Coppoc, and a ‘It’s a knockout’ competition that was characterised by the wearing of some very tight cycling shorts – by all accounts ‘the thing’ to wear at the time.
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A heartfelt speech by Paul Orton of The Village Charity closed that year’s event on the Monday night, followed by a fireworks display which ended with “Manchester Cares” spelt out in the night sky.
In the years that followed, the free-to-attend event grew and grew, with stages erected in the public park and on the car parks every year. Then, in 1999, for the first time ever the Gay Village area was fenced off and what was then known as a “pledgeband” was introduced, with a commitment that 50% of proceeds raised would go to charity.
The decision to cordon off the village and charge an entry fee was contentious at the time, and is still considered to be so by some today – with some campaigners arguing that the wristband system prevents some members of the community from taking part by imposing financial restrictions.
In part because of this, some bars and clubs in the village still don’t require a wristband to gain entry to this day and the campaign group Facts About Manchester Pride have done quite a lot of work to suggest that there isn’t a basis in law to charge people access to the village over the Bank Holiday weekend.
Image: Gpphotography / / Manchester Pride Festival / Down At The Social PR
Despite the contention, though, for many the party was only becoming more popular. By the early 00’s the event was attracting more than 100,000 people a year.
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Renamed from Mardi Gras to Gayfest in 2001, the celebrations still didn’t officially become Manchester Pride until 2003, when the event was renamed once more – this time by Marketing Manchester.
In the years that followed, millions of pounds have been raised through the festival – which now has numerous different parts to it such as the Superbia Weekend, the Gay Village Party, Manchester Pride Parade (which is not taking place this year), Youth Pride MCR and the Candlelit Vigil.
It’s also continued to push the boundaries and campaign for equality, too. Manchester’s parade was the first in the UK to include services like the police, NHS and army amongst its floats – showing just how far things have come within the space of 20 years.
Remember the dancing footloose policewoman filmed on the parade in 2015? We can’t imagine that having happened without the progress of the past 20 odd years.
A familiar sight, this is how Canal Street looks today when the village party takes over for the four-day knees-up / Image: Manchester Pride Festival / Down At The Social PR
From what was essentially a jumble sale in the 80s to a world-recognised event, no matter what criticisms you may have of Manchester Pride it’s still fair to say that it has done a lot for promoting equality within the wider community. It’s also one of our favourite times of year.
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Of course, the work’s not done – in 2019, the festival’s Chief Executive went on record to say that “the fight has only just begun.”
“Every year I am asked do we still need a Pride celebration and every year I say yes we do.,” said Mark Fletcher.
“We must support every single member of every single LGBTQ+ community and fight until they feel equal and free to be themselves.”
These comments feel even more pertinent in 2023 after ‘anti-woke’ GMP Chief Constable Stephen Watson told officers they cannot decorate their uniforms with rainbow badges and patches this year – leading some to wonder if we’re going backwards, not forwards.
Manchester Pride Festival 2024 will take place between 23 and 26 August – you can find out more here.
Feature image – Manchester City Council / Manchester Libraries.
Feature
In celebration of Momo Shop: a Chorlton favourite that has flourished since its rebrand
Danny Jones
It’s not often we go out of our way to hammer home just how staggering we found a restaurant, but after now losing track of the number of times that a member of our team has eaten at Momo Shop in Chorlton and come back near speechless, it deserves more than a review.
We regularly hold ourselves back and resist the urge to talk in superlatives wherever possible, especially because we worry we might be falling into the recency bias trap, but in this instance, we’re going to go out on a limb and fall on our hospitality sword. Well, this particular writer is…
It’s official: Momo Shop Nepali Street Food – for our money, anyway – is up there with one of THE best restaurants in Manchester right now.
And there are plenty of reasons why, not least of all because of the years of practice they have feeding increasingly discerning Manc diners under a different moniker.
Simple but charming – all the focus is on the foodAnd the food speaks for itselfSome of the most flavourful fillings you’ll find in ManchesterBusy any given night of the weekNo review (Credit: The Manc Eats/Momo Shop via Instagram)
If you don’t live in/frequent Chorlton, you’ll be forgiven for thinking that this gaff was a somewhat new addition to Chorlton, but in actual fact it’s been gradually growing a loyal and passionate following for more than seven years.
This is because before the miniamlist rebrand that saw the walls stripped back, the exterior painted blue and cutesy little bits of artwork hung amidst that familiar and atmospheric festoon lighting, Momo Shop was once The Little Yeti.
Its former iteration boasted hundreds of glowing reviews in its own right, which already plated up plenty of stunning Nepalese food, but since switching primarily towards serving a menu primarily made up of momos (Tibetan-style fried dumplings hand-folded into various shapes) they’ve well and truly shone.
