Manchester Day 2026 – all the road closures set to be in place across the city centre

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant

Manchester Day is back for 2026 this weekend, and the full list of road closures set to be in place has been confirmed.

Now that schools are officially out across Greater Manchester, and the summer holidays are well and truly here, the hugely-popular Manchester Day is making a return once again this Sunday 26 July, and as always, it’s set to be ‘the day summer officially starts’ in the city centre – with organisers going all in to make this year’s event one of the very-best yet.

This year’s Manchester Day is promising to have a ‘distinctly Catalan flavour’, as performers from Barcelona head to Manchester to join in the festivities in what is a first for the event.

The day will be packed full of free events and activities to get involved with.

As always, activities will be taking place right across the city centre – from St Ann’s Square to Cathedral Gardens, and everywhere in between.

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Organisers say there will be plenty of chances throughout the day for visitors, both young and old, to get stuck in, with city’s streets and squares filled with Catalan spirit, along with some surprising links to books and reading along the way.

But of course, in order for the all the fun to go ahead as safely as possible, and as tends to be the case for events like these, Manchester City Council says it will need to make some temporary road closures to facilitate it.

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The full list of road closures has now been confirmed by the Council, and there’s some major city centre thoroughfares set to be out of action.

Here’s everything you need to know.

A number of road closures and parking suspensions will be in place / Credit: Manchester City Council

Manchester Day 2026 – Road Closures

Sunday 26 July 

From 11am to 3​pm, Manchester City Council has confirmed that the following roads will be closed:

  • Peter Street (Hall Street to Deansgate)
  • Mount Street (Windmill Street to Albert Square)
  • Deansgate (St Johns Street to Cateaton Street)

From 11am to 4pm, the following roads will be closed:

  • St Mary’s Gate (Exchange Street to Deansgate)
  • Market Street (Cross Street to Exchange Street)
  • St Ann’s Street (Deansgate to Cross Street)
  • Cross Street (Corporation Street to Princess Street)
  • Princess Street (Cross Street to George Street)  
  • John Dalton Street (Deansgate to Cross Street)
  • King Street (Spring Gardens to Cross Street)
Manchester Day set to bring sunny Catalan celebrations to the city centre this summer

All accessible bays, bus lanes, and taxi ranks within the closed areas will also be suspended during from 9pm on Saturday 25 July to 9pm on Sunday 26 July.

The parking suspensions set to be in place are:

  • Peter Street (Portland Street to Deansgate)
  • Mount Street (Windmill Street to Albert Square)
  • Deansgate (St Johns Street to Cateaton Street) 
  • Central Street (Southmill Street to Mount Street)
  • St Mary’s Gate (Exchange Street to Deansgate)
  • Market Street (Cross Street to Exchange Street)
  • St Ann’s Street (Deansgate to Cross Street)
  • Cross Street (Corporation Street to Princess Street)
  • Princess Street (Cross Street to George Street)  
  • John Dalton Street (Deansgate to Cross Street)
  • Clarence Street (Princess Street to Booth Street)
  • St Mary’s Street (Southgate to Deansgate)
  • Southgate (King Street West to St Mary’s Street)
  • Museum Street (Peter Street to Windmill Street)
  • Southmill Street (Windmill Street to Lloyd Street)
  • Lloyd Street (Southmill Street to Deansgate)
  • Dickenson Street (Portland Street to George Street)
  • George Street (Princess Street to Dickenson Street)
  • Cateaton Street (Exchange Square to Deansgate)
  • St James’ Square (John Dalton Street to End)
  • Booth Street (Cooper Street to Clarence Street)
  • Kennedy Street (Cooper Street to Clarence Street)
  • King Street (Spring Gardens to Cross Street)
  • Queen Street (Deansgate to Lincoln Square)

On the day, full traffic diversion signage will be in place across all areas affected by road closures, and the Council says it will do its best to ‘minimise’ their duration.

Manchester Day 2026 is taking over the city centre on Sunday 26 July, and will be kicking off at midday right through to 5pm.

Read more:

Check out everything you need to know ahead of the event here.

Featured Image – Manchester City Council

Trailer for Clayface gives closer look at Batman villain in new DC film shot in Greater Manchester

Danny Jones Danny Jones Clayface film shot in Stockport and Greater Manchester

DC have dropped a brand-new trailer for the upcoming Clayface film: a new ‘body horror’ movie by the Hollywood studio and superhero franchise.

Giving the first extended look at the cult favourite Batman villain, it’s set to be one of the darkest and most disturbing big-budget DC projects for some time.

The James Watkins-directed flick notably began filming across multiple parts of Greater Manchester in 2025 ahead of its full debut this autumn.

Set to release on 23 October, it drops in just time for ‘spooky season’, and judging by this latest trailer, they’re certainly doubling down on the creepiest sides of the character. If you’re a bit squeamish, we’d say proceed with caution:

We’d only seen a short but shocking teaser and some behind-the-scenes snaps up until now.

It’s certainly a striking reveal and has some of the most mature themes we’ve seen from DC over the years; that’s what you get when you park a supervillain like this.

For anyone who hasn’t come across Clayface before, it is an alias used by multiple individuals in the comics, including Basil Karlo and Preston Payne.

However, this version of the alter ego follows the story of Matt Hagen, a struggling actor who suffers serious disfiguration and experiments with experimental science before embarking on a tale of revenge.

While this differs somewhat from Hagen’s original backstory, without straying into spoiler territory, there’s plenty to be made from the trailer, as you can see.

Played by Tom Rhys Harries, the actor was first spotted on the set in Stockport town centre at the famous Plaza theatre, with its art deco exterior being turned into a movie premiere:

The 33-year-old Welshman is making his first foray into the DCU, though it remains unclear how much he will feature (if at all) in future projects.

After both studio co-head James Gunn and The Batman director Matt Reeves rubbished rumours that he might appear in the sequel starring Robert Pattinson as ‘The Caped Crusader’, we’ll just have to wait and see how much more mainstream audiences take to this tale and tragic villain.

If you’re wondering what kind of film to expect beyond what you’re now already aware of, it’s worth noting that James Watkins is known for films such as The Woman In Black (2012), Bastille Day (2016), and the heavily nominated James McAvoy-led movie, Speak No Evil (2024).

We were lucky enough to walk past their other major period of filming over in Manchester city centre last September, where the often-used Castlefield doubled as Gotham.

@the.manc Batman spin-off Clayface has taken over Manchester again, with filming crews transforming Castlefield into Gotham. So cool 🎬 #themanc #manchester #clayface #dcuniverse #batman ♬ original sound – The Manc

What do you make of the new Clayface trailer, and how much of our region could you spot?

Read more:

For all the latest news, events and goings on in Greater Manchester, subscribe to The Manc newsletter HERE

Featured Images — DC Studios/Warner Bros. (screenshots via YouTube)

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