Now approaching a full 12 months under the new name, the Nepali street food spot isn’t just one of a relatviely small handful considering how much great South Asian food there is across Greater Manchester, we’d wager it could be the very best representing that Alpine-Himalayan belt in our region.
Our latest visit was genuinely just as good as our first, second, third and so on – take your pick.
From the simply incredible deep fried pork dumplings and the deeply moorish butter sauce that goes with literally any momo filling, to the super traditional buffalo ones that are not only authentic but, come on, where else can you find such a unique meat in these parts? It’s some of the best food we’ve eaten.
And we don’t just mean of late; Momo Shop might genuinely among of the nicest scran we’ve had in ages and it’s no exagerration to say that the first taste we enjoyed from many of these flavours have formed some of the strongest culinary memories we’ve created in quite a while.
It’s also worth nothing that it isn’t just one main snack-sized dish. The chow mein, keema noodles and cheesy chops are showstoppers themselves, and we’ve already booked in again for a 30th birthday celebration purely so we can try those lambs ribs and their take on a shashlick.
Nevertheless, we love the idea of the numerous configurations and concotions by pairing different dumplings and owner Niti Karki gave us some pro-tips of the best duos and even let us in on the trade secret of her go-to combo when she’s hungover. Legend.
Once again, at the risk of sounding too hyperbolic, odd moments have felt like core foodie memories on a par with our favourite all-time meals.
Personally, I’m glad to report that this isn’t just a review: consider this a declaration that Momo Shop has quickly become my favourite restaurant not just in Chorlton but in all of central Manchester, something I haven’t had since the heartbreaking closure of Cocktail Beer Ramen + Bun in 2023.
Plenty of varietyDamn straightNiti = absolute iconWe’ll keep your condiment secret forever, Niti…
There might be an element of the almost HakkaPo-esque style drawings, the colour palette and the carefully curated pop-punk, old school emo and post-hardcore playlist that’s over half a decade in the making that makes particualrly partial to this place
But before we wrap up this glorified love letter parading as a ‘review’, we also want to give a special nod to the charming staff and Niti’s mum, specficially, who was too modest to even let us share her picture, but whose wealth of wisdom, influence and experience has clearly inspired Momo Shop’s success.
Don’t be shy, Sue – the only thing more stylish than the food was you, girl. Pop off.
Put simply, we’ll be going back here as regularly as possible until we try every different momo + sauce variation there is, and there’s nothing you can do to stop us.
If you are in the mood for more dumpling excellence, by the way, you might want to check out the unassuming Northern Quarter gem that is Chef Diao.
Lady Gaga is a tour-de-force of talent at the Co-op Live Manchester
Clementine Hall
Lady Gaga proves she’s a truly world-class act after two sold-out nights at the Co-op Live Manchester, as if we needed any reminding.
The city of Manchester has been flooded with harness-wearing, mesh-sporting little monsters over the past two days.
And that’s because the absolute icon that is Lady Gaga brought her ‘Mayhem Ball’ to the Co-op Live for two nights.
I don’t think you’ll find anyone who doesn’t know who this fabulous woman is. Over the past decade, she’s won an Oscar, headlined the Super Bowl, performed in blockbusters alongside Al Pacino, no less, and her songs are literally ingrained into our minds.
It’s been a whole 11 years (yes, really) since she performed in Manchester, and it’s safe to say she was back with a bang.
The performance was split up into five distinct acts, and each one was as exhausting and exhilarating as the next.
She begins the show by bopping out of a comically huge red dress, but this staging was only the start of what madness was about to ensue.
Luckily, we’d been prepared by the other half of the Audio North team, who had the equal privilege of seeing her on night one and were left similarly speechless.
Throughout the 30-song epic, we had crutches, sand pits, cages, skeletons, enough wigs to produce an amateur production of Annie, and we didn’t question any of it. Why would we? It’s Lady Gaga.
Kicking things off with ‘Bloody Mary’, the two and a half hour marathon didn’t leave any stones unturned.
We had all the bangers, from ‘Just Dance’ and ‘Paparazzi’ to ‘Bad Romance’ and ‘Applause’, it had us wondering why any other superstar even bothers putting a song out these days.
Pop is in a good place at the moment with the likes of Sabrina Carpenter, Chappell Roan, Dua Lipa, Billie Eilish and so on, but you can make a strong case for Gaga having helped pave the way for every lady in the business ever since.
Gaga truly had us in the palm of her hands (or claws at one point), even more so when she left the stage to de-robe and show her more vulnerable side for the last two songs – beanie firmly on.
It wasn’t just a concert: this was a fully-fledged tour de force of talent that Manchester won’t forget any time soon.
Sometimes there’s no point in intellectualising why someone has that ‘X-factor’; sometimes you just have to take a step back and say WOW